The United States Department of Defense is the world’s largest employer—full stop. Between active
duty troops, civilian staffers, and National Guard personnel, nearly three-million employees sit on
its roster, but uniquely, these staff work all around the world, on a rotating basis.
The global nature of the world’s best-funded military necessitates a transportation network
rivaling legitimate, well-known airlines and ocean-shipping companies, yet exclusively
used and experienced by those three million or so individuals employed by the US DOD.
The core of the passenger system is based here—BWI airport between Baltimore, Maryland and
the nation’s capital, Washington DC. This is the busiest hub for the military’s so-called “Patriot
Express” airline. Nearly nightly, a flight leaves to either Thule Air Base, Greenland; Ramstein Air
Base, Germany; Incirlik Air Base, Turkey; Kuwait International Airport; or Al Udeid Air Base,
Qatar. Passengers—typically DOD personnel or, if relocating to a base that allows families,
their spouses and children—check in at desks just as they’d do flying United, Delta, or American,
but with an extra early cutoff of two hours and twenty minutes before departure. They then head
through regular security, and go to a regular gate in terminal E. Next, they board through
a regular jet bridge onto an aircraft operated by a member of a unique collection of airlines.
The scale of air passenger demand by the DOD is significant enough that whole charter airlines
have arisen that are significantly if not entirely financially reliant on operating Patriot Express
flights on behalf of the government—Atlas Air, National Airlines, and Omni Air International
among them. With the goal of minimizing travel costs for the DOD but also enabling staff outside
of combat zones to travel home more frequently on a discretionary basis, the Patriot Express program
lowers the relative distance between American military bases and the mainland United States and
vice versa—even to the extent of allowing a wider range of pets onboard than commercial airlines.
The military enables this relative connectivity by operating a space-available system. People
who need to travel to get to or from their deployments get guaranteed seats booked in
advance. But for staff who just want to travel for non-job reasons, they can have any seat
left on a flight for free just by adding their name to a list via a website or app,
then showing up to the airport on the day of its departure hoping for the best. A priority system
is used to rank house hunting trips, for example, as more important than the travel of retired but
still Space-A eligible veterans, and any available seats are allocated based on this order. The
system is regularly used for discretionary travel originating both from staff stationed
abroad and vice versa. There are entire blogs and YouTube channels dedicated to advising eligible
Space-A travelers as to the best techniques and strategies for using the system for vacations.
Military families regularly start their summer Europe trips by taking a Southwest flight to BWI,
then hoping for the best while waiting to see if they cleared the list for the evening’s flight to
Ramstein Air Base. And once they successfully make it to the other side of the Atlantic,
another surprisingly accommodating venture of the DOD awaits them: the Ramstein Inn.
Sitting directly opposite the air base’s polished glass passenger terminal, the towering hotel,
operated by the DOD’s Air Force services agency, offers hundreds of rooms at reasonable rates only
to eligible current or former DOD personnel and invited guests. It’s part of a large,
global collection of hospitality sites offered by the United States Department of Defense. Each
branch of the military operates a network of similar hotels on their bases, and some purely
recreational sites even exist to offer personnel both at home but especially abroad low-cost and
American-styled rest and relaxation opportunities. Nestled in the outskirts of Naples, Italy,
for example, a mere 30 minute drive from the 8,000 personnel-strong Naval Support Activity complex,
sits a recreation wonderland nestled in the hollow of a dormant volcano. Upon driving through the
narrow gates, the view opens up to an approximate recreation of a well-appointed American park,
featuring an olympic size swimming pool; a spattering of picnic pavilions, camping sites, and
rental cabins; a collection of softball, baseball, football, soccer, basketball, volleyball,
tennis, and paintball fields and courts; and a wooded 9-hole golf course with a pro shop and
clubhouse—a picturesque slice of Italy available exclusively to military-aligned Americans.
But the Patriot Express is just one aspect of the massive, global, US Defense Transportation System.
The DOD ties its assets and systems together with the United States Transport Command,
headquartered at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. Under its banner, and co-located on the same base,
is Air Mobility Command—a major command of the US Air Force. Now, Air Mobility Command does hold
a massive fleet of hundreds of C-5, C-17, and C-130s, and while these aircraft and their crew
regularly train, provide humanitarian assistance, and move some cargo through the US’ global network
of bases during peacetime, they primarily exist for the eventuality of battlefield use.
They’re not there to move regular pallets from Dover to Ramstein, they’re there to move critical,
life-or-death supplies into a war-zone. For the more day-to-day job of supplying the DOD’s
global footprint, the military mostly relies on commercial cargo airlines, some of which, such as
Atlas Air, are the exact same as those operating Patriot Express flights. But to earn the right
to this business, US-flagged airlines sign up to participate in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet—dozens
of the country’s largest airlines have committed 40% of their fleets to the program, meaning should
the need arise, these aircraft and four crews each would be fully dedicated to military service.
