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What do you do when your course does not get funded for the fiscal year?  If you are a resourceful logistician in AFIT's School of Systems and Logistics Sustainment Department you go out and find the funds.  That is exactly what Professor Ralph Liebhaber did when his course sponsor was unable to provide funds for his course for FY08.

The Strategic Logistics Management seminar, LOG 399, was held at Yokota AB, Japan, from 29 Oct – 2 Nov to an overflowing classroom of 34 students.  The seminar is often referred to as the AFIT/LS version of a mini-ICAF (Industrial College of the Armed Forces) because it consists solely of guest speakers who lecture on the capabilities of the strategic logistics organizations they represent, such as the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command, US Army’s Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Air Mobility Command, Defense Logistics Agency, and US Transportation Command.  In this respect, the Yokota offering featured guest speakers from 17 different logistic commands who came to Japan from as far away as Washington, D.C., and Maxwell AFB, Alabama, to represent their organizations to the field grade officers from Yokota and the major USAF bases in East Asia, including Misawa, Japan; Osan, Korea; and Kadena, Okinawa.

But the LOG 399 offering at Yokota was different for one big reason: AFIT did not provide any funding, whatsoever, to hold the course.

For the first time in the 19 year history of LOG 399, there was no funding for instructor travel, the travel expenses for any of the out of town guest speakers, or the many TDY students who comprised over half the class.  That’s where Professor Liebhaber’s logistical side stepped into play and he went out and sought a sponsor for this offering.  The Defense Logistics Agency agreed to sponsor the course by funding the TDY to Japan for the course director when traditional funding dried up for FY08.  Even though 75 percent of the course focuses on non-DLA topics, the agency picked up the tab because of the important role LOG 399 has in educating key mid-level leaders on the important functions and responsibilities of the agency.  DLA was able to showcase all of their major components using eight speakers—something which would not have been possible had the course been cancelled due to lack of funding.

And the funding shortfall did not stop another six guest speakers from non-DLA commands from using organizational monies to pay for their travel to Yokota.  Similarly, just over half the class—the 18 students who were TDY to Yokota—used their parent organization funding to cover their TDY costs.

In short, the LS version of a mini-ICAF, LOG 399, was presented to 34 students by 17 different guest speakers without costing AFIT a cent.  But the biggest savings of all was achieved by bringing the course to such a far away place and thereby saving the valuable time of the field grade students who otherwise would have had to travel to Kettering.  And according to the course director, Professor Ralph Liebhaber, the most significant fact was that the student audience consisted of students from all five of the uniformed services, including the Coast Guard—a first for LOG 399 and a rarity for the School of Systems and Logistics.  That’s what a logistician does—gets the job done!