specialreport
BY STEVE GEARY, EDITOR AT LARGE
going green
to save lives
Researchers at the U.S. Marines’ new test lab are looking at ways to
conserve water and energy at operating bases in Afghanistan. It’s not
just a PR initiative; their efforts could save lives.
NOT LONG AGO, I RECEIVED AN INVITATION TO TOUR THE MARINES’ NEW
Experimental Forward Operating Base, a test lab where researchers are investigating ways to
conserve energy and other resources at forward operating bases in Afghanistan. The guest
list included, among others, the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James T. Conway.
There’s a war on, there are Marines in harm’s way, and the commandant of the Marine
Corps is going to take time out to tour a lab devoted to green initiatives? I reread the press
release to make sure I had it right, and sure enough, that’s what it said. Now I think sustainability is important, but it just doesn’t feel like something that would make it onto the
top Marine’s to-do list during a war.
But it turns out there’s more to the story than first appears. The Marines’ push to make
operating bases more sustainable isn’t some kind of science project or public relations initiative. It’s about saving lives.
What the lab is ultimately looking to do is cut down on the Marines’ use of supply convoys, which are
particularly vulnerable to attack. Right now, the forward operating bases depend heavily on these convoys to supply their basic needs. For instance, it’s not unusual for an operating base in Afghanistan to be
located in an area with no local source of potable water. In that case, trucks will likely be needed to haul
in vast quantities of fresh water on a regular basis—according to the Marine Corps Survival Manual, a
single Marine in the field in Afghanistan needs to consume at least 10 liters ( 2. 6 gallons) of water a day
to remain healthy.
And it’s not just water. It’s the same with the fuel needed for the generators that power the bases’ 21st
century high-tech equipment. In today’s conflict zones in Southwest Asia, fuel consumption runs to over
25 gallons a day per troop—fuel that often has to be brought in from a supply depot a full day’s drive
away. Add the fuel and the water, and that’s a lot of liquid moving down the road in the back of a truck—
maybe as many as eight trucks going out a couple of times a week, each carrying two Marines with
accompanying armed vehicle escorts.
Questions of cost and efficiency aside, running convoys is dangerous business. In 2009, Gen. Conway
identified convoy security as one of the most pressing problems related to the risk of casualties. Cutting
down on the use of convoys would reduce the Marines’ exposure to improvised explosive devices and
