“A fight to get to the fight”: Admiral instructs sealift officers on strategic importance of operational logistics

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – (Feb. 19, 2021) The second in command at U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) stressed the importance of logistics in today’s complex security environment during a course he gave for Strategic Sealift Officers (SSOs) Feb. 8.

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Dee Mewbourne, deputy commander, USTRANSCOM, gave a one-hour virtual presentation for the SSO community on operational logistics and logistics support in a contested environment. The discussion was a key part of the SSOs’ first-ever Senior Officer Leadership Symposium (SOLS), which ran Feb. 8-12, and it gave greater understanding on USTRANSCOM’s global role, particularly its vital missions across the world’s oceans.

“The character of logistics, like warfare itself, must adapt to the changing operational environment to remain relevant,” Mewbourne said. 

That changing character of war finds the United States in an era of a great power competition (GPC). With 85 percent of the Joint Force based in the continental U.S. and 90 percent of that force traveling by sea in the case of a potential conflict overseas, the seas upon which the ships sail will be like battlefields themselves, Mewbourne explained.

“There are several great powers, but America is the sole Super Power,” he said. “Only America can employ our entire Joint Force arsenal anywhere in the world.” 

SSOs – formerly the Merchant Marine (Naval) Reserve – are commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy who serve either through the Selected Reserves or the Strategic Sealift Readiness Group. They are assigned to reserve activities that support strategic sealift in times of national defense or emergency.

“The role of the SSO community is significant in GPC,” the admiral said, “because you will serve as a bridge between the operational naval forces and the U.S. Merchant Marine.”

Mewbourne has expertise in how that bridging works. Before joining USTRANSCOM, he was the 27th commander of Military Sealift Command, one of USTRANCOM’s three component commands. MSC is the premier provider of ocean transportation to the Department of Defense (DOD).

“Providing the DOD the ability to project and sustain a combat credible Joint Force globally and at the right scale at the time and place of our choosing,” Mewbourne told those attending the course, “requires delivering and sustaining combat power at the right time and place while staying aligned with the overall warfighting priorities.”

In greater detail, Mewbourne showed the SSOs a framework of winning logistics. First, it’s posturing nodes, routes, networks, access, basing and overflight. Second, it’s possessing the capacity and capability for planes, trains, trucks, ships, partner nation assets, commercial partners, and aerial refueling. Finally, it’s C2 integration, or command and control of mobility systems, cyber mission assurance and “exquisite” visibility and authority.

“This framework is scalable,” the admiral said, “from strategic to tactical levels of war.”

Analyzing joint logistics, Mewbourne again said the nature of logistics never changes but the character of logistics adapts to meet changes in the operating environment. Deployment, distribution and sustainment are the three pillars of logistics.

As Mewbourne wrapped up his presentation, he reminded the SSOs of key takeaways and ended with a discussion. Throughout his talk, the admiral used examples of logistics in past wars and quoted the likes of Alexander the Great, Albert Einstein, and Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, commander in chief, United States Fleet and chief of Naval Operations during World War II. He offered a reminder that since World War II up until now, the U.S. fleet has had freedom of the seas, sailing across the oceans, uncontested.

Yet in the GPC era, with SSOs using logistics to project power as part of USTRANSCOM’s mission, Mewbourne had a quote of his own he voiced more than once: “In future wars, there will be a fight to get to the fight.”

USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation's leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.