Thanks to strategy and advanced planning, Defense Logistics Agency Energy served as a silent engine behind operations Absolute Resolve and Southern Spear.
A strategic placement of energy assets and defense fuel support points allowed DLA Energy to make sure the joint forces maintained the operational reach and endurance necessary to achieve their objectives.
The operations triggered an increase in fuel requirements. To help secure U.S. interests, DLA Energy ensured a resilient and uninterrupted flow of energy to air, sea and ground forces. The multi-million-gallon effort required more than just DFSPs, tankers and refuelers, or contracts and vendors alone; it took the entire Joint Petroleum Enterprise to keep the military moving on its own terms, driven by strategic objectives rather than fuel limitations.
Agile procurement in action
The surge in fuel requirements served as a high-stakes proving ground, prompting a balancing act between established long-term agreements and the immediate spot buys necessary to sustain the mission, said Matthew Womer, a contracting officer at DLA Energy.
“The atmosphere at DLA Energy shifted,” Womer said. “The commencement of these operations instilled a heightened sense of purpose, as the direct impact of our procurement actions on real-world events became unmistakably clear.”
The immediate priority for DLA Energy’s contracting and analysis teams was to establish supply chains for remote locations that lacked fuel infrastructure. The teams divided operations into two primary focus areas: the U.S. southern border and overseas locations. Along the border, contract specialist teams secured spot buys to enable systematic fuel ordering across five new sites.
Simultaneously, the team spearheaded the task of establishing new supply chains in Panama and Trinidad. This required extensive market research to identify vendors that had the knowledge and capability to navigate local laws as well as adhere to U.S. regulations.
“Our primary challenge wasn’t sourcing a massive amount of fuel; rather, it was the opposite,” Womer said. “Securing small, agile tank wagon loads, often less than 3,000 gallons at a time, to sustain troops directly on the front lines; this presented a unique set of difficulties.”
The need for small buys drove up per-gallon prices significantly, as fixed costs like transportation and administrative fees could not be distributed across hundreds of thousands of gallons, Womer said
Applying the standard framework of tools to new operating locations, although not unique, still required intensive effort and careful execution, he said. The reliance on diligent market research and rigorous vendor vetting successfully secured the necessary resources, ensuring uninterrupted logistical support for the warfighter.
Filling the tanks
The operations’ success relied on the rapid positioning and strategic placement of fuel assets, rather than relying on U.S.-owned infrastructure, said Brian Schule, chief of inventory and distribution management for DLA Energy The agency used contracts with vendors around the globe to supply the military’s fuel needs.
“We make the mission happen regardless of any constraints, to make sure the warfighter gets fuel and we don’t miss any sorties,” Schule said.
DLA Energy’s Direct Delivery Fuels Division worked with vendors in the Dominican Republic to meet daily fuel demands, creating a hub for the Air Force’s “bed down” plan to stage tankers.
The timing of the operations presented a hurdle to overcome because it corresponded with storage tank maintenance at key locations and a tanker that unexpectedly entered maintenance, Schule said. To cover this gap that could limit flying operations, the team pressed a commercial tanker into service in the area, along with other vessels to supplement coastal distribution.
Simultaneously, a commercial tanker chartered by the Military Sealift Command operated as a floating DFSP. Navigating to the Caribbean, the tanker delivered more than 22 million gallons of fuel, ensuring that naval forces could remain on station without the need to return to port, he said.
To bypass logistic bottlenecks caused by a tanker in maintenance, DLA Energy executed spot purchases and delivered the fuel directly to DFSPs. These spot buys delivered 3.8 million gallons of jet fuel just in time to support the surge.
A team from DLA Energy’s Facility Sustainment Directorate worked around the clock to return a 2 million-gallon storage tank at DFSP Tampa and a 1 million-gallon storage tank to service at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. With the tanks back in service, Schule said his team conducted resupply, ensuring warfighters had the fuel supplies needed to complete their missions.
