Tooth-to-Tail: Proven Importance of Military Logistics


David vs. Goliath

I live in Ukraine. That says a lot nowadays. 

It's taken me a month to return to this blog. My thoughts are still all over the place. 

I'd instead write about modern Ukrainian war heroes or civilian martyrs, who dedicated their lives to protecting our country's freedom from the most unfair, tragic, and destructive invasion russia subjected us to.

Yet, this article is about that dimension of war, which touches the professional side of mine. 

It's about the proven importance of military logistics.

Infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars (c) John Pershing

Speaking of the Ukrainian or any other military encounter, we're still comparing the rosters and machinery of opposing armies. 

In fact, we only look at 1/3 of the overwater iceberg. 

With the development of modern technologies and the complexity of operations, the "tooth-to-tail" ratio makes as much importance as the firepower, if not more.

Tooth-to-tail ratio (T3R)

T3R means the proportion between combating and supporting troops. 

Once I heard that russia deployed 190,000 soldiers to destroy my country, I only thought about that many blood-hungry bastards in the frontline. 

In fact, some of them aren't engaged in a direct encounter, which is natural.

Yet, even more of them aren't meant to fight at all, but
  • supply,
  • maintain and repair, 
  • service,
  • dispose of explosive ordnance, 
  • transport,
  • engineer, 
  • evacuate casualties, 
  • budget and finance.
The T3R ratio could reach one combatant supported by 5-8 "back office"militants.

Altogether with the unprecedented commitment and unity of the Ukrainian people, a better T3R ratio of our troops and shorter supply lines should contribute to the eventual military success.

The destruction of some railways and many bridges leaves trucking as a primary means of transportation of fuel, food, and ammunition. The deeper russians invade the Ukrainian territory, the more complicated logistical aspects become. 

Our combat strategy gets effectively complemented with the partisan war on logistical channels, economic efforts to destroy global supply chains of critical military production components, political pressure to disrupt the war funding and procurement processes.

The aftermath of the military logistical paralysis

This war raised many prominent topics to revisit later. 

Alongside the modern weaponry, kits, and fleet, the country needs to consider the consistent investment into effective supply chain management capabilities of its armed forces. 

The following research on logistical aspects of combat operations explains that with transparent and objective figures. 

Eventually, we will amend this post after the war and elaborate on the importance of the supply chain profession for military operations. 

Meanwhile, I hope that logistical paralysis will be one of the nails in the coffin of russian invaders. It is an unspoken, invisible, highly contagious disease, which destroys supply lines and leaves barbarians cold, hungry, and unequipped in the deadly lands.    

 


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