Friday, August 1, 2014

PODA weapons devolution 3


PODA WEAPONS DEVOLUTION 3

Logistics

The old saw on amateurs studying strategy and professionals studying logistics is one of those that everyone has heard of yet nobody can be bothered with because it just ain’t very cool.  The guy that figures out how to trap the enemy into a corner and then proceeds to blast each and every body into subatomic particles using several tons of explosives per pound of flesh is oohed and awed  by his compatriots and bought drinks at the officers club and given bright shiny metals like some of those weird Soviet dudes who were so bejeweled with awards they seriously listed to the left and yet the guy that figured out how to get all those bombs past the Hippie protesters and on to a ship past striking longshoreman and through a storm and then unloaded under enemy mortar fire and through the jungle on trucks past ambushes and then probably on to helicopters was just some Poindexter with thick framed glasses who was thin and weak chinned  and got no respect and was only the towel boy in High School football and the jocks threw spitballs at the back of his oily head.  And yet, even THAT ain’t logistics.  That is a transportation problem that most brilliant military commanders have solved-and there are few enough of them out there that history has got a record on most of them.  They call that logistics, and it is.  But TRUE logistics is at a whole other level, that of not transportation but of production.

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I’m not trying to redefine that which is more than adequately labeled but merely trying to get you to see a difference between the means of production and the means of moving that production.  Without one you can’t have another and both are essential.  For instance, Germany has a wonderful system of rivers which are a real advantage in low cost and low energy logistics.  Then they militarized their rail production early on to compliment the previous water system.  But because they have always been a resource poor nation ( they have ore and coal but not in the quantities needed to compete with a lot of other nations jockeying for power and certainly no where near their neighbor Russia- of course, NOBODY uses their limited resources as smartly as the Germans do, probably not even the Japanese ), and because they have no natural defenses they must always be offensively minded  ( which is not the greatest mix of problems to have ), they are always going to be at a disadvantage.  Resources must be there, they must be well managed, and they must be transported intelligently and timely.  That is logistics.  First, you must have the needed materials.  Second, you need to extract/form them ( and those two must have an infrastructure installed to do so, part of the cost of logistics ).  Third, what is traditionally thought of logistics, the getting stuff over yonder. 

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2 comments:

  1. Speaking of Germany - they are slated to be almost completely green energy (aka not fossil fuels) in the near future- I think the figures discount major industrial infrastructure or transport or something, but it still shows a great deal of forward thinking on their part. Given their rail system, river system, and even their highway system (designed for less required maintenance than ours) and their current status as Europe's economic powerhouse, Germany stands in a good position for wise leadership to guide them through the collapse more gently than most.

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    1. Agreed. As long as they keep trade open with China for replacement parts ( I'm assuming their alt energy isn't home grown )

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