USTRANSCOM speaker discusses evolution of war
Hammes has lectured at U.S. and international staff and war colleges. He has published more than 90 articles and opinion pieces for the Washington Post, New York Times, Jane's Defence Weekly and assorted professional journals. He earned a doctorate in modern history from Oxford University and is the author of "The Sling and the Stone: On War in the Twenty-First Century."
During his 30 years in the Marine Corps, Hammes served at all levels, including command of a rifle company, weapons company, intelligence company, infantry battalion and the chemical biological incident response gorce. He is currently a senior research fellow with the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.
When asked what he thought of USTRANSCOM's mission and how it is affected by the current state of affairs in Iraq and Afghanistan he said, "TRANSCOM has to be more creative in this type of conflict because the threats are very different, and frankly, targeted on the transportation system. As we saw in the spring of 2004 offensive by the insurgents in Iraq, they went after the white trucks (the cabs of supply trucks operated by civilian contractors were painted white).
"Afghanistan is kind of an interesting situation," Hammes continued. "We would be hard-pressed to find another example in history where we were running out primary supply route through enemy territory. That takes creativity, both to make that work and to have a potential backup and a logistic fall-back position if that turns out badly.
"And somehow, TRANSCOM has come up with the solutions to those problems," he added.
While USTRANSCOM and its components continued to move supplies and personnel to war zones, the Haiti earthquake stuck and stretched USTRANSCOM logistical resources yet further.
"I think that the very fact that TRANSCOM can sustain two major wars and exercises around the world, and then take on the additional burden of a Haiti crisis," Hammes said. "I think that's a rather remarkable accomplishment."
For the future Hammes said, "The key is that there's going to have to be continued creativity because the threat is changing, emerging," Hammes continued. "And more and more (the enemy will be) going after transportation systems rather than combat forces.
"Innovation under stress or adaptation under stress," Hammed added. "And that's what conflict is."
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