2. References King, B. (2001).Spearhead of Logistics. (pp.92-98). World War I Photo, Ray Metzer. N.p., (2009). Web. December 13, 2009. World War I (n.d). Retrieved December 13, 2009 from www.slideshare.net.
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4. America Unprepared President Woodrow Wilson was determined to maintain the appearance of strict neutrality and prohibited any build-up. Wilson also prevented any sort of contingency plan for mobilization in case of involvement in Europe. When War finally came, it meant starting from scratch.
5. Key Players William McAdoo the director General of Railroads and the United States Railroad Administration. Quartermaster General Henry G. Sharpe. Brigadier General Francis J. Kernan the Chief of the Embarkation Service, which was established to control movements of all troops and supplies.
6. The Movement to War Movement of Troops went into Five Phases: 1st phase: the movement of 25,000 troops of the Regular Army, most from camps near the Mexican border to the New York harbor area of Hoboken, New Jersey. 2nd phase: The movement of some 343,000 National Guard troops to their training camps. 3rd phase: The movement of selective service men from their homes to the cantonments. 4th phase: Was the inter-camp travel in which half the troop level within the United States moved at least once between October 1917 and January 1918. 5th phase: The movement of Troops to the port of Embarkation.
7. Problems from the start Railroad movement of troops to port and congestion Difficulties in equipping troops to go to war. Recruiting suffered setbacks due to health, and a lack of education. Since the infantry had first pick of recruits support units never had enough men. Severe Officer Shortages. Shortage in Horse and Wagon transportation. Not enough ships to send supplies and troops. The threat of German U-Boats to Supply Ships.
13. Full Speed Ahead To fix Congestion General Sharpe recommended to open more embarkation ports and eventually was granted at places such as Newport News, Virginia. Secondary ports were established at Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston; and at Montreal, Halifax, and St. Johns in Canada. General Kiernan faced problems with congestion at ports and few ships to get troops quickly enough to begin embarkation. To fix this Kiernan used all available assets he could find such as 20 German ships that help send 500,000 to the fronts.
14. Rough Seas Seaport congestion was not the only problem faced for getting the troops to the front. German submarine offensive inflicted heavy losses on ocean shipping. To counter the problem a convoy of ships began and decreased ships losses by 90%.
15. IN SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION LESSONS LEARNED The most significant lessoned learned was that there was a need for a transportation corps. The national defense Act of 1920 placed the responsibility for all War Department transportation except military railways, under a Transportation Service. Another major lesson learned was that in order to project power beyond the shores of the continental United States, sufficient shipping had to be immediately available to move troops and heavy equipment.
