THE MILITARY : Marines Shop Wal-Mart for Combat Plan : Corps is testing chain’s computerized distribution methods to streamline, protect battlefield supply delivery.
The military is taking a page from the Wal-Mart retail chain’s logistics manual in an effort to streamline the delivery of critical supplies to combat troops in the high-technology battlefields of the 21st Century.
The Marine Corps’ advanced concepts development unit here has begun experimenting with Wal-Mart’s computerized distribution techniques to enable field commanders to order supplies directly from offshore cargo ships.
Col. Gary W. Anderson, the unit’s director, says the idea is eventually to reduce the need for setting up huge military supply dumps close to the battlefield, where they are vulnerable to destruction by enemy fire.
Robert W. Gaskin, a former Pentagon strategist now with Business Executives for National Security, says that during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, U.S. forces had several such dumps that could have been destroyed if Iraq had attacked.
Had the supply dumps in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait been wiped out, Gaskin contends, materiel ranging from food and fuel to water and ammunition would have been lost, and thousands of U.S. troops would have been jeopardized. Anderson agrees.
The military’s fascination with the Wal-Mart system came after planners noticed that local Wal-Mart stores seemed to stay well-stocked with thousands of items without having to maintain huge “back-room” warehouses.
Wal-Mart’s success comes from a complex computer program that records every sale and compiles frequent lists of which products must be replenished in each store. Replacements are delivered frequently from a regional warehouse.
Anderson envisions the day when a combat unit ashore will use a similar system to order fuel, ammunition and other supplies directly from a ship offshore, ending the need for a land-based dump.
Technology already exists that could enable soldiers or Marines to inventory their supplies and equipment frequently and to “place an order” electronically to a ship that is several miles at sea, where it can be well-protected.
The supplies could then be delivered directly to a specific company or platoon, either by helicopter or by an unmanned robot aircraft, which would be guided to the unit by a satellite navigational system.
As with Wal-Mart’s computers, the system could be set up to allow field commanders--even platoon leaders--to override the automatic replenishment program in special cases.
For example, if a lieutenant knew his unit would stage a raid the next day, he could order extra ammunition to be delivered in that night’s shipment.
Anderson says such a ship-to-troops distribution system would be especially useful in limited conflicts, such as those in Somalia or Haiti, where Marines or light infantry are deployed quickly and do not expect to stay very long.
The system could also end the need to divert troops for convoy duty. In Somalia, for example, much of the 1,400-member U.S. “quick-reaction force” was assigned to protect supply convoys and was not available for combat.
Anderson says an expanded version of the same system could be used in larger operations, such as Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf. Besides cutting the need for setting up massive supply dumps, it also requires fewer trucks.
The Marines field-tested a similar scheme at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in 1973, but the experiment bombed because the technology then was not up to it.
The Marines who were left out in the field during the exercise “almost starved” waiting for supplies to arrive, Anderson recalls. “The only way they got food was through the Army,” he says sheepishly.
The latest effort began in February, when Anderson’s group called in a small group of experts from Wal-Mart and other big firms, including Federal Express, United Parcel Service and United Services Automobile Assn.
From that came experiments in which the unit “borrowed” Wal-Mart computers and software and adapted them to the military’s distribution problems. The group conducted a war game to test it on May 12.
The Wal-Mart concept contains its share of risks for military operations: The system could malfunction, enemy forces could jam the communications and the seas could be so heavy that helicopter deliveries would be slowed.
Even so, Anderson says, the potential advantages are enormous.
Anderson already is field-testing a primitive version of the system, using ordinary cellular telephones, and expects to have a “concept paper” ready by September.
After that, he says, it’s up to higher authorities to decide whether to put the idea into practice.
