U.S. Army Creates Logistics Branch

WASHINGTON—Beginning Jan. 1, the U.S. Army will create a Logistics Branch and give a new primary military operational specialty—90A—to captains that will indicate multifunctional competence in transportation, quartermaster and ordnance areas.

Currently, there are three Army logistics schools: the Quartermaster School at Fort Lee, Va.; the Transportation School at Fort Eustis, Va.; and the Ordnance School at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. The officers of the three logistics regiments will be joined into a single branch to expand their abilities, Maj. Gen. Mitchell H. Stevenson, commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command.

"In the 21st century, we need logistics officers who are multifunctional—officers not just focused on particular fields in logistics, but who are competent in all those fields," said Maj. Gen. Stevenson.

"No longer is it enough to be skilled in one particular area," he said. "We have got to be good across the board. And, the more senior you get, the more we are going to focus you on enterprise organizations—where you are thinking not in terms of what is going on in your particular area or operation, but knowing how the entire supply chain works. You'll need to understand the effects of one part of the chain on another part of the chain.

"The commercial industry is now hiring and training supply-chain managers," he continued. “And, our logisticians also need to be supply-chain managers. They must understand things like distribution centers, such as what the Defense Logistics Agency runs for all the services, and how they impact our ability to support operations in the middle of Northern Iraq."