U.S. Marine Corps Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations Operational Contract Support

Abstract

Since 1775, the U.S. Marine Corps has been the U.S. premier expeditionary force in readiness and thus is capable of conducting an array of military operations in austere locations. In recent years, the U.S. Marine Corps has employed the Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept to host, secure, sustain, and maintain warriors and their weapons systems on a more amorphous and difficult-to-target forward-basing infrastructure. The problem is the logistics and operational contract support (OCS) requirements that will be needed to optimize EABO and sustain expeditionary advanced bases in austere locations against a pacing threat has not been identified. The purpose of this project is to develop a model that provides insight into the synchronization and optimization of doctrinal logistics support timelines with those of III Marine Expeditionary Force operational contract support timelines to better optimize the U.S. Marine Corps EABO concept so the warfighter receives supplies and services at—or near—the time when doctrinal days of self-sustainment are due to expire. To this avail, this project provides an abbreviated and foundational understanding of the current Marine Corps organizational structure, an understanding of the Marine Littoral Regiment concept, the notional operational phases of military operations, and a working understanding of EABO and current III Marine Expeditionary Force OCS.