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totallynotabrony


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Nov
26th
2013

Strategic Lift · 5:04am Nov 26th, 2013

And no, I'm not talking about that one time when Reagan and Gorbachev had a bodybuilding competition.

Getting people, equipment, and supplies to the battlefield takes a lot of planning and logistics. To have a war on the other side of the world, you need airlifts and sealifts. You can't fight if you can't bring your stuff. War simply cannot happen without a steady supply chain. The United States has always been very good at this. Part of the way World War II was won was because we logistic'd our enemies to death. They simply couldn't bring the war to us the same way we could show up on their doorstep with tanks and battleships.


We even brought our own surrender table.

Of course, none of this comes easy. It takes a lot of planning, a lot of transportation infrastructure, and smart people. Robert McNamara was part of a group of Army Air Force officers known as "the whiz kids," who brought science to the war effort. Carefully keeping track of all that logistic might breeds maximum efficiency.


Robert McNamara. Say what you want about him, the man got stuff done. And appeared in COD:BO

So what can all this stuff actually do? Let's talk about ground transportation first.


Tank cars. Heh, train joke.

Military equipment isn't stored ready to go at airports and seaports. It needs to get to a place where it can be transported overseas. During WWII, the Trans-Iranian Railway was used for moving cargo between Allied shipping in the Persian Gulf and the Soviet Union. During Desert Storm, National Guard units often traveled by rail from their home states to be deployed.

Plus, the United States has the Interstate Highway System, very practical for driving wheeled vehicles across the country. Unfortunately, the story that one mile out of every five must be straight so that planes can land on the highway is false.

Heavy armor isn't easy to transport by air. The C-5 Galaxy, the US military's largest cargo plane, can carry 270,000 pounds. Sounds like a lot...until you realize that's only enough to carry two M1 Abrams tanks. Still, cargo planes operated by the Air Mobility Command can quickly move lighter stuff, like troops, trucks, and supplies.


C-5 Galaxy. Omnomnom

Being that it's me writing this blog, you probably already guessed that ships are where it's at. The Military Sealift Command operates transports, tankers, and the ships that let Navy vessels resupply at sea. They can be owned by the military or leased from civilians.

And here's a cool tidbit: the Maritime Prepositioning Ship. They sit around loaded with vehicles and weapons until they are needed. They are in the Mediteranian, Diego Garcia, and Guam. When war breaks out you just add troops and they're ready to go.

How can we take this further? That's right - floating seabases! A cargo ship pulls up to a Mobile Landing Platform and unloads its cargo, which is then transferred to landing craft. This provides a staging point for military operations and also lets you unload cargo ships without needing to capture a port. Of course, amphibious operations is a whole other blog.


Concept of the Mobile Landing Platform. Yeah, they're calling it the MLP!

I've never been so excited about shipping things.

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Comments ( 26 )

Maximum overship.

welp... now im waiting on a war fic that involves an MLP filled with MLPs

I've never been so excited about shipping things.

Yet you haven't shipped the ships yet, if you know what I mean. :trollestia:

"S-seabase-kun~"

Getting people, equipment, and supplies to the battlefield takes a lot of planning and logistics.

This also applies to pony-cons.

Unfortunately, the story that one mile out of every five must be straight so that planes can land on the highway is false.

The way I heard it is that the mile must be straight so convoys can turn around more easily.

Air transport is best suited for stuff that is low mass, high value, like soldiers. Also, the fact that soldiers like to be FED every once in a while means slower methods of transport don't work as well.

1542444 Sadie Hawkins Fleet Training Exercise

jz1

And no, I'm not talking about that one time when Reagan and Gorbachev had a bodybuilding competition.

Did that really happen?

1542460
It sounds like Teddy Roosevelt would come back from the dead just to do so.

Damn. You're like the naval version of The Chieftain.

Which one of those is the MLP? Because the civilian-looking one seems to be designed by MC Escher and has landing crafts coming off of it. Or is kneeling like that a standard feature of cargo ships?

I've never been so excited about shipping things.

That was so bad but so good.

Damn, and here I was jus' about to turn in for the night! Anyways, thanks for sharin' these lil' quick gems of information. I'm always lookin' out to expand my knowledge of all things Military.

1542622 The MLP is the flat one. Yeah, it ballasts down so it gets closer to the surface of the water. Here's the real thing:
c.gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/966955_621980074497116_1992546511_o.jpg

You just know some clown is going to nick those 'The pony' and it's gonna stick, cause that rolls of the tongue a helluva lot easier than 'the mlp'

I always thought the pictures of the heavy lift freighters carrying damaged destroyers was one of the most ridiculous things I ever saw.

Also, you're the one that said shipping is magic :derpytongue2:.

1542763
The workhorse of Navy shipping operations :trollestia:.

With the trains that was one of the advantages the Union had in the Civil War, they had the most extensive rail network.

Also isn't there a saying: "Amateurs discuss tactics, Professionals discuss logistics"

1542974 I was wondering when someone was going to quote that.

1543089
Still it makes sense, I think that is one thing many of the military in Equestria fics forget that things like ammo and battery packs don't grow on trees.

Have you heard of the Prince Rodger series?

1543089
Was thinking about quoting that. First heard that line from an Eric Flint novel, except it was "study."
If I were feeling profound, I'd say that logistics is the art of knowing what you need, knowing how to get it, and knowing how to move it to where you need it.

1543160
Without going into too much detail, the basic idea is that the aforementioned prince and his guards must cross an entire planet to get to the space port while fighting the native plants and fauna while carrying a limited supply of ammo and power packs from their armor and guns.

My Sea Scout (BSA) Skipper is (as of right now) a part of the Martine Preposition Ship, in Deigo Garcia (was he is on his way back). The ship is for a Marine Battalion and contains everything they need for 30-90 days; equipment, consumables, food, medical supplies, vehicles, etc.

He said it is very boring. Routine (but important) engine and cargo checks.

He is on his way back now. ETA: end of July/beginning of August

2256357 That's interesting, but may I direct your attention to this blog

2256361 Read it. But I didnot say who he is, what ship he is on, what Marine battalion it is, what specific cargo, or where he will be coming in to port. Also he is not military.

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