This is the last section of the article I never finished.
Supply Categories
To make supply operations easier all supply items were placed into seven broad categories by the old SLDF. Their classification system has survived more or less in tact to this day in the various house military services. The SLDF system broke supplies down into a very intuitive system, although many categories have a bewildering array of subcategories.
Category Description
A Subsistence
B Clothing, Individual Equipment, Tents, Tools & Supplies
C Medical Equipment & Supplies
D Major End Items, Repair & Maintenance Parts, Lubricants
E Fuels
F Ammunition & Replacement Armor
G Construction & Barrier MaterialsAs its basic description suggests Category A consists solely of food and beverages. Everything from pallets of rations to kilo-sized packages of a particular spice can be found in most military services’ catalogs of Category A items.
Category B is the catch all category for any supply item that does not fit into the other six categories. Individual equipment is generally defined as anything a soldier might wear that is not clothing, such as load bearing gear, or use to accomplish his mission that is not a weapon, vehicle or large stand alone piece of equipment, such as a pen or communications device. If it improves his comfort level in the field, such as a camp stove, it is generally placed in the Individual Equipment category as well. A small but important subcategory within Category B is Hygiene Supplies. This category covers everyday items such as soap, toothpaste and razors. Most military services provide regular shipments of such supplies to their troops in the field via service packages designed to support a group of individuals for a certain length of time, usually two to four weeks. Service packs specifically for women are available in most services as well.
With the exception of the basic first aid kits all soldiers are issued, which are considered Individual Equipment, all medical equipment and supplies are found in Category C and controlled by a military service’s Medical Corps, and its own specialized medical supply system. Most medical supplies are moved forward to the combat units not by cargo trucks but by ambulance making the return trip after moving casualties to rear area hospital units.
Category D includes all major equipment and weapons, including small arms, as well as the parts and lubricants to maintain and repair them. Spare parts stockpiled within a unit as a generally rule are held at regiment level within as a part the regiment’s Unit Basic Load (UBL). Replacement Major End Items, such as a BattleMech are rarely held at or below the regiment level. This equipment is generally only made available to unit to replace battle losses long after a campaign due to their relative scarcity.
Category E covers all fuels, including liquid hydrogen for Aerospace Fighters and DropShips. Most military vehicles have engines designed to use multiple types of fuels but a logistician must pay attention to the various classes of fuels he has on hand and which vehicles can use it, and how it can affect the unit over all. Not a few logisticians have sabotaged their own efforts when they forgot that alcohol and natural gas based fuels reduce a vehicle’s potential range by up to 20%. Fuels are often transported by specialist fuel transport units, although some trucks can transport fuels in bladder type tanks, as well as other classes of supply items.
Category F covers all ammunition classes and pyrotechnic items, such as smoke grenades, as well as replacement armor. Category F items, like fuels, are normally transported separately from other supply classes, until there final journey with a field train for safety reasons.
Aside from coils of razor tape and barbed wire most Category G items are only brought forward to combat units when specifically requested outside of the regular supply convoy system due to the tonnages involved. Most construction and barrier materials a procured locally if possible: many different types of Construction Engineer units are dedicated solely the manufacture, transport and use of certain types of construction materials, such as asphalt, ferrocrette, gravel and sand.
Supply Requirements
Calculating the supply requirements for an army or even a small brigade can be a daunting task. To make it easier supply requirements are usually broken down into categories that match up with their respective supply categories.
Unit Basic Loads
All units start a war with a basic load of equipment, ammunition, fuel and subsistence, what a unit’s basic load consists of, however, depends on the unit’s type, the military service it is a part of, and its supply priority, but most services follow several basic guidelines that date back to the old SLDF, when establishing a unit basic load (UBL). All units, as a rule head into battle with full ammunition bins and topped off fuel tanks, if at all possible. They will also have several days’ worth of subsistence, rations and water, at hand. Many vehicles crews, mechanized infantry and MechWarriors will carry as many cases of rations and bottles of water as they possibly can on board their war machines, while foot infantry usually pack around, at a minimum three days’ worth of combat rations, rather than heavier field rations. BattleMech units often have an extra reserve of ammunition carried by their technical support crews, since so few ‘Mechs have sufficient reserves of it for more than a firefight or two.
Most units also have a small reserve supply of high demand items, but the logistician must balance necessity with responsiveness; the UBL must be carefully selected based on need to avoid loading the unit down with equipment and other supply items it might not need. It should also be understood that a UBL is intended to sustain the unit during the first engagement or two, not an entire campaign. Once a unit is engaged it must estimate its future requirements and transmit them to higher authority. They in turn must determine what can be provided and supply it to the unit. Common UBL items include maintenance and repair kits for vehicles and BattleMechs, which allow techs and mechanics to conduct maintenance and minor repairs in the field, most infantry units include a few field kits in their UBL.
Subsistence
Subsistence, as noted earlier, consists of the food and water requirements for an army. Although it is the most important category of supply, overall it is among the smallest, by mass. Most military services plan to providing three meals per day to its soldiers when in the field, what type of meals are provided depends on conditions. As a general rule most services plan on providing 9 to 15 kg per soldier per day of subsistence, which includes his basic water requirements. Most services base the ration mass on their standard field ration (MRE) mass.
Individual Equipment
Individual equipment covers a wide range of gear for the soldier. For logistics purposes, when calculating individual equipment requirements only service packages and clothing items are counted. Most other individual equipment comes forward to the combat troops specifically requisitioned replacement equipment. Most services calculate about 0.25 kg per soldier per day for Individual Equipment logistic loads to soldiers on the front lines.
