a fully operational, peacetime and wartime, USTRANSCOM. The strategic deployment for Desert Shield/Desert Storm ranks among the largest in history. USTRANSCOM, in concert with its components, moved to the United States Central Command area of responsibility nearly 504,000 passengers, 3.7 million measurement tons (4.2 million m³) of dry cargo, and of petroleum products in approximately seven months. This equated roughly to the deployment and sustainment of two Army corps, two Marine Corps expeditionary forces, and 28 Air Force tactical fighter squadrons. The DOD learned much from the deployment to the Persian Gulf, and foremost among those lessons was that USTRANSCOM and its component commands needed to operate in peacetime as they would in wartime. Consequently, on 14 February 1992, the Secretary of Defense gave USTRANSCOM a new charter. Stating the command's mission to be "to provide air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense, both in time of peace and time of war," the charter greatly expanded the authorities of the USTRANSCOM commander. Under it, the Service Secretaries assigned the components to the USTRANSCOM commander in peace and war. In addition, the military departments assigned to him, under his combatant command, all transportation assets except those that were service-unique or theater-assigned. The charter also made the USTRANSCOM commander DOD's single-manager for transportation, other than service-unique and theater-assigned assets. In 1995, USTRANSCOM supported 76 humanitarian missions and 94 Joint Chiefs of Staff exercises, visiting approximately 80 percent of the 192 countries. Since Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the Command has continued to provide transport support in contingencies—such as Desert Thunder (enforcement of UN resolutions in Iraq) and Operation Allied Force (NATO operations against Serbia)--and peacekeeping endeavors—for example, Operation Restore Hope (Somalia), Support Hope (Rwanda), Uphold Democracy (Haiti), Operation Joint Endeavor (Bosnia-Herzegovina), and Joint Guardian (Kosovo). It has also supported numerous humanitarian relief operations transporting relief supplies to victims of natural disasters at home and abroad. After the 11 September 2001 attacks, it became a vital partner in the United States' Global War on Terrorism supporting U.S. forces in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. From October 2001 to the present, USTRANSCOM, its components, and its national partners have transported over 2.2 million passengers and nearly of cargo in support of the war on terrorism. On 16 September 2003 Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld designated the Commander, USTRANSCOM as the Distribution Process Owner (DPO) to serve "as