I served in the U.S. Army as an MLRS fire direction specialist. That is, I was command and control for rocket artillery, like the Russian GRABs that are now leveling entire cities. My job was to keep my MLRS platoon, three launchers, properly supplied.
My MLRS battery had nine of those launchers. I wanted to make sure I was remembering correctly, since it’s been 30 years since I served. Luckily, I found an MLRS battery org chart:
One of my unit’s HEMMT ammo trucks in action.
To support nine MLRS launchers, we needed four HQ vehicles (M577, my home for three years), 12 HEMTT ammo trucks, to shuttle ammo from weapons depots to the launchers. Two fuel tankers. Eight 2.5 ton trucks—for ferrying food, small-arms ammo, and mechanical spare parts. Two 5 ton trucks, for the same purpose. One recovery vehicle, to tow broken vehicles away (which happened like every five miles of movement). And 26 Humvees—to carry leadership (both officers and and non-commissioned officers), mechanics, the guy who ran the armory, the guy who ran our supply room, a decontamination specialist, guys who fixed broken radios, medics, and a bunch of other people I’ve forgotten. Here’s the details if you’re really interested.
In total, the battery had 64 vehicles. Or 55 vehicles to support the nine vehicles actually shooting anything. In terms of troops, the battery had around 300 soldiers. just 27 of them sat in those nine MLRS launchers. That’s what “logistics” means. If you see an army has, say, 1 million people. Just assume that the part of that army that shoots stuff is a fraction of that number, maybe 75,000-150,000. You need a massive operation to support the people shooting stuff—fuel, food, ammo, spare parts, and other equipment.
On Yesterday’s The Brief, had two people who know military logistics. VoteVets’ Jon Soltz actually was a logistics officer during the Iraq invasion, and said the U.S. struggled to support one axis of attack, from the south. Russia right now has four major axes, and those are splintered into 15 different fronts. Suddenly, 180,000 troops doesn’t seem so daunting. And remember—not all of them actually fire stuff. The bulk of them are stuck in those bizarre supply columns, seemingly waiting for ambushes to put them out of their misery.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 1:21:33 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
When it comes to how Russia is deploying their forces, one of the things that keeps coming up among military analysts is — where is the Russian Air Force? At the U.K.-based Rusi.org, that question gets some examination:
“The roughly 300 modern combat aircraft which the VKS have positioned within easy range of the main contact zones in northern, eastern and southern Ukraine appear to have largely stayed on the ground throughout the first four days of fighting. This has allowed the [Ukrainian Air Force] to continue flying low-level defensive counter-air (DCA) and ground-attack sorties, and these appear to have had some successes in intercepting Russian attack helicopters.”
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 1:26:26 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
In the first day of the war, Ukrainian officials gave very low figures for the number of civilians killed. That’s no longer true.
A good deal of these loses seem to be in the Kharkiv area, which was subject to attack again on Tuesday night, and is under attack on Wednesday morning. Located less than 25 miles from the Russian border, Kharkiv can be shelled by artillery or GRAD systems positioned on the Russian side of the line, making it easier for Russian forces to maintain and resupply their weapons. Kkarkiv has also been the focus of numerous armored columns, as forces from the Belgorod base in Russia attempt to get past on their way to Kyiv. It was even subject to an overnight assault by airborne troops and air-dropped vehicles.
At this hour, Kharkiv is still in Ukrainian control.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 1:30:07 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Several of the smaller towns and suburbs around Kyiv have been the scenes of intense fighting and are increasingly cut off from defense forces in the capital. People in these towns are also without power, heat, and running low on food. On Tuesday, Ukrainian forces brought food to citizens in Bucha, the scene of an intense battle two days earlier. These towns and small cities are taking the brunt of the damage in the Kyiv area.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 1:33:08 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
At this point, the number of people who have left Ukraine is boiling toward the crisis point. Poland has taken in the bulk of those displaced so far, but the E.U. and the U.S. need to be devoting their logistical might to getting these people somewhere safe and comfortable for the duration of the conflict.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 1:41:28 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
On day 7 of the Russian invasion, Russian forces are again attacking media centers in several cities. Bringing down Ukrainian television seems to be — oddly enough — a central feature of the assault at this point, with Russian state media pumping out justifications for why it’s okay to direct missiles into city centers in order to take out television towers.
It’s another of the mysteries of this war that Russia, the nation that has put cyberwarfare to the greatest use, and mastered manipulation of social media to flip the outcome of a U.S. election, seems fixated on traditional media outlets at a time when streaming and social media make those broadcast towers of limited value.
Who knows how to make good use of social media in this conflict? That would be these guys.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 1:46:58 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
What was Russia’s biggest mistake in the Ukraine conflict? Well, underestimating the Ukrainian people has to be part of it. So does overestimating his own forces.
But how about underestimating Joe Biden:
His suggestion for where Putin goes next is trying to “scare US straight with Cuban crisis 2.0.” And if that doesn’t work … get out of Ukraine.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 2:09:51 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces supposedly launched an offensive against Horlivka — Gorlovka in Russian — one of the cities in the area of Ukraine that has long been controlled by Russian-controlled forces in the Donbas area. There have been claims that parts of the city have been captured by Ukrainian forces, but there doesn’t appear to be any confirmation of this. There are also reports (from Russians) that this did not happen. So, take with appropriate grains of salt.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 2:38:21 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
There are also a great number of new pictures of captured Russian forces being interviewed, giving their names, etc. While I have posted some videos of Russian captives over the last week, going forward this won’t be a frequent practice, and certainly not videos of young soldiers in distress. That’s not because of some policy of sympathy toward the Russian soldiers, but because this use of captives is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. There’s a good reason for that — it invites both reprisals against captives on the other side, and generates a threat to the families of captured soldiers.
Wednesday, Mar 2, 2022 · 2:52:04 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
If you’ve been watching any of the YouTube feeds that show images from around Ukraine, you’ve undoubtedly heard the frequent sounding of air raid sirens (like at 3AM this morning, when sirens over Kyiv reminded me I had forgotten to turn off the computer). If it seems frequent, that’s because it is.
