Supporting the Plan with a Plan for Support: Creating a Tactical Second-Line Sustainment Plan for the EFP Battle Group in Latvia

The following article is based off tactical information from Op REASSURANCE Roto 12 (July 2019 to January 2020).

AIM

1. The aim of this service paper is to analyze the current tactical second line sustainment plan for the Canadian led Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group (eFP BG) in the event that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Article 5 is declared. This analysis will identify weaknesses within the current logistic plan based off personal operational experience as the eFP BG Officer Commanding (OC) Combat Service Support Company (CSS Coy), from July 2019 to January 2020.
2. The intent is to provide recommendations to leaders and planners within Task Force Latvia (TFL) and the Canadian National Support Element (NSE) regarding the tactical employment of the various Sending Nation (SN), or allied, NSEs in the event Article 5 is declared. Enclosed are recommendations regarding integrated planning and the creation of a multinational integrated logistics unit (MILU), to provide second line sustainment to the eFP BG in an operational environment. Existing NSE command structures and NATO declaration statuses will be discussed in this paper. However, the processes of altering formal command authorities and declarations will not be explored, but might serve as an appropriate subject for a future service paper.