US Transportation Command is changing how it moves personnel, supplies, and weapons around the world, per the 2003 mandate handed down by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who designated TRANSCOM the department’s “distribution process owner.” According to TRANSCOM’s top enlisted man, Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant Kenneth McQuiston, who spoke to a group of senior enlisted personnel at the Pentagon last week, the command is not trying to take control of supply management but does want to maintain visibility over where items are within the chain. “Wal-Mart’s shelves are never empty,” McQuiston said, noting that command officials recently met with the company’s executives, who, he said, “know where all their stuff is at all times.”
Air Force depots are not typically meant for quick repair jobs, but during Operation Epic Fury, the service moved some of its stateside heavy maintenance capability forward to fix battle-damaged aircraft closer to the fight.