While the bulk of the 450 aircraft would only ever be called up in a rare full-scale
mobilization of the US military, smaller capacity crunches have arisen throughout
the years that have necessitated use of the air fleet. The fleet was first activated to transport
massive numbers of troops to and from theater during the opening of the Gulf and Iraq wars,
and then was used for a third time to accommodate the massive number of refugees airlifted out
of Kabul during the final days of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. The very aircraft
that carry the general public each and every day to, from, and within the US were sent as far as
Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to transport evacuees to intermediary stops at American bases in Europe
and eventually the US where other, short-haul Civil Reserve Air Fleet aircraft shuttled them
to their final destinations within the country. In exchange for prioritizing their fleet for
whatever the DOD deems necessary, these same airlines get priority in receiving
a portion of the hundreds of millions of dollars in annual DOD passenger and cargo
transportation contracts. But air cargo needs in peacetime are relatively minimal,
because little is regularly time-sensitive enough to justify its additional cost over
more traditional means of freight transport. The key with this system, and nearly all aspects
of the Defense Transportation System, is that it’s designed around the recognition that,
at any moment, the world could change in a way that necessitates, or at least leads to, a massive
mobilization of the US military, and therefore a massive mobilization of its people and supplies.
When that does occur, the DOD largely leans on the full capacity of its Patriot Express operators,
the civil reserve air fleet, and its own aircraft to get fighters to the front
lines. But getting soldiers to far-flung conflict areas is only half the battle;
they need supplies, and moving everything from trucks and ammunition to bed rolls and toilet
paper across the world by air is anything but efficient. So, rather than shipping
an armored Humvee from South Bend, Indiana to Kabul, Afghanistan, or a tank part from Lima,
Ohio, to Camp Carroll, South Korea, members of the armed forces simply pull them from a
regional stock pile that had been carefully built up and positioned years in advance.
One of the earliest advantages a country can gain in a conflict is control of the skies,
as this can help protect and optimize operations on the ground. Therefore, setting up a functional
in-theater air base is high in the order of operations, which is why the Basic
Expeditionary Airfield Resources program exists. An airbase involves a lot more than a runway,
but thanks to the BEAR program, the US Air Force can quickly build one out of just a
runway. Once that’s acquired, either peacefully or through force, the military can start flying
in BEAR resources from their storage locations around the world on standard C-17 cargo planes.
These resources are all pre-packaged and ready for transport so they can go out at a moment’s notice,
and are specifically sized for rapid, aircraft transport. Each package of resources is roughly
designed to accommodate 250 people so that if the base is going to accommodate about
1,000 personnel, for example, they just have to multiply the basic configuration by four.
Resources are organized into Unit Type Codes, or UTCs, that group individual supplies based
on their intended use. For example, a BEAR deployment’s foundational configuration
includes the XFA14 Combat Air Forces Initial UTC, which is composed of eight small shelters,
eight medium shelters, eight 25 kilowatt power distribution panels, sixteen fire extinguishers,
two sets of miscellaneous spare parts, one generator, and one set of generator wheels.
Other foundational UTCs would also get sent out first, like XFA17: Water Distribution Initial,
XFA3C: Mobility Air Forces Initial, and XFALS: Self Help Laundry, which includes two small
shelters, ten washers, ten dryers, four water heaters, four fire extinguishers, and all the
necessary plumbing and electrical supplies. But others are designed to augment the base kit and
only go out when needed, like XFACW, which acts as a cold-weather kit including twelve 130k heaters,
twelve exhaust pipes, and twenty-four air ducts. Each individual BEAR resource is designed to
be assembled quickly—they’re not for building a permanent air-base, they’re for quickly cobbling
one together when the need is most pressing. For example, the Small Shelter System is rated for
90-minute assembly by a team of six; the massive, cavernous Large Area Maintenance Shelter can go
up with ten people in thirty hours; while the Single-Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen can start
cooking for hundreds after just 90-minutes of assembly by four people. By adding on
more and more UTCs, the military can build out an air base with functions like postal service,
firefighting, chaplain services, water treatment, mortuary services, maintenance
operations, and more within a matter of days. But the Air Force’s advanced bases in a box
are only one example of how the military prepares for transport constraints on the day a war breaks
out. In order to project power, supply fighting forces in days rather than weeks, and rapidly set
a theater, the US Army has stashed thousands of vehicles, weapons, and general supplies in seven
separate Army Prepositioned Stocks, or APS’s—and these stocks are massive. Take, for example,
APS-5, located at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Overseen by the 401st Army Field Support Brigade and a cog
in American conflicts in the Middle East since the 1990s, the stockpile effectively allows the US to
enter a regional battlefield in a matter of days, and sustain the battle for a matter of months.
