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When Sharon E. Burke was sworn in earlier this month as the Pentagon's first director of operational energy plans and programs, her mission was clear: reduce the amount of energy needed in war zones, and decrease the risk to troops that transport and guard the military's fuel.
Burke isn't asking troops to do without the fuel, generators, and batteries needed for wartime operations or even for creature comforts, she said yesterday in an interview with American Forces Press Service. Instead, she hopes to find energy alternatives and efficiencies to meet the military's needs.
"The job of this office is to make sure the troops get the energy they need to do their jobs," she said. "Our top priority is to give our deployed forces more options, more mission effectiveness."
Maintaining current energy levels in environments like Iraq and Afghanistan is unsustainable, Burke and other Pentagon leaders say. Besides the obvious environmental impact, the current levels come with tremendous financial and security costs, they say.
