Paul McLeary at ARES nails it.

Paul McLeary over at ARES has a couple of posts that cover the Marine Corps energy independence expeditionary energy initiative (here and here).

If ARES has a ground guy then Paul is that man(trust me...I consider that a compliment!)...and thankfully he covered something that's been bothering me in regards to Distributed Operations and the Company Landing Team Concepts...the issue of resupply.

If you think that the K-Max and upcoming CH-53K's solved the problem of resupply of dispersed company sized units then you're wrong.  The idea that in addition to just ammo, food, water and other supplies would have to be supplied...in addition to whatever their energy needs are then you can understand my doubting the very efficacy of the project.

Paul's stories have me switching from doubting to the 'hey its possible lets try' camp.

According to Marine Corps documents, the system proved itself such a success in operations that two patrol bases are currently operating entirely on renewable energy, with a 90 percent reduction in fuel required at a third base—and the unit was even able to conduct a three-week foot patrol “without battery resupply, reducing load on Marines by 700 lbs.”

If that doesn't convince you then how about this...

One India company squad leader, Sgt. David Doty, is quoted as saying that on his patrol base, “our generators typically use more than 20 gallons of fuel a day. We are down to 2.5 gallons a day,” thanks to the exFOB technology.

But wait...there's more...

A $10 increase in the price of a barrel of oil, at current consumption levels, would be equivalent to the entire Marine Corps’ procurement budget.

The new Commandant is winning me over ... not only because of this but because I made a mistake in believing that the wings on his chest carried more weight than the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on his chest.  He's talking the talk and with initiatives like this ... walking the walk.  If we can get our bases operating on this same concept worldwide...and find a high capacity magazine for the IAR that will work then he's off to a good start.

I'll even forgive him for signing on to buy the F-35C.

Marine Expeditionary Energy Initiative Website.