About

Today's rapid changing battlefield and global environments pose great challenges for the Department of Defense (DOD). Equally important, the military services face challenges in achieving peace after major hostilities. The extended Global War on Terror has added new complexities to traditional military operations. In peace time, rapid responses are needed to natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. A key requirement for meeting these challenges is a joint interdisciplinary approach to military logistics.

The logistical challenges of battlefield, peacekeeping, and disaster response operations involve huge quantities of materiel and personnel. Precision logistics is needed to deliver them where they are needed when they are needed. In many instances, third-party providers are used to augment the military's logistical services and are coordinated to meet battlefield, reconstruction, and peacekeeping needs. Moreover, military logistics must be flexible with adequate contingency plans. Capacity must be managed to avoid bottlenecks and shortage. The military supply chain of the future must be viewed in a joint holistic manner so that the impacts of decisions can be predicted throughout the supply chain, and across all branches of service. An ultimate goal is for joint information to be freely and securely shared at strategic, operational and tactical levels. A key to realizing this goal is Joint Total Asset Visibility (JTAV), which allows combat commanders and services to view in-transit assets and inventories of the U.S. Armed Forces through secure communication systems.

The vision of the U.S. Department of Defense is a fully joint military: doctrinally, organizationally, operationally, intellectually, and technically. Interoperability and focused logistics are essential strategies for achieving jointness. Today, even minor operations require joint military planning and coordination. In the future, joint operations require the efficient utilization of federal agencies, civilian contractors, multi-national organizations, and local labor.

The Master of Military Logistics at North Dakota State University is a tailored academic program that fits with DOD's strategic goals of joint military officers and Department of Defense civilian development and career education. Moreover, the interdisciplinary nature of the program is unique because of its emphasis on:

• Joint military logistics and transportation
• Advanced supply chain management
• Integration of technology with supply chain and enterprise resource planning
• The integration of homeland security and crisis management issues with military logistics
• The mix of management and planning courses included as technical electives
• Third-party contracting management

The Master of Military Logistics is tailored to the joint vision of the U.S. Military, which is a key element of DOD's transformation strategy. Also, the program reflects the unique challenges of military logistics, which are much different than commercial logistics. Several courses are specifically designed to address military exigencies and priorities, and will include military logistics case studies. This curriculum reflects the DOD's goal of integrating military and private-sector logistics while incorporating transportation because of its critical role in the success of the logistical systems.