Transportation and Logistics: One Man's Story

This volume, which depicts the fortunes of a U. S. Army logistician in a time of upheaval and deals with problems of moving troops and supplies to far theaters of war, may be read as a personal tract for the times as well as the history. For thirty-five years of service, in a career of first hand experience fighting in the Pacific and Asia and high staff responsibility in Europe and Washington, Jack C. Fuson grappled with fundamental issues of transportation and logistics and amassed a lifetime of knowledge in managing the arteries of war. In this work the focus is on transportation, the practical art of moving armies, in particular to those operations which have recurred in the wars of this century, when great magnitude and urgency have tested the military's resources. For there is a maxim in strategy and logistics - no less true today than in New Guinea, Korea, and Vietnam when General Fuson learned his craft - that success usually goes to the side with the capability to feed in the troops and goods at the superior rate. All through these pages, General Fuson presents vivid examples of the impact of military transportation on the prosecution of war. Anyone at all concerned with logistic effectiveness and the requirements for mobility in an era of contingency missions will find much in this book to contemplate. Equally important is General Fuson's stark reminder that logistics is the true limitation on strategy and tactics.