Memo gives command license ‘to get things done’ Published Sept. 16, 2004 By Gerry J. Gilmore American Forces Press Service MILWAUKEE (AFPN) -- Upon receiving a high-level memorandum last year authorizing his command to reach out to improve the military's supply and transportation systems, U.S. Transportation Command's leader interpreted it in just one way.Gen. John W. Handy said Sept. 15 at the National Defense Transportation Association annual conference here that the memo gave him the license "to get things done." The September 2003 document had come from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. It designated TRANSCOM as the Defense Department's distribution process owner.And the command, with its headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., has been getting things done. For example, in mid-January, a deployment and distribution operations center was set up in Kuwait that has greatly facilitated U.S. Central Command's supply and personnel distribution systems, General Handy said.Improvements in communications and supply asset visibility, the general said, allowed the recent return of 1,700 containers not needed by U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf.In fact, he continued, an examination of supply and transportation operations has resulted in avoiding more than $280 million in costs since January.That represents "a lot" of savings to taxpayers, reduced headaches for military logisticians and improved customer service for warfighters, General Handy said.This kind of transformation continues as a partnership, he said, and military logistics and transportation organizations and civilian contractors routinely team up to find joint solutions to thorny supply and transportation problems.Today, General Handy said, one challenge is to incorporate more proven private-sector business practices and technology into the military logistics and transportation systems."We're now just discovering" how useful those practices can be in improving supply and transportation services to warfighters, he said.