This was a great little article about a topic we hear little of. When Iraq finishes up, what are we going to do with all that stuff over there? Personally, I would like to see us re-use most of that equipment, and take it into our other theaters of operation. Unfortunately, cost will dictate what we do with these items. The question to ask, is it more beneficial to scrap or sell that stuff locally, or pay the costs in fuel and shipping to get it to another location and reuse it? My thoughts are that we should be reusing this stuff, but the fact of the matter is is that a lot of stuff was built by the lowest bidder and is just crap. The parts on these facilities are substandard and are not universally used on all equipment, and the facilities themselves are not really quality products that could be used long term. Which brings me to my next point.
Equipment we use in the war zones should be built to last, and built to be reusable and interchangeable with other equipment. I like the Southwest Airlines concept of one plane, one set of parts, and universal maintenance and knowledge about that plane. We should be applying the same concept to logistics in today’s wars. If we are using ten different types of tents, then that requires ten different types of parts, and a repair facility that knows how to repair all ten. Same thing with trailer facilities over in Iraq.
The shower trailers, for example, should all be constructed to the same standard and design specifications. The intent is that a repair specialist(military or civilian)in Al Asad Air Base should be able to check out a Balad Air Base shower trailer and say this is familiar and I can repair this. That they have the parts available, because the parts are universally used throughout the world. The designs should be simple, durable, dependable, transportable, and have parts that are interchangeable with other units. We should be making shower trailers and other facilities more like the AK-47 Assault Rifle. It would cost less in the long run, it would free up the time of the military or civilians tasked with repairing these things, and this equipment could follow us where ever we go out there. And I don’t see this war ending anytime soon. The concept of the Forward Operating Base(FOB) or mini-camp will continue to be a common theme, and especially if our generals continue pounding on the theme of not commuting to your office. Small camps are essential to fighting in today’s 4th and 5th generation type wars.