文章基本信息

标题：Putting the army ashore
作者：Steve Harding
期刊名称：Soldiers Magazine
出版年度：2004
卷号：Sept 2004
出版社：UK Armed Forces

Putting the army ashore

Steve Harding

Soldiers of the Army's 7th Transportation Group demonstrated a little-known but vitally important part of the nation's force-projection capability during a recent exercise on the beaches of Fort Story, Va.

Called a joint logistics-over-the-shore, or JLOTS, operation, the effort allows vehicles and equipment loaded aboard Navy fast sealift ships to be brought ashore by Army watercraft. This means that commanders can bypass enemy-held or inadequate ports, and allows the Army to put ashore both initial and sustainment forces virtually anywhere in the world. It is a capability used with great effectiveness in operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, and in contingency operations from the Philippines to Kosovo.

Conducted in conjunction with the Army's fifth Force Projection Symposium, the Fort Story exercise included the Navy sealift ship USNS Denebola and virtually every type of watercraft in the Army's fleet. These ranged from small and mid-sized landing craft to the larger logistics support vessel CW2 Harold C. Clinger and the state-of-the-art theater support vessel Spearhead. Among the vehicles brought ashore were Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, trucks, Humvees and an M1 Abrams tank.

The key non-watercraft systems in the exercise were a roll-on/roll-off discharge facility, or RRDF, and a floating causeway. Essentially an offshore pier secured alongside Denebola, the RRDF allowed vehicles to be driven off the sealift ship and onto waiting Army watercraft. The vessels then ferried the vehicles to the causeway, a floating roadway anchored to the beach and projecting several hundred meters out to sea. Once ashore, the vehicles were marshaled for onward movement.

The Fort Story exercise allowed the Soldiers of the 7th Trans. Grp. to practice essential real-world skills, while at the same time allowing hundreds of symposium attendees and members of the press to get a first-hand look at the ways Army mariners help project the nation's military might.