Gulf-War

The Invisible Army ← Series Home Key Takeaways Lead time matters: Six months of buildup before combat operations allowed logistics infrastructure to match the force. The Falklands' rushed deployment was not repeated. Modern warfare consumes more: VII Corps alone required 5 million gallons of fuel per day during the ground offensive. The scale of consumption would have staggered WWII logisticians. Host nation support is critical: Saudi infrastructure�ports, roads, airfields�made the deployment possible. Without it, the timeline would have doubled or tripled. Logistics enables maneuver: The "Left Hook" that destroyed Iraqi forces was possible because Pagonis built the supply infrastructure to support a corps-sized movement through empty desert. The Challenge On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Within days, Iraqi forces were positioned on the Saudi Arabian border, threatening the world’s largest oil reserves. ...

The Kinetic Chain 1 Part 1: Alexander's Invisible Army 2 Part 2: Napoleon's Fatal Calculation 3 Part 3: The Railroad Revolution 4 Part 4: The Crimean Catastrophe 5 Part 5: Barbarossa and the Battle of the Gauges 6 Part 6: The Battle of the Bulge and the Tyranny of Fuel 7 Part 7: Wholesale Distribution and the American Way of 8 Part 8: The Pacific Logistics Challenge 9 Part 9: Victory Through Logistics 10 Part 10: Vietnam and the Tyranny of Terrain 11 Part 11: Giap's Bicycle Brigades 12 Part 12: The Ho Chi Minh Trail 13 Part 13: American Largesse in Vietnam 14 Part 14: The M16 Debacle and Logistics Failure 15 Part 15: The Falklands Logistics Miracle 16 Part 16: Desert Storm and the Logistics Miracle 17 Part 17: The Future of Contested Logistics ← Series Home Key Takeaways Lead time matters: Six months of buildup before combat operations allowed logistics infrastructure to match the force. The Falklands' rushed deployment was not repeated. Modern warfare consumes more: VII Corps alone required 5 million gallons of fuel per day during the ground offensive. The scale of consumption would have staggered WWII logisticians. Host nation support is critical: Saudi infrastructure—ports, roads, airfields—made the deployment possible. Without it, the timeline would have doubled or tripled. Logistics enables maneuver: The "Left Hook" that destroyed Iraqi forces was possible because Pagonis built the supply infrastructure to support a corps-sized movement through empty desert. The Challenge On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Within days, Iraqi forces were positioned on the Saudi Arabian border, threatening the world’s largest oil reserves. ...