Army logistics is a decisive component of combat power in large-scale combat operations (LSCO). The Army’s ability to generate, sustain, and regenerate forces at scale depends not only on platforms and personnel, but on the speed, accuracy, and reliability of its logistics enterprise. At present, however, critical elements of Army logistics — particularly at the supply support activity (SSA) level — remain fragmented, inconsistently executed, and reliant on outdated processes and infrastructure. These conditions create unacceptable operational risk in LSCO.
In a high-tempo, contested environment, delays in parts distribution, poor inventory visibility, and inefficient accountability processes translate directly into not-mission-capable (NMC) equipment, reduced freedom of maneuver, and degraded combat power at decisive points. While tactical formations are increasingly modernized and trained for LSCO, the sustainment systems that enable those formations have not kept pace. This mismatch threatens the Army’s ability to fight and win the next war.
These challenges are not due to individual unit failures or a lack of effort by logistics professionals. Rather, they reflect systemic issues that require senior leader direction, enterprise-level standardization, and deliberate investment. Variations in SSA operations, facility conditions, and processes across installations and formations undermine readiness, complicate transitions between units, and prevent the Army from fully leveraging its logistics information systems.
To reduce operational risk and enable sustained LSCO, senior Army leaders must treat SSA standardization and logistics modernization as readiness imperatives. Establishing enforceable standards, modernizing accountability and distribution processes, and transforming logistics information systems into intuitive, decision-enabling tools are not discretionary improvements; they are essential to ensuring the Army can generate and sustain combat power at scale under contested conditions.
Standardization Across All Army SSAs
Senior Army leaders must direct and enforce enterprise-wide SSA standards that encompass the receiving, processing, sorting, and distribution of materials, in addition to the physical infrastructure. SSAs must fully use their modified table of organization and equipment to validate, maintain, and rehearse operations in garrison and before deployment.
Equally important is a comprehensive overhaul of SSA facilities. Soldiers must not be expected to operate efficiently in unhealthy or overcrowded workspaces. Warehouses lose their purpose when parts are stored on the floor rather than on properly designed storage racks. Investment in modern warehouse infrastructure directly translates to increased productivity, accountability, and morale. Without enterprise-level enforcement, SSA standardization will continue to vary by installation and commander. SSA facilities must be treated as readiness infrastructure on par with motor pools and railheads, not as optional or deferred sustainment projects.
Along with infrastructure investment, Soldiers need modern tools that enable rapid processing. This includes working Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), Combat Service Support Automated Information Systems Interface (CAISI) root/peer mesh (with mast), printers (preferably dual voltage, and toner), Global Combat Support System–Army (GCSS-A) tactically imaged laptops and tablets, and adequate tactical storage capable of cataloging. Ensuring SSAs have this digital infrastructure enables Soldiers to operate efficiently. To fully leverage these modern tools, the logistics enterprise must also be standardized across units and installations.
Enterprise-wide standardization is essential to eliminating friction and sustaining readiness across the force. Soldiers should not have to relearn how logistics are done at each duty station. A single, standardized approach ensures that Soldiers trained in the schoolhouse can immediately integrate into any unit, a critical requirement for rapid transition to LSCO.
In a modernized logistics enterprise, any Soldier arriving at an SSA — regardless of installation or unit — must encounter the same layout, processes, accountability standards, and digital systems. Soldiers scan parts upon receipt; inventory is visible in real time; Overaged Repairable Item List (ORIL) turn-ins are paperless; and leaders can accurately assess readiness impacts across formations.
Modernizing Receiving, Distribution, and Accountability
In LSCO, delays of hours and days in parts distribution translate directly into NMC platforms, reduced combat power, and lost freedom of maneuver at decisive points. The Army must modernize how it receives, tracks, and distributes parts to ensure real-time accountability. If major commercial distribution organizations such as Amazon were to operate under the Army’s antiquated logistics tracking systems, they would likely fail due to delays, inefficiencies, and lost inventory.
All parts managed through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), regardless of contractor, must be barcoded. Upon receipt, items must be scanned into the SSA system immediately, providing visibility for both the SSA and end users. This level of transparency prevents duplicate orders, improves trust in the system, and ensures units understand the status of their parts throughout the supply chain.
The Army must also move away from paper-based processes, including those associated with the ORIL. Commercial models already demonstrate what is possible: customers can generate barcodes digitally, track returns, and complete transactions quickly. Similarly, units must be able to submit ORIL turn-ins through a digital system, generate a barcode or label, and drop items at the SSA for processing. Faster turn-ins mean quicker financial credits to units and a faster return of repairable parts to the logistics system.
The Army already has the capability to generate barcodes for some processes. However, it is significantly underused and depends heavily on Sustainment Automation Support Management Office sustainment personnel, whose technical proficiency and continuity vary widely. Implementing this process requires a deliberate command effort, disciplined sustainment, and reliable tactical network support (VSAT/CAISI). When the process is configured correctly, 92A Automated Logistical Specialists can inventory and process parts completely offline using GCSS-A tablets and scanners, then sync to the associated GCSS-A laptop via VSAT upon reconnection. This capability is real, but fragile without trained, accountable network support.
