The Role of the U.S. Army Materiel Command Logistics Support Group in the Hurricane Andrew Relief Operations

AMC operations in support of relief for the victims of Hurricane Andrew in Dade County, Florida was a new mission for AMC but one that was in line with one of AMC's three core competencies--logistics power projection.' Although power projection was normally considered as something happening outside of the United States, the Hurricane Andrew relief operation resulted in a major logistics power projection effort within the United States, an effort in which AMC and its Logistics Support Group played a major role. This effort at internal power projection played a role in influencing the 1993 revision of Field Manual (FM) 100-5, Operations. AMC's on-site presence in the relief operation was provided by its Logistics Support Group. The AMC Logistics Support Group had developed out of the AMC's experience in Southwest Asia (SWA) during Operation Desert Shield/Storm when AMC had a substantial forward presence in the field. After the war AMC, at the direction of the Chief of Staff of the Army, developed a formal structure known as the Logistics Support Group (LSG), that was since renamed in 1993 as the Logistics Support Element (LSE), which would be activated during crisis situations to give AMC the ability to project itself into the theater of operations to provide support to the Army. Later, in Kuwait and Haiti, the LSE was activated as a Joint Logistics Support Element QLSE), but the first test of the LSG concept came not as a result of international conflict but as a result of a natural disaster on American soil, the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in South Florida. A DOD Director of Military Support (DOMS) message through the Army to AMC designated AMC as the Executive Agent to support all Federal agencies and civilian relief organizations in South Florida.