One of the Army’s largest physical operations, APS-5 stocks equipment for strategic abilities,
reserve vehicles and munitions to replace those broken and consumed on the battle front, and the
supplies required to outfit an Armored Brigade Combat Team, an Infantry Brigade Combat Team,
a Sustainment Brigade, a Fires Brigade, a Medical Support Element set, and an Army
Watercraft set—effectively, $5.5 billion worth of materials just in brigade sets. With so much gear,
the 401st Army Field Support Brigade’s time is entirely occupied by the regular maintenance on
the thousands of Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting vehicles, and the rest of the fleet stored in the
120 degree heat along with testing and repairing weapons stashed in climate controlled warehouses
to ensure their effectiveness should they be needed. If something were to boil over
in the Middle East, it’s expected that APS-5 can mobilize an entire Armored Brigade Combat
Team—a fighting force made up of 5,000 people and a staggering 302 vehicles—in just 96 hours.
But the Army’s APS’s aren’t only impressive in their sheer scale and organization. They’re also
impressive in their flexibility and adaptability, as one their most critical prepositioned stock
operations isn’t even land-based—it floats. Bolstering APS-5 during Operation Iraqi
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in the 2000s and increasingly visible in the
Pacific today is the Army’s APS-3—an assortment of 10 to 16 cargo-carrying ships. At the core of
APS-3 are two container ships—the M.V. Staff Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr., and MV LTC John
U. D. Page—and five large government-owned cargo ships with roll-on/roll-off capabilities that
simplify on-loading large, oversized vehicles, and downloading in ports with limited infrastructure.
While the size and organization of this fleet changes based on need and location,
APS-3 carries much of what land-based prepositioning stocks would—20,000 tons
of munitions are stored on container ships and up to two brigades, or over 1,000 tracked and
wheeled vehicles, worth of combat equipment are spread across the rest of the fleet.
Yet, while the Army’s floating prepositioned stock proved invaluable in past conflicts and
helps project power in the Pacific today, it’s the outlier in terms of its mobility, as the
Army has prioritized size in its prepositioning strategy. The Navy, on the other hand, whose role
in conflict is more expeditionary than sustained, has leaned heavily into the flexibility afforded
by prepositioning through floating stockpiles. The Navy’s prepositioning program is all about
readiness, and to be closest to potential conflict zones, their 14 maritime prepositioning
ships are spread across three squadrons in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and the Western
Pacific. Like the Army, the Navy relies on large, medium speed roll-on/roll-off ships, and each of
the three squadrons is designed to supply and sustain a marine expeditionary brigade for 30
days, which is no small task considering its size as a 17,000-person unit with ground, sea, and air
capabilities. In a service that’s built around rapid response, this maritime prepositioning
force is able to mobilize at a moment’s notice and provide supplies and operational support to
amphibious units already on the ground, while also kitting out Marines and Sailors being flown in
from around the world. These capabilities are of increasing value to the DOD as modern warfare has
pivoted away from massive groundwars, at the same time that the Pacific, with its tiny islands and
massive expanses of open water has become an area of increasing concern for the US.
Prepositioning is incredibly valuable to the Air Force, Army, and Navy for its ability
to position each in remote battlefields quicker than any other fighting force. It’s
also incredibly valuable in what it doesn’t do: necessitate the immediate mobilization
of America’s shipping power the second a conflict arises. This helps protect against,
or at least soften a surge in sealift demand when the US goes to war. But that only lasts so long.
For longer, drawn out conflicts, armed forces need sealift to keep the supplies coming for months and
years. This responsibility falls directly on the shoulders of USTRANSCOM’s Military
Sealift Command. Of the roughly 120 vessels either owned or contracted by Sealift Command,
these 32 provide direct fleet support for deployed Navy forces—whether it’d be tankers replenishing
fuel reserves or cargo ships providing food stuffs. Now, in the event that more vessels
are needed in a shipping surge, Sealift Command will activate the 40-plus Ready Reserve Force:
a collection of old, government-owned ships sitting inactive across American ports—some of
which are so old they’re actually steam-powered. In addition to the emergency capacity available
through the RRF, the US Military also has the Merchant Marine—a fleet of American flagged,
private merchant ships that serve as auxiliary cargo-and-people-moving resources along
commercial trade routes for the Navy during peacetime and war. And it’s directly here,
where some of the most pressing limitations to the US military’s transportation systems lie: in the
inability to handle the surge and move major troop numbers and supplies far afield. Today,
the ocean-going, privately-owned merchant fleet in the US is only 181 ships—a far cry from the
565 in 1982. Though design advances have increased storage capacity, the available deadweight tonnage
is only a fraction of what it was in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And making things worse, in a 2019 test of
preparedness of the Ready Reserve Force, only 41% of the available sealift capacity was actually
ocean ready… the expectation prior had been that some 85% of the vessels would be fit for sea.
But despite those challenges, the United States Military is commonly and objectively recognized
as the world’s greatest fighting force, and while that does relate to its massive budget,
global presence, and the actual skill of its fighting forces, nothing can happen without the
system that moves its people and equipment to where they're used. Logistics power is
military power, and so it’s no wonder why the US DOD has put so much funding and focus into
its transportation system. It’s a practical necessity during peacetime, and the very
foundation of American military power abroad. Another logistics marvel is the system behind
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