Combined Arms of Energy
Energy Security series (1 of 10)
“I don’t think that it would go well for me to share my perspective. I love this industry, but nobody will like what I have to say.” I had one of my close veteran friends in the energy industry tell me this when I asked him to be on our podcast. He’s been working in solar and energy storage since leaving the Marines and has now started his own development company with some impressive financial backing. What perspective was he worried about sharing? It wasn’t his combat experience, it was his identity as a libertarian and his conservative views. He obviously hadn’t listened to the podcast, but I’ll give him a pass on that (I wouldn’t want to hear my voice either). But the fact that this successful industry executive didn’t want to be fully present is distressing.
What perspective was he worried about sharing? It wasn’t his combat experience, it was his identity as a libertarian and his conservative views.
Oil & gas is the essential backbone of our modern society and needs to be embraced and understood. Renewable energy is the fastest growing segment of the energy industry, and where I’m personally most excited to participate in the overall growth of energy in the coming decades as nearly everything gets electrified. We need both (and more) to fully execute a Combined Arms of Energy strategy and achieve true Energy Security.
I’ve noticed that when I ask folks what Energy Security means to them they can only talk about it in broad systems terms, but they often get tripped up on how to talk about it through their experiences. In the next dozen or so essays I’m going to try and lead by example in defining energy security through my personal experience so we can have other Project Vanguard members add their own stories to how our industry can talk about how energy security is national security. I think that this is a unique veteran perspective we can share with the industry, policymakers, and civilians. After all, I’m no expert in anything. But I have deployed and been successful in combat, owned an oilfield supply company for a decade, led one of the largest veteran service organizations in Texas building community among veterans, led sales for field services of utility scale operations and maintenance, and worked as the director of a think tank focused on the intersection of energy security and national security. I’m not that bright, but I have been busy. I’m not going to tell anyone what to think, but I am going to tell yall what I experienced. I hope that informs how anyone reading this thinks about energy security.
When I was in combat I loved being in the infantry, but that was only one aspect of what we called a Combined Arms philosophy. If I was going to go on a raid we also had air assets on standby, we’d prep an objective with artillery, cordon the area with tanks, assess targets using our intelligence assets, and we’d be supported by a mind boggling long logistics supply line. It took a diverse portfolio of operators and service members to execute a single raid. Our energy system is the same. It’s more secure with a diverse mix of energy generation assets. While this is something exciting and riveting to me, it also needs to be simple and unseen to everyone else.
It took a diverse portfolio of operators and service members to execute a single raid. Our energy system is the same.
Before I lay out all the aspects of energy security over the coming weeks, I want to start where I began my career in energy, my time as a light infantry platoon leader in Iraq. Two stories jump out at me when I think of energy security experiences when I was in Iraq. First, when I was living at OP Hotel in the center of the city with my platoon on overwatch of Route Michigan and a Tier 1 IED hotspot at its intersection with Easy Street and Apple. I was driving back into Camp Corregidor for a fuel run. On our way back after checking in Battalion, the guys and I were BS-ing when I heard something hitting the side of our up armored humvee. There was sporadic small arms fire from behind us. I decided we wouldn’t engage with our .50cal without being able to identify the source. But it struck me that we were burning gas, to go get gas, to run an oversized generator, to power a radio, coffee machine, and some lights. I don’t want an EV Humvee at an OP in the city. But man, a few solar panels would have been a way more secure solution. Especially looking back knowing that in Iraq 1 in 8 casualties were on fuel convoys. I can’t help thinking that we were so limited in the options we had for solving our own energy demands when I was in combat.
Energy Security is destroyed by energy scarcity.
I learned about what scarcity does to people when I was in Iraq. During the Surge and the Sunni Awakening we had calmed things down in Ramadi where I was deployed, so my platoon was moved out into a surrounding village called Juyaba. There we moved into a large house in the area that we had been using as a forward operating base. I was living with an Iraqi army company, training the officers in charge of the unit and leading contracting with the local city council. I saw firsthand how the insecurity of the war had removed the economic opportunities afforded to the local residents. As we’d go out into the neighborhoods on patrol I’d constantly hear about the lack of access to electricity. The local substation had been a launch point for a lot of raids, so of course we’d blown it up. Several times. So the only way that they could power their homes was from diesel generators, but accessing fuel was extremely difficult. We’d source fuel for some of the homes, as there were mothers with young children that were trying to keep formula cold for infants. I had to watch as these people had to make hard choices with their children’s lives on the line. When I think of Energy Security I think of those parents and how their energy scarcity created so much insecurity in their lives. I don’t want to see that happen in America.
When I think of Energy Security I think of those parents and how their energy scarcity created so much insecurity in their lives. I don’t want to see that happen in America.
We need energy abundance, not scarcity. If you think this only applied to combat situations or countries far from our shores then you’re wrong. I’ve seen fist fights after hurricanes in Houston when gas stations run out and there’s long lines to get gas. There’s an old saying that every civilization is three meals from barbarism, well it also applies to our need for energy.
We need a Combined Arms approach that derisks our energy system by not being constrained by any single energy source. The wind doesn’t always blow, the sun doesn’t always shine, and the market for global commodities in oil & gas isn’t always reliable. We need to invest in all of it or we risk our energy security, and thereby our national security and the safety of our families. Energy security is national security.
This is the first in the series of essays I’m planning to write. Here’s what you can expect to read in the coming weeks on this subject.
Essay 1: Combined Arms of Energy (launch)
Essay 2: Scarcity Creates Conflict (more Iraq stories)
Essay 3: The False Binary (my O&G vs renewables experience)
Essay 4: The Element They Won’t Defend (renewables needs O&G)
Essay 5: The Element They Won’t Attack (nuclear)
Essay 6: Resilience Starts at Home (my microgrid)
Essay 7: The Lost Coalition (hippies, preppers, and pot growers)
Essay 8: The Force We’re Not Training (veteran workforce challenges)
Essay 9: The Community That Didn’t Exist (why project vanguard resonates)
Essay 10: The Operations Order (the mission ahead)
As I continue this series feel free to reach out and share your own stories from the military and industry about energy security. I’d love to hear from you. Comment below or email me at kevin@projectvanguard.com