Forging the Logistics Coalition: Enhancing U.S. Marine Corps Disaster Response in the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

"The U.S. Marine Corps must enhance its logistical capabilities to support both warfighting and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) operations in the Indo-Pacific’s distributed maritime environment. This research provides a paradigm for addressing HA/DR response in the strategically relevant and natural disaster-prone region. It introduces a “logistics coalition” as a strategic initiative to improve response effectiveness by leveraging prepositioning concepts. This research centers around a network model focused on the distribution of five equipment types from eight supply nodes (Okinawa military base, Yokota air base, Guam military base, Philippines, Singapore, Diego Garcia, Darwin, and South Korea) to six demand nodes (Philippines, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan). It develops six mathematical models, each aligned to a different demand node, to identify the most efficient prepositioning network for HA/DR response in the Indo-Pacific. The models are computed in Microsoft Excel using linear programming techniques to optimize the allocation of resources across the network. The results highlight key prepositioning sites and provide recommendations for resource allocation across Department of Defense (DoD) sites in the region. The research proposes a logistics coalition and offers decision-makers with a model framework to improve HA/DR readiness, ensuring timely and effective disaster response in the Indo-Pacific."