Maritime assets in place to support rapid force projection. (U.S. Transcom Commander).Gen. Tony Robertson, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Transportation Command, has a favorite story he likes to tell about sealift sea·lift tr.v. sea·lift·ed, sea·lift·ing, sea·lifts To transport (troops or supplies) by sea, as when ground or air routes are blocked. n. A system or an instance of such transport. capability. In Operation Desert Storm Noun 1. Operation Desert Storm - the United States and its allies defeated Iraq in a ground war that lasted 100 hours (1991) Gulf War, Persian Gulf War - a war fought between Iraq and a coalition led by the United States that freed Kuwait from Iraqi invaders; , it took 205 days to move five Army divisions. Now, maritime assets are in place for the Military Traffic Management Command A major command of the US Army, and the US Transportation Command's component command responsible for designated continental United States land transportation as well as common-user water terminal and traffic management service to deploy, employ, sustain, and redeploy US forces on a to move the same size Army force in 30 days. "That's called velocity," said Robertson. Robertson spoke at the June 19 meeting of the Washington Chapter of the National Defense Transportation Association. Maritime strength is based on the availability of both commercial vessels A commercial vessel is defined by the United States Coast Guard as any vessel (i.e. boat or ship) engaged in commercial trade or that carries passengers for hire. This would exclude pleasure craft that do not carry passengers for hire or warships. and Military Sealift Command ships This is a list of Military Sealift Command ships. Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force
"We maintain very sound commercial partnerships with U.S. Flag carriers," said Robertson. "The commercial fleet is healthy and incentivized." Meanwhile, said Robertson, by Oct. 1, the U.S. Navy will have 4.6 million square feet of space in the Afloat Preposition preposition, in English, the part of speech embracing a small number of words used before nouns and pronouns to connect them to the preceding material, e.g., of, in, and about. program. "We have to get it there faster and reduce customer waiting time," said Robertson. "What that means is more transportation." Robertson said having sufficient transportation platforms remains a challenge. "We're a one-major-war mobility force, supporting two nearly simultaneous major regional conflicts," said Robertson. "Efficiency is our watchword," said Robertson. "That's why we're trying to derive as much as we can from each component." The movement of military freight by air in a contingency is a much greater challenge, said Robertson. "The challenge is the Air Force (cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft is an airplane designed and used for the carriage of goods, rather than passengers. This role demands a number of features that makes a cargo aircraft instantly identifiable; a "fat" looking fuselage, a high-wing to allow the cargo area to sit near the ground, a )," said Robertson. "Our C-141 aircraft are being retired at twice the rate of the new C-17s corning on line. We're 10 percent short from an airlift perspective for rapid response in theater." Robertson, finishing his third year at the U.S. Transportation Command, said the assignment is the longest in his career. The veteran Air Force general said the job satisfaction is enormous. "Hardly a week goes by where the Defense Transportation System is celebrating another success," he said. |
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