7-1 CHAPTER 7 SUPPLY PROCEDURES When a piece of equipment becomes inoperative because of a broken part, you must replace the broken part. If you do not have a replacement or spare part, you must order one from supply. What must you do to obtain materials from the supply department? What forms are used to requisition materials? As a petty officer, you should be able to answer those questions.  Why  is  that  so  important? Because as a petty officer, you may be the work center supervisor responsible for maintaining the equipment within your center. The purpose of this chapter is to help you become familiar with the workings of the supply department. By understanding how the supply department works, you can use the Navy supply system to help you carry out your duties  more  effectively.  You  will  be  provided information on material identification (that is, national stock number format, etc.), requisition documents, and material expenditures. This chapter is not intended to make you an expert in the area of supply. Rather, it is designed to give you a basic understanding of supply matters to improve your supervisory abilities. The following definitions of the basic supply terms should help you understand the material in this chapter: CONTROLLED   EQUIPAGE—Items   requiring special management control because the material is essential to the protection of life or is relatively valuable and can be converted easily for personal use. LOGISTICS—The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, logistics involve those aspects  of  military  operations  that  deal  with  the following areas: 1.   Design,  development,  acquisition,  storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposition of material 2. Acquisition, construction, maintenance, operation, and disposition of facilities 3. Acquisition and furnishing of services 4. Movement,  evacuation,  and  hospitalization of personnel MATERIAL—All   items   necessary   to   equip, operate, maintain, and support an activity. SUPPLIES—All items necessary to equip, maintain, and  operate  a  military  command,  including  food, clothing, equipment, arms, ammunition, fuel, materials, and machinery of all types. SUPPLY—The procurement, distribution, maintenance (while in storage), and salvage of supplies, including the determination of the type and quality of supplies. SUPPLY CONTROL—The process by which an item of supply is controlled within the supply system, including requisitioning, receipt, storage, stock control, shipment, disposition, identification, and accounting. MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION Learning Objectives: Recognize the different types of stock  and  control  numbers.  Recall  the  purpose  of cognizance symbols. Recall the purpose of the special material  identification  code.  Recognize  sources  of identifying  material  when  a  stock  number  is  not available. Recognize the uses of the following supply publications: ML-N, MCRL, MRIL, ASG, and COSAL. What is meant by material identification? Why is it necessary? What tools are available for you to use in identifying   material?   The   problem   of   material identification is not peculiar to the Navy or the military. You probably have had occasion to purchase a part for your car or an appliance or to use a mail-order catalog. Those items were all identified by a catalog or part number as part of the manufacturer’s or supplier’s identification system. Companies use an identification system for the same reason the Navy does. It is a brief,