Ocean Venture 1992: An Assessment of a Maritime Prepositioning Force/ Joint Logistics Over the Shore Instream Offload Exercise

The movement of supplies from ship to shore to support military forces in or near combat areas has historically been difficult and time consuming. The Marine Corps and the Army have developed their own systems for satisfying their logistical needs. The Marine Corps has embraced the prepositioning concept, while the Army has relied on moving forces and utilizing logistics over the shore capabilities. Regardless of the offload method used, the efficient delivery of containerized cargo and equipment is critical to the establishment of forces ashore. During May 1992, a Maritime Prepositioning Force MPF and Joint Logistics Over the Shore JLOTS exercise was conducted at Onslow Beach, North Carolina, to test these delivery systems. Ocean Venture 92 provided a low- to mid-intensity platform for examining MPF and JLOTS capabilities. This thesis presents the organizations and equipment requirements for MPF and JLOTS operations and assesses the effectiveness of Ocean Venture 92 with respect to accomplishing key objectives, problem identification, lessons learned and recommendations for improving future MPF and JLOTS operations. Maritime prepositioning force, Joint logistics over the shore, Logistics, JLOTS.