Heres an overview by an Army Colonel(Ret.) with links at the end for those wishing to pursue the issue further.:
http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/JulAug03/know_about_marinecorps.htm
What Army Logisticians Should Know About the Marine Corps
by Lieutenant Colonel James C. Bates, USA (Ret.)
Joint task force logisticians who understand the logistics methods and capabilities of the U.S. Marine Corps can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics operations. This is especially important when one considers that accessing international seaports and foreign shores and providing security for forces transiting through them are ever-increasing concerns of military planners. As a result, joint logistics over-the-shore operations, which require both Navy and Marine Corps and Army forces, most likely will become more prevalent in the future, in both forced and permissive-entry environments.
This changing operational environment means that Army logisticians should be familiar with Marine Corps logistics. What follows is a brief overview of how the Marine Corps conducts logistics, with a specific emphasis on its logistics structure and doctrine. Soldiers serving as joint logistics planners should recognize the synergies involved in Army and Marine Corps operations and should work to streamline combat service support. Moreover, just as other services, agencies, and countries can learn from understanding U.S. Army logistics, the Army can adapt and improve its logistics processes by understanding and incorporating methods from others, like the Marine Corps.
Components of Joint Task Forces
U.S. military operations, regardless of whether they are small-scale peacekeeping operations or major regional conflicts, involve joint forces (provided by the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps) and are conducted under the overarching control of a regional combatant commanderformerly called a commander in chieffrom either the U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Southern Command, or, in some instances, the U.S. Special Operations Command.
The regional combatant commander appoints a joint task force commander, who directly oversees a joint task force (JTF). While the makeup of a JTF can vary (it could have service-specific subordinate commands, for example), it sometimes is composed of an air component command, a maritime component command, a special operations component command, and a land component command. The services provide forces to these component commanders. Typically, the Army and the Marine Corps constitute the land component command. Since these two services operate in the same area of operations, logisticians of one service might be able to use some of the combat service support assets of the other service in addition to their own; they also might tap into the logistics capabilities of joint, interagency, and multinational activities.
Marine Corps Force Structure
Like the Army, the Marine Corps has both an administrative and a deployed organizational structure. There are approximately 173,000 marines on active duty and 100,000 Marine Reservists; there are no Marine National Guard forces. In comparison, the Army has approximately 485,000 active-duty soldiers, 360,000 Na tional Guardsmen, and 200,000 Army Reservists.
The Marine Corps has three active Marine divisions (each with about 18,000 marines), three active Marine aircraft wings (each with about 15,000 marines and 300 aircraft), and three force service support groups (FSSGs), which have about 9,000 marines each. The FSSG is a permanently structured command consisting of eight battalions whose mission is to provide combat service support to Marine Corps forces worldwide.
Marines deploy as a Marine air ground task force (MAGTF), with marines providing their own aviation support. A MAGTF includes a command element, a ground combat element, an aviation combat element, and a combat service support element (CSSE).
MAGTFs deploy in three configurations: a Marine expeditionary force (MEF); a Marine expeditionary brigade (MEB); or a Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) special operations capable (SOC). As a general rule, an MEF has 50,000 marines and is commanded by a lieutenant general; an MEB has 16,000 marines and is commanded by a brigadier general; and an MEU has 2,200 marines and is commanded by a colonel.
An MEF consists of one or more of the following: an infantry division, which consists of three infantry regiments (with a total of nine infantry battalions in the
division); an artillery regiment (with four artillery battalions); a tank battalion; a light armored reconnaissance battalion; an amphibious assault battalion; a Marine
aircraft wing, which provides both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft; and an FSSG.
The Marine Corps has three MEF's: the I MEF is located on the U.S. west coast, the II MEF is located on the east coast, and the III MEF is located in Okinawa, Japan. Each of the MEFs has an MEB (the 1st MEB, the 2d MEB, and the 3d MEB, respectively). There also is a 4th MEB (Anti-terrorism), activated in September 2001, that provides antiterrorism support to regional combatant commanders worldwide.
