Combatant Logistics Command and Control for the Joint Force Commander

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JOINT DOCTRINE SAYS THAT "to exercise control at the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war, commanders must also exercise control over logistics."1 Control cannot be exercised without timely and comprehensive information, a picture of the battlefield logistically speaking, including not only what is already on the battlefield but what is flowing into it as well.

The commander's requirement is for information, not just data. Data becomes information-with which to create a picture of the logistics of the forces on the battlefield, to predict the sustainability of those forces, and to evaluate alternative courses of action as they are affected by logistics-when it has …