Managing the ‘last tactical mile’
In the performance of military logistics, the final stretch — the “last tactical mile” — can determine a mission’s outcome.
The last tactical mile is an interesting construct because, in DLA Energy’s scope, that “mile” can mean thousands of miles of ocean or land, said Jason Hill, DLA Energy Liaison officer to U.S. Southern Command. To help bridge this gap, the agency uses existing mechanisms such as contracts and fuel cards, which are point-of-sale purchase cards that allow cardholders to buy fuel worldwide.
“DLA Energy will always do our best to fully support the warfighter,” Hill said. “In the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility, this typically means establishing new fuel contracts to meet those requirements as close as possible to where the unit needs the fuel.”
From global storage facilities to the engines of fighter jets and the hulls of naval vessels, DLA Energy proved useful during recent operations, ensuring critical resources reached their destinations without interruption.
However, when Operation Southern Spear caused an increasing demand, existing contracts could not support the surge, Hill said. The agency pivoted, rapidly modifying contracts and implementing new ones to handle the influx of military assets, particularly in Puerto Rico.
Hill noted that total visibility of the supply chain allowed the agency to identify gaps before they had a chance to cause operational failures.
Helping establish a location for Air Force tankers in the Dominican Republic was particularly impactful to him, Hill said. With no existing fuel support points or contracts in the country, DLA Energy worked with local vendors to source over 30 million gallons of jet fuel to support Southern Spear. This allowed the Air Force to operate forward, removing the workload of flying fuel from the continental U.S. When the vendor faced inventory limitations, real-time coordination ensured a daily minimum flow that kept Air Force KC-135 tankers flying, Hill said
At sea, logistics were even more complex, he added. DLA Energy used consolidated tankers to refuel at support points in the United States, transit to the Caribbean and conduct ship-to-ship transfers to U.S. Navy oilers.
These oilers then performed underway replenishments, stretching a refueling hose line between ships to resupply vessels while moving at sea. This “floating supply chain” is governed by rigorous safety protocols and coordination, allowing the fleet to remain on station as long as the mission demanded, Hill said.
Homeland defense first
“Success is having stuff at the right place at the right time,” said Army Col. Alphonso Simmons Jr., commander of DLA Energy Americas. “We have to get comfortable with predictive logistics ... that is how we get in front of requirements that will eventually be executed.”
The Western Hemisphere is the No. 1 priority and DLA Energy Americas plays a key role in homeland defense, ensuring the right posture to sustain and support all things that happens here in the homeland, Simmons said.
While the operations’ technical execution happened in the air and at sea, the strategic energy oversight remained anchored at its headquarters in Houston.
DLA Energy Americas plays a role in ensuring the right posture to support national interests by supporting U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Transportation Command. Additionally, it partners with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and contingency contractors to provide bulk petroleum support for disasters in the U.S.
To manage the surge, Simmons pushed his headquarters to continue to look up and out, focusing on strategic synchronization with higher headquarters and the USTRANSCOM while empowering his subordinate battalions to remain great at the tactical fight.
This management of the last tactical mile was not a matter of luck, but a shift toward what Simmons called predictive logistics to reduce the risks of contested logistics. Moving away from the just-in-time models of the past, DLA is increasingly using advanced data analytics to forecast needs before they become emergencies.
“There’s no way around the human dimension,” said Simmons. “No matter how much technology or digital products we build, you can’t get around the human dimension, there’s nothing like it.”
Simmons described a philosophy built on customer service and inter-agency synchronization. He noted that success was grounded in the ability of leaders to “come up on the net,” over-communicate and align their efforts toward a singular goal. To him, the most vital metric of success is not found on a spreadsheet, but in the collaborative spirit of the Joint Petroleum Enterprise.
Read more from this June 2026 edition of Loglines or browse more editions of the magazine on the Loglines Magazine website.