Training for Success: The Need for a Logistics Combat Element Training and Education Center of Excellence

A Logistics Combat Element LCE Training and Education Center of Excellence TECOE must be established in the Marine Corps because the current logistics training and education consortium is not meeting the LCEs needs. The current consortium is characterized by an informal network of training and education institutions that are not focused specifically on the LCE. A recent TECOM study and independent research indicate that the ineffectiveness of this network is creating significant training and education gaps. These gaps include shortfalls in command and control, combat operations center training, unit training management, operational decision making, unit level training and evaluation, MAGTF sustainment planning, and joint and MAGTF level integration. These gaps, if left untreated, will ultimately degrade the LCEs ability to support the MAGTF in combat. This paper argues that a functional LCE TECOE may remedy this situation. A functional TECOE is an organization responsible for sustaining the training and education continuum of a particular function. More importantly, functional TECOEs are chartered by HQMC to produce training and education solutions. Thus, by creating a functional LCE TECOE, the Marine Corps would have an agency responsible for mitigating the LCEs training and education gaps. Other MAGTF elements successfully employ functional TECOEs. However, the lack of logistics training standards and the nonstandardized career track of most officers in the LCE will make direct application of these models challenging. Instead, the Marine Corps should use the best aspects of these models, combined with new concepts, to formulate an effective and efficient LCE TECOE.