Marines Lead DOD on Energy

Another great dispatch just in from roving DEB reporter Dan Nolan of Sabot 6:

On 1 Oct 2009 I meet the new head of the United States Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office, General James Conway, who is also the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps. A few weeks prior I wrote about the USMC Energy Summit where General Conway announced that he would form an energy office and “before the end of the month, deploy a team to Afghanistan” to assess energy use at forward operating bases.

My thought at the time was, “there is no way they can assemble, prepare and deploy a team in that amount of time”. Nevertheless, I landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan on 3 September 2009 as part of the 6-six-man Marine Energy Assessment Team. Amazing what a little leadership can do. The highlight of the visits to the various camps, combat outpost and patrol bases (other than the odd rocket attack) was getting to meet the magnificent men and women of today’s Corps. America has nothing to fear with these folks on the front line.

Each service now has an energy office, but only the Marine Corps office is led by a uniformed officer. The leadership positions at DOD, the Army and Air Force are unfilled at this time. DOD related energy conferences continue. The same briefings detailing the same challenges are given over and over again. We can all look to the USMC for true leadership in DOD in relieving our unquenchable thirst for oil.

There'll be more detail coming from Dan on this. Stay tuned.