Military Fuel Consumption
I'm in the early stages of a project on how the military uses fuel, and how that shapes the force and the way they fight.
I first became interested in the project after I read a pair of reports by the Defense Science Board. Collectively, they argue that fuel isn't only a tremendous cost for the military, but also a logistical burden, since 50% of the Army is logistics and 70% of what they carry by weight is JP8.
The argument, of course, is that reducing fuel consumption in end use (MFE units) has a disporportionate effect on support units, especially as as much as half of the fuel used in theater is used to deliver more fuel.
In other words, reducing fuel consumption (without sacrificing other performance) may be a way to sharpen the tooth to tail ratio.
I'd welcome any assistance or guidance that any of you can give on these topics, as well as the single fuel concept, the burdened cost of fuel, future vehicle design etc, or anything else that you may find salient.
I'll be building a bibliography today and perhaps I can add that to this thread later, if anyone is interested.
Have you thought about reading
official histories of, say, Desert Storm, or OIF I, and then trying to extrapolate fuel requirements from them? I think, also, OIF I's official history has a footnote on the Red Ball Express (I think Van Creveld also references it as an example of diminishing returns at the end of his book on logistics). You might also want to look at Pagonis, "Moving Mountains" (I think that's what it's called).
Thanks
Jeff
Heh, Well if that means you wiil be at a later date
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Originally Posted by
SethB
Scmedlap, I'm not in the Army (yet) but some of the stories I hear sound rather absurd to me.
Allow me to welcome you on your transition from the absurd to the sublime...
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Units throwing good equipment away so they don't have to take it back...
Wait until you're told to destroy some seemingly important or expensive stuff because it's cheaper to do that than it is to ship it back to the States. That's pretty much guaranteed to happen... :D
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... while others run the roads to bring things in. Big screen TVs, of course running on electricity that comes from diesel that was run across the roads, again. Units dumping diesel in the desert.
All true and all dedicated to ensure that Joe lives as well overseas (or better) that he does at home. ;)
As sapperfitz82 said on another thread:
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""Quite simply, the standard of living at war has never been better, the tours have never been shorter (for this duration a war) and we are still saying “not good enough?” We need a history lesson and the Indian wars of the sub-continent and the American west are in order.""
Sounds right to me...
Back to you:
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But I'll start with something that's a little easier to count. Even though for a long time (I don't know about now) 30% of all cargo carried was bottled water.
That's due in large part to the fact that its cheaper and easier to transport than bulk water -- and to the fact that bulk water in COIN operations frequently is made, er, ummm -- unwholesome is a good word -- by the bad guys when they can get to it -- which is usually. Fortunately, the Germans have found the way ahead LINK.
Guy I know after Desert Storm ended
was told to dispose of by burning a slew of old M5 Aidman's Kit Bags complete with all supplies and drugs. He tried to give 'em away, US units, Saudi units, other folks, got a few takers but he still ended up burning most of them, around 20 IIRC. He was upset; he's older and more cynical but wiser now. My vague recollection is that back in the '70s an M5 Kit cost about a thousand bucks including the Morphine, Dextro-Amphetamine sulfate and other drugs...:wry:
Same guy, in Afghanistan not long ago, decided he wanted and needed a mortar, picked up from K-town a 60 and a 120, carried and used them for a year and then returned 'em to the dump when his unit left. Said there was almost anything one might want laying about. Some things don't change much...
Todays tales pale into insignificance compared to the amount of rolling stock, engineer equipment, weapons, clothing and so forth just dumped into the Marianas Trench after WW II, literally many dozens of LST loads pushed out the open bow doors and off the ramp by a couple or three D8s at the aft end of the Tank deck -- cheaper than bringing it from all over the Pacific back to CONUS.