I agree with you Fuchs, logistics is a neglected study. Long may it remain so, too - is anything more uninteresting and boring than a supply officer talking about his problems?

My main interest in the matter is the extent to which we can 'disown' our logistics chain from our military. Contracting has been a never-ending tale of woe and disaster from what I have heard and seen, yet it remains an attractive course for many reasons.

I stumbled across this document which is related to the tooth-tail ratio (US specific, mind you): The Other end of the spear : the tooth-to-tail ratio (T3R) in modern military operations / John J. McGrath ( http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/download/cs...grath_op23.pdf )

I can't comment on the observations made or conclusions drawn as I have only scanned the doc and lack any real knowledge on the subject. It does deal with the teeth-tail ratio of US expeditionary forces from the AEF through to 2005 for those interested.