Rapid Deployment Logistics: Lebanon, 1958

One of the more consistent patterns in U.S. military operations since the end of World War II
has been our growing involvement in contingency operations around the world. Recognition of this
significant role for our military forces has been reflected most recently in the establishment of
several new commands-First Special Operations Command, USREDCOM, USCENTCOM-which exist
in order to improve U.S. capability to respond to worldwide threats on short notice. Concomitantly,
there is renewed interest in low-intensity conflict operations, and the Army is pursuing the development
of light divisions especially designed for strategic mobility and rapid deployment.
This CSI Research Survey by Lt. Col. Gary H. Wade, Rapid Deployment Logistics: Lebanon,
1958, reminds us that strategic power projection must be founded upon a responsive and synchronized
logistical base. Indeed, failure to provide the "tail" during short-notice contingency operations
will blunt or even doom to failure the sharp bite of the "teeth," namely, the fighting forces.
This detailed, comprehenisve study of the logistical planning and in-country support of the U.S.
military intervention in Lebanon in 1958 is of imminent value to the U.S. Army today. Many of
the issues faced by the logisticians in Beirut in 1958 are identical to those facing force developers
of the light division today, such as the questions of diverting line soldiers to support duties,
securing materiel in a potentially hostile lodgment, synchronizing sealift with airlift, and establishing
priorities for deliveries. The study has particular value as well for its analysis of tailoring logistical
units for contingency opeerraatioitnss and for investigation into the unique problems of the noncombat
phase of operations. Not surprisingly, a good number of the logistical problems encountered in
Lebanon in 1958 recurred in the U.S. intervention in Grenada twenty-five years later.
Rapid Deployment Logistics also has much to say about the conduct of joint operations, for in
no other arena are the services more intricately intertwined than in the logistical support of
"break-in" operations. The lessons contained in this CSI Research Survey will help today's planners
and operators to anticipate and thus avoid the mistakes of the past. Rapid Deployment Logistics
once again demonstrates the relevance, utility, and necessity of the study of military history to the
effective conduct of the profession of arms.