Joint petroleum course at Fort Lee brings military branches together on fuel logistics

A Defense Logistics Agency Energy partnership with the Petroleum and Water Executive Development program has turned Fort Lee into a cross-service hub for training the military’s fuel logisticians, aligning Army, Navy and Marine Corps instruction under a single, joint framework established in 2022.

Under the arrangement, Fort Lee provides classrooms and information technology infrastructure, while DLA Energy serves as the Integrated Material Manager and academic lead. “In collaboration with the Military Service and Joint Staff Petroleum Offices, a foundational training course in joint petroleum operations was developed,” said Douglas R. Thomas Jr., joint petroleum training program manager with DLA Energy.

The Joint Petroleum Course’s JPC 200 curriculum emphasizes safe, accountable fuel management and clarifies how responsibilities flow from DLA Energy to combatant commands. To date, 676 students have completed the course, including its first civilian GS-15 and its first O-6, Army Col. Tina Kilpatrick. “During my command of the 475th Quartermaster Group, applying petroleum logistics training to real-world missions like Talisman Saber solidified my need to deepen my expertise,” Kilpatrick said. “The course introduced me to strategic-level bulk petroleum logistics, piquing my interest in how these roles and responsibilities integrate.”

For soldiers in the classroom, the joint environment is a force multiplier. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Phong Le, a reservist with the 413th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion with two decades in fuel operations and three combat deployments, said the cross-branch lens is essential. “We all have to learn how to work together on equipment, the way we test fuel, our supply system, and for us to do that, we have to understand each other,” Le said. “It’s all about linking everything for all three services together to become one as a strong force, so we can deliver fuel faster, and more efficiently.”

Course leaders say co-location with DLA Energy educators gives students added perspective. “This situation provides a bonus to our students as DLA Energy educators help provide clarity and insights into the roles and responsibilities within DLA Energy,” said Tommy Grais, course manager for the Petroleum Warrant Officers Course.

Program officials describe the collaboration as distinctive within the military education enterprise. “What DLA Energy and PWED educators do together is unique,” said Reed Hudgins, director of the Petroleum Water and Energy Department. “Together, DLA Energy and PWED ensure an end-to-end lifelong learning continuum for petroleum officers, warrant officers and NCOs are coordinated from tactical to operational and strategic levels that is unlike any other commodity or community within the Department of War.” He added: “Having DLA Energy in the middle of this educational hub is critical to ensuring the supported services have access to the best educational partners. DLA Energy is the most crucial partner in that mix.”

Proximity to major fuel infrastructure sharpens the training’s real-world relevance, Thomas noted, with DLA Energy Headquarters, the Craney Island Defense Fuel Support Point, Fort Barfoot and a naval master jet base all within a two-hour drive. He framed joint petroleum instruction as equal parts “art and science,” with the art focused on building cross-service communication networks to bridge differences in training, equipment and terminology, and the science grounded in precision logistics that deliver the right quantities to the right place and time while preventing spills or shortages.