The Greenest Marine Company Ever

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

India Company of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, based at Camp Pendleton, California, may be the greenest Marine company to ever go to war — in the ecological sense, as they prepare to deploy enough solar-powered equipment to reduce their fuel consumption in Afghanistan by 30 to 50 percent:

The company recently completed about a week of drills relying entirely on solar power, National Defense magazine is reporting. In Afghanistan, officials anticipate that solar panels, along with solar-powered generators and tents, will minimize reliance on batteries and gas.

Combined, the two entail significant logistical challenges, not to mention their environmental and financial toll. A single soldier in Afghanistan uses 22 gallons of fuel a day, and delivering each gallon to the war zone costs between $300 and $400, according to estimates released last year.

“A lot of commanders in the field want to do this for operational benefits,” Christine Parthemore, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, tells Danger Room. “There’s no operational benefit to these huge fuel convoys, and they’re also a significant security risk.”

Comments

  1. Foseti says:

    We might never win the war there or leave the country, but at least our carbon footprint there will be smaller!

  2. Isegoria says:

    Certainly many green goals are ludicrous, but sometimes green programs serve the bottom line.

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