Marine Forces Reserve, New Orleans -- The Commandant of the Marine Corps gathered Marines and energy industry representatives in New Orleans from Jan. 25 through 27 to explore ways of making deployed Marines more energy efficient and self sufficient.
During the Marine Corps Power and Energy Symposium, sponsored by the National Defense Industry Association, entitled “Lightening the load: Reducing the footprint in the expeditionary environment,” Gen. James T. Conway, Commandant of the Marine Corps, gave the audience an objective to work toward, exclaiming “Our goal is to be completely self-contained.”
“We have become a second land army and things must change if we are to be the world’s premier expeditionary force,” said Conway.
Conway’s major concern was reducing the risk to Marines responsible for delivering fuel and water to forward deployed troops. “We take 10 to 15 percent of casualties among Marines involved in the delivery of fuel and water,” he said. “We can do better.”
Conway explained that the force’s current reliance on contractors and vulnerable supply lines will not be available in future conflicts, telling the audience, “There will be other Afghanistans. The enemy is attracted to ungoverned spaces.”
“We’ve got to reduce our reliance on heavy batteries,” Conway said, referring to how the heavy logistical burden is borne by individual Marines. He also conveyed the need to operate current equipment more efficiently, citing a recent examination of generator usage at Camp Leatherneck that found 200 different generators running at an average of 30 percent efficiency as an example.
Colonel T.C. Moore, Marine Corps Operational Liaison to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, was selected by the Commandant of the Marine Corps in Sept. 2009 to lead a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan. These Marines and civilian subject matter experts examined the fully burdened costs of delivering fuel and other essentials to deployed Marines.
The fully burdened cost, as defined by the defense acquisitions guidebook, is the purchase cost of a commodity plus the apportioned cost of delivery logistics and related force protection required beyond the point of sale.
Moore’s team, known as the Marine Energy Assessment Team, or MEAT, determined that the fully burdened cost of a gallon of water delivered to Marines furthest from supply and logistics points, known as the tactical edge of the supply chain, was $4.78, and the cost of a gallon of fuel delivered to those same Marines was $11.70. While this is far less than $400 per gallon of fuel as reported in an October 2009 United Press International article, Moore stated that he believes we can do better.
Based on their findings, the MEAT recommended that the primary near-term objective should be to reduce the risk to Marines. Noting that hostile acts against Marines delivering fuel and other supplies increase the farther they travel from operating bases, Moore said, “The Marine Corps should be focused on finding solutions at the tactical edge.”
Moore went on to explain that dependence on long and vulnerable supply lines has resulted in diluted combat power and increased casualties among combat service support Marines.
Some of the ideas generated by the MEAT’s work include developing a small-scale electrical grid linking together generators in forward operating bases to create greater efficiency and redundancy, introducing more energy-efficient structures and obtaining drinking water form local wells and aquifers when possible.
This last recommendation is particularly important to Marines at the tactical edge of the supply line where, according to Moore, hauling water makes up 51 percent of the logistical burden.
While guest speakers and subject matter expert round table discussions comprised a significant portion of the symposium, much of the event was devoted to vendors displaying the products that they believe will help the Marine Corps achieve expeditionary energy solutions.
Companies ranging in size from defense giants the likes of BAE Systems and Raytheon to small companies with fewer than 100 employees displayed solar arrays, portable wind turbines, energy efficient shelters and all manner of energy-saving and energy-producing devices.
The products on display included off the shelf technologies that can be purchased and deployed today, as well as futuristic products still in development.
One example of what the future might hold is a drinking water generation system being developed by HDT Engineered Technologies. According to Richard Treen, senior technical specialist with the Fairfield, Va. based company, the system will remove moisture directly from the air in order to make drinking water.