Say hello to the Marine Corps' newest....

[regexcellent]

Unless UPS has things like parachute riggers on staff, probably never.

[MRT144]

Some of them put pallets on trucks.

Oh this reminds me, before poly died Alby was making fun of the Army for still having cooks without apparently realizing that the Marines have them too, as does every branch.

edit-I wonder what it's like to be one of the poor ****ers who winds up as a food service officer

http://www.eucom.mil/article/19564/army-cook-assigned-to-special-forces-detachment-earns-bronze-star-combat-action

It can get a little more hairy than your hollandaise separating apparently.

[regexcellent]

As with everything in the military.

I bet those air wing marines, normally rear-area, were very surprised when Taliban infiltrators blew up six of their jets. On the ground.

[Asher]

Unless UPS has things like parachute riggers on staff, probably never.

For all of the highly specialized industries they're contracted to perform logistics for, why the hell wouldn't they have parachute riggers?

You should look into their logistics business.

[MRT144]

Theres probably nothing standing in the way of UPS ordering planes that can do parachute drops but by and large their air fleet isnt specced out to do so and can't be modified to do so in their current role and age. They have 757s, 767s and A300s and 747s none of which are capable of mid air drops.

[Asher]

I'm not referring to UPS doing parachute drops, but doing logistics.

http://thenewlogistics.ups.com/

[MRT144]

Ah, I was making the assumption that these parachutes would be used in some capacity for logistics operations, not a logistical operation in and of itself.

[regexcellent]

Ah, I was making the assumption that these parachutes would be used in some capacity for logistics operations, not a logistical operation in and of itself.

They very well might be. Sometimes supplies are delivered by air. From what I understand dropping a vehicle or a heavy piece of equipment is far more complicated than dropping a person.

The marine corps might not be involved in that though, I don't know.

[Al B. Sure!]

They very well might be. Sometimes supplies are delivered by air. From what I understand dropping a vehicle or a heavy piece of equipment is far more complicated than dropping a person.

The marine corps might not be involved in that though, I don't know.

Yes. We use KC-130's and Ospreys for air delivery

[Docfeelgood]

Yur a ****ing killer!!!!!!!!!!! not a ****ing pencil pusher!!!!

[-Jrabbit]

Congrats, Alby.

[Imran Siddiqui]

For all of the highly specialized industries they're contracted to perform logistics for, why the hell wouldn't they have parachute riggers?

You should look into their logistics business.

Privatization

[Elok]

There are still infantry officers. At least in the army the only officer job harder to get than infantry is aviation. Supposedly, anyway, that's what they tell me. No idea about the marines but I suspect it is similar.

If we're going to have people running/driving around hostile territory with weapons at the ready, I'd really prefer that they be commanded exclusively by men with proven good judgment. Sadly, volunteering to run/drive around hostile territory with weapons at the ready is not a clear sign of good judgment.

[regexcellent]

Would it help if it tended to result in faster promotion, so there's a financial/prestige incentive to do so?

But yes that is a fundamental conundrum of the volunteer army.

[Hauldren Collider]

The military does often contract out simple logistics. But logistics on the battlefield are a lot more complicated and specialized than anything UPS could hope to do. Feeding forward operating bases is not something UPS would be terribly good at. For one, they don't have any helicopters. Or MRAPS.