President-elect Trump has named James Mattis to be the Secretary of Defense.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon is largely credited with inspiring the Department of Defense’s operational renewable energy initiatives.
Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, who retired in 2013 from his post as head of U.S. Central Command, has been an outspoken critic of the Obama administration and the Iran nuclear deal since he retired in 2013 following a 41-year career in the Marines. Mattis led the Marines into Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War and the initial wave into Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003.
It was during his time in Iraq that Mattis noticed that service members under his command were trying to move faster than fuel supplies could accommodate, requiring forces to slow down for resupply chains. The observation led Mattis to famously ask Congress, in a post-combat report, to “unleash” the military “from the tether of fuel.”
Mattis’ report prompted the Pentagon to take a closer look at its supply chain, with DOD ultimately finding that by 2009 more than 3,000 troops and civilian contractors had been killed or wounded protecting convoys, 80 percent of which were transporting truck fuel.
DOD began a number of efforts to reduce soldiers’ reliance on oil in combat, including the development of solar blankets to provide energy to Marines on foot patrol, and more energy-efficient generators that could power entire forward operating bases.
Those steps are likely to stay in place under Mattis’ leadership, and the use of renewables in the field has a clear tie to saving time and lives.