Marine Corps Logistics Structure
The MAGTF's CSSE provides supply, maintenance, transportation, general engineering, health services, and services. Services include personnel administration; religious ministries support; financial management; disbursing; communications; billeting; messing; military bands; morale, welfare, and recreation activities; postal services; exchange services; security support; legal services; civil affairs; and graves registration.
Normally, there is one CSSE for each MAGTF. An FSSG is the CSSE that supports an MEF. A brigade service support group (BSSG) is the CSSE that supports an MEB. A Marine expeditionary unit service support group (MSSG) is the CSSE that supports an MEU.
Maritime Pre-positioning
Also supporting the MEFs is the Maritime Pre-positioning Force, which is operated by the Navy's Military Sealift Command. The Maritime Pre-positioning Force currently is composed of 14 maritime pre-positioning ships that carry nearly all of the equipment and supplies deploying marines need to conduct operations. The Maritime Pre-positioning Force is divided into three Maritime Pre-positioning Ship Squadrons (MPSRONs). MPSRON One is usually on duty in the Atlantic Ocean or Mediterranean Sea. MPSRON Two is usually located near the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. MPSRON Three is usually stationed near Guam or Saipan in the Western Pacific Ocean.
When MPSRON ships are needed, they transport their equipment and supply loads to a relatively secure environment for offloading either in port or at sea. Deploying marines, normally arriving at nearby airfields, offload the supplies and equipment from the MPSRON. One maritime pre-positioning ship can support an MEU. One MPSRON (four to five ships) can support an MEB for 30 days. All three MPSRONs combined (14 ships) can support an MEF. The chart at left shows a partial list of the impressive amount of supplies and equipment found on the ships of one MPSRON.
Wholesale-Level Logistics and Research
Like the Army, the Marine Corps, in conjunction with the Navy, is in the process of transforming itself in order to exploit our Nation's technological and doctrinal advances. Concepts associated with the Operational Maneuver from the Sea vision include enhanced joint, sea-based capabilities that will use high-speed support vessels, floating forward staging bases, and Maritime Pre-positioned Force-Future ships. These future assets will provide platforms where troops can marry up with their equipment, both during deployments and during periods of reconstitution. A floating logistics base provides several advantages. It can remain safely over the horizon until needed; it can be moved relatively quickly to other locations, such as sparsely defended enemy coastal areas; and it can reduce the amount of supplies and equipment needed ashore, thereby expediting the redeployment process at the tactical level.
At the strategic level of supply, the Marine Corps oversees the Marine Corps Materiel Command (MATCOM). Similar in purpose but smaller in size than the Army Materiel Command, MATCOM commands the Marine Corps logistics bases at Albany, Georgia (site of MATCOM Headquarters), and Barstow, California. Blount Island, Florida, is a Marine Corps depot subordinate to the logistics base at Albany.
MATCOM also oversees the Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. MARCORSYSCOM's mission is to provide life-cycle management of Marine Corps ground weapon systems, equipment, munitions, and information systems to ensure materiel readiness of its forces in the field. It serves as the principal agent for equipping marines for their warfighting mission.
To learn more about Marine Corps logistics doctrine, visit the 4-series Marine Corps Warfighting and Reference Publications at
https://www.doctrine.usmc.mil/htm/doc9.htm. The Marine Corps offers formal logistics training at the Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools (MCCSSS), which are located at Camp Johnson, 5 miles from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The schools provide combat service support training for marine officers, noncommissioned officers, and junior enlisted personnel. Its Web site is
www.lejeune.usmc.mil/mccsss/schools.htm.
As the Department of Defense and the armed services transform into an ever more efficient military force through the use of advanced joint doctrine and warfare, those Army logisticians who understand the implications and potential for interservice logistics planning and operations will be in a better position to have a positive influence on future combat service support. Soldiers must know all about their comrades in arms in the Marine Corps. ALOG
Lieutenant Colonel James C. Bates, USA (Ret.), is a former Army logistics officer who works for Alion Science and Technology. He currently serves as a sustainment planner for the U.S. Joint Forces Command, J*9 Transformation Office, in Suffolk, Virginia. The author wishes to thank Lieutenant Colonel James Washington, USMC (Ret.), for his invaluable assistance in writing this article.