by applying sustainable principles and practices through-
out military installations, systems, and operations; Op-
erational Energy is a fine example. At the tactical level
sustainability is reducing risks to military war fighters by
reducing the logistic burden of transporting fuel and wa-
ter to the tip of the fighting spear, and by minimizing the
overall logistics footprint at base camps. In the field, the
military is additionally a catalyst for the enhancement of
sustainable communities through its application of green
technologies and human capacity building.
Sustainability is simply a management approach ap-
plying a systematic framework with a focus on the wise
use of resources (economic and natural) while acting so-
cially responsible. Through the application of sustain-
able practices and principles demonstrated in this book
by various organizations the military is not only getting
stronger, but playing a vital role in driving new innova-
tion and technologies critical to the military’s future suc-
cess.
Unsustainable practices worldwide are increasingly
leading to adversely changing conditions in meteorology,
potable water availability, sea levels, crop and fish yields,
disease rates, and species survival rates. The aforemen-
tioned conditions have an aggregate effect of destabiliz-
ing weak nations. In essence unsustainable principles
and practices are a threat multiplier.
There are several examples throughout this book that
demonstrate the transformation of militaries to a sus-
tainability based approach has been a natural evolution
rather than a radical event. Doctrine, strategic planning,
decision making, acquisition and procurement processes,
building design and construction, facility and tactical
operations, and institutional behaviors are all aligning to
support sustainability. Although there is still much more
to do, it should be evident from this book that sustain-
ability offers a critical lens for examining national security
objectives at the strategic, operational and tactical levels.
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