A Supply Corps is a branch of a country's military which is in charge of
logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
and
supply
Supply may refer to:
*The amount of a resource that is available
**Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers
**Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission
*Supply, as in confidenc ...
procurement to the armed forces. The term is also used by private
corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
s but on a much rarer basis.
In the
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
, each branch of service has its own supply corps. The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
refers to the organization as the
Quartermaster Corps
Following is a list of Quartermaster Corps, military units, active and defunct, with logistics duties:
* Egyptian Army Quartermaster Corps - see Structure of the Egyptian Army
* Hellenic Army Quartermaster Corps (''Σώμα Φροντιστών ...
while the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
operates a group known as the
Navy Supply Corps
The Navy Supply Corps is the United States Navy staff corps concerned with supply, logistics, combat support, readiness, contracting, and fiscal matters.
Duties
Commissioned officers in the Supply Corps practice a variety of disciplines, includ ...
.
In most militaries, the Supply Corps are considered staff officers meaning that they have no command authority over troops in the field or ships at sea. In the modern age, however, some logistics commands (such as Commander Naval Logistics Forces
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
) have such a forward deployed manpower base that they are considered equal to front line combat units. The supply corps are responsible for supply logistics for combat and non-combat missions. e.g., securing supplies, materials and equipment required by for combat units.
History
The U.S. Navy Supply Corps was established by an act of congress in 1795 for the purpose of procuring supplies for military operations.
References
Military logistics
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