Modernizing receiving, distribution, and accountability is not a technical upgrade; it is a combat enabler. Every delay removed from the supply chain increases combat power at the decisive point. By adopting proven commercial practices and eliminating paper-based friction, the Army can transform SSA operations from a limiting factor into a force multiplier, ensuring sustainment keeps pace with the demands of high-tempo, contested operations. However, barcode accountability and digital turn-ins cannot succeed at scale unless the Army’s primary logistics information system is intuitive, reliable, and designed to support Soldier decision making.
Modernizing GCSS-A for the Soldier User
As the Army’s system of record for maintenance and supply, GCSS-A must function as a command and readiness decision tool, not merely as a compliance database. While GCSS-A is a powerful tool, it remains overly complex, unintuitive, and prone to user error. The steep learning curve discourages use, increases mistakes, and slows maintenance and supply operations.
GCSS-A remains underused because of system complexity, training shortfalls, and inconsistent enforcement of accountability across the supply chain. At its core, GCSS-A is built on SAP — one of the world’s leading enterprise resource planning platforms, used by organizations such as Amazon to manage complex logistics networks at scale. The limitation, therefore, is not the system itself, but the Army’s inability to enforce disciplined data accuracy from requisition through installation, compounded by insufficient, user-focused training. Without that discipline, even the most capable system cannot deliver reliable outcomes.
In contrast, civilians can easily search for vehicle parts by make, model, year, and subsystem. The Army must adopt a similar approach. Modernizing GCSS-A to enable intuitive part searches would significantly reduce incorrect orders and wasted time. Commercial distribution systems succeed because leaders have real-time visibility of inventory and demand. The Army’s lack of comparable visibility forces commanders to make readiness decisions with incomplete or inaccurate data, an unacceptable risk in LSCO.
An improved system could integrate digital Department of the Army Form 5988-E, Equipment Maintenance and Inspection Worksheet (EGA), workflows in which operators would annotate faults, mechanics could validate them, and the system would automatically recommend the correct parts for repair. The maintenance team could then order these parts seamlessly within the same interface. Such modernization would improve accuracy, reduce costs, and accelerate equipment readiness across the force.
When GCSS-A is unintuitive and user error-prone, it degrades data quality across the force. Poor data lead to inaccurate readiness assessments, misallocated resources, and delayed maintenance recovery, effects that compound in LSCO. Without decisive senior leader action, the Army will enter the next conflict with modern weapons, trained Soldiers, and a logistics system that cannot sustain them at scale.
Strengthening Readiness Through SSA Reform
Sustaining readiness at scale requires deliberate senior leader action. Persistent variation in standards, outdated processes, and limited inventory visibility continue to degrade responsiveness, increase costs, and obscure true readiness. Senior leaders must take direct, enterprise-wide action to standardize SSA operations, modernize infrastructure and systems, and enforce accountability across the supply chain. The following five actions focus on eliminating inefficiencies, improving data accuracy, and positioning SSAs as critical readiness enablers for both garrison and operational environments.
- Direct and Enforce Enterprise-Wide SSA Standardization: Issue clear, Army-wide standards for SSA layout, processes, accountability, and staffing, with designated proponents responsible for enforcement and compliance. Eliminate variation driven by local practice or installation-specific norms.
- Designate SSAs as Readiness Infrastructure and Prioritize Investment: Treat SSA facilities on par with motor pools, railheads, and maintenance bays. Resource warehouse modernization, storage systems, and environmental controls to enable efficient, safe, and accountable operations in both garrison and deployment preparation.
- Mandate End-to-End Barcode Accountability for DLA-Managed Parts: Require barcode scanning at receipt and issue for all DLA-managed items, regardless of vendor, to enable real-time inventory visibility for SSAs, supported units, and senior leaders. Use visibility to reduce duplicate orders and improve readiness forecasting.
- Eliminate Paper-Based ORIL and Turn-In Processes: Direct the development and fielding of a digital ORIL submission and tracking process that allows units to generate labels electronically, execute rapid turn-ins, and receive timely financial credit.
- Modernize GCSS-A as a Command and Readiness Decision Tool: Prioritize usability improvements that reduce user error and improve data quality, including intuitive part search functions and integrated maintenance workflows. Focus modernization on improving readiness, accuracy, and decision-making at the echelon level, not just on system compliance.
These actions represent a focused, achievable roadmap to materially improve Army readiness through disciplined SSA reform. Success requires clear ownership, consistent enforcement, and sustained leader attention. However, the return — greater readiness, reduced waste, and improved operational agility — directly supports the Army’s ability to fight and win.
Conclusion
The Army can no longer afford to rely on fragmented processes, outdated systems, and inconsistent infrastructure within its logistics enterprise. Standardizing SSA operations, modernizing accountability and distribution processes, and transforming GCSS-A into a user-friendly, Soldier-centric system are not luxuries but necessities for readiness in future conflicts. By investing in logistics with the same seriousness applied to weapons and platforms, the Army will ensure its Soldiers are equipped, maintained, and ready to fight and win in any operational environment.
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MAJ Jonathan Buckland currently serves as Joint Staff Current Operations Officer. His previous assignments include serving as the executive officer of 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), 3rd Infantry Division (ID); operations officer for 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1/3 ABCT; and future operations chief for 3rd ID, observer controller/trainer with Tarantula Team, Operations Group, National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California; commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; commander, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd IBCT. He has a master’s degree in international studies from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in operational studies from the Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
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This article was published in the summer 2026 edition of Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin.
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