Dominant Logistics
Force Sustainment Detachments
As one can easily note from my other articles on force structures, I believe that much of the sustainment infrastructure should be removed from the force to enhance our logistics and sustainment capabilities. But this poses an obvious problem for those situations where extended operations are involved. There is only so long a soldier can eat MREs and only so long one can operate effectively without a good shower. For extended operations, there is a point at which extended sustainment capabilities are not optional, they are mandatory.
But it should also be noted that these same capabilities are what are required to perform most types of humanitarian missions. Whether it is temporary housing, clean water, or a hot meal, these missions are the same whether supporting a combat force, providing aid to flood stricken areas, or supporting populations devastated by earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes. Consequently, it would be prudent to develop Force Sustainment Detachments equipped with appropriate systems to carry out these missions for and on behalf of the larger military force.
A Force Sustainment Detachment should be outfitted with all of the necessary gear and materials to sustain a battalion-size unit over a long period of time, if not indefinitely. For shorter periods of time, such as humanitarian missions, these units can support larger groups of up to about 1000 people. Deployed units would have an assigned FSD to provide field sustainment on extended deployments.
Field Housing Section
The first need that must be addressed is providing appropriate shelter. The Field Housing Section should be equipped with TSV-compatible pallets that are stackable for deployment but expand to provide a respectable shelter of 12' X 16' in area. Permanently mounted to the floor should be raised platforms to serve as cots with storage drawers underneath while a wash basin and connections for power and communications are permanently mounted to the rear wall. This should be something on the lines of a militarized expandable camper. For extended periods, this pallet should sleep six while eight can be accomodated for shorter periods. In total, the section should have 160 of these pallets along with eight TSVs to position and arrange the housing units.
Field Mess Section
The Field Mess Section should be outfitted with two PLS-equipped Garrison Support Vehicles with compatible trailers. The trailers will hold field kitchens while the GSVs provide power and storage. This section should also have four TSVs for support and distribution of food to displaced elements.
Field Water Section
The Field Water Section would consist of palletized versions of existing ROWPU systems as well as transport vehicles. The transport vehicles should be MHE-equipped GSVs using a pallet that will hold water storage tanks. Instead of trailer-mounted water buffaloes, this water distribution network will be based upon fixed site tanks that will be swapped out using the MHE crane on the GSV. The delivery trucks will pick up pallets of filled tanks from the ROWPU, deliver the tanks to various sites while retrieving empty tanks, return to the ROWPU, swap pallets and repeat the process again. For a unit of this size, the ROWPU will likely be assigned to a higher echelon unit but the transport vehicle will be assigned to the Field Water Section.
Field Latrine Section
Few things are more critical in the field than latrines and their appropriate maintenance. A latrine pallet should feature an expandable pallet with two accessible sides that each has three stalls for a total of six stalls per pallet. These reside on a waste storage tank while the expandible walls include mirrors and shelfs for personal hygiene. The roof should include a high pressure piping system for self-cleaning with an attached water supply. An accompanying pallet should feature a waste storage tank with high capacity. Waste storage tank mounts on a TSV while a GSV with trailer carries two latrine pallets to complete the section.
Field Shower Section
As with latrines, we will have two shower pallets along with a supporting water supply pallet, with the TSV carrying the support pallet and a GSV with trailer carrying the shower units. As with the latrine pallet, the shower pallet is expandable and features three stalls per side for a total of six shower stalls per pallet.
The typical arrangement for shower and latrine pallets will be to dig a trench and pile the dirt to one side. For the latrines, the pallets sit on the high side while the waste tank sits in the trench. For showers, the pallets sit in the trench while the supply tank sits on the berm.
If we were to field the SkyCat 1000 airships, as shown elsewhere we can typically deploy a battalion in a single airship load. For those deployments where it is necessary, the second trip for each airship can deliver the Field Sustainment Detachment to support that battalion as all of the FSDs gear and materials should fit in a single SkyCat load.
Moreover, the FSD can also augment local security to reduce guard duty requirements for the deployed units. While the detachment isn't very large, it does include 14 TSVs that can be used in defensive roles. Typically, the bulk of these units will reside in the National Guard but enough to support at least four divisions should be retained on active duty for normal mission requirements. In an ideal world, these units would not be part of the Army at all and would be placed within a Department of Logistics instead.