Energy partnerships sustain Army fight
By Shannon Collins, Army News Service August 19, 2025
WASHINGTON -- Fort Benning participated in the Disaster Resilience Across the Chattahoochee Valley Conference in Columbus, Georgia, July 15-16. Hosted by the Georgia-Alabama Partnership for Sustainability, the conference provided a space for collaboration among local, state, and federal partners to address disaster preparedness and response for the region.
The Army is working with community leaders and emergency response personnel to address disaster preparedness and response for the regions they serve, said Brandon Cockrell, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and the environment.
This enables regional energy resilience, ensuring Army installations can power the mission while supporting local energy infrastructure during emergencies.
He said establishing these partnerships with the base and the community is crucial.
"Having these conversations ahead of time, having partnerships ahead of time, it's crucial. You can see what this region is doing and the partnerships that have been formed, directly impacting Soldiers and their families off the installation. It's a partnership built outside of the installation focused on lethality and the Army's overall mission. It's teamwork."
The Army's ultimate end state is to have modern, resilient, efficient installations that enhance lethality, strategic readiness and emergency preparedness, while providing quality facilities, services and support for Soldiers, civilians, and their families, said Cockrell.
"The Army wants to ensure an abundant supply of reliable energy for mission preparedness, but it also prioritizes its Soldiers, civilians, their families, and the communities we serve," said Cockrell. "We are part of the community and so our relationships and those that we partner with are critical for our ability to support our communities."
Energy resilience means having reliable and accessible power for carrying out critical operations under all circumstances or any external power disruption, ensuring Army mission readiness and community support.
"Our goal is for every Army installation to have the capability of becoming an 'island' in a contested environment," said Cockrell. "That doesn't mean total isolation. It means an installation has the ability to continue the Army's mission while also supporting those who provide support to the mission."
Proactively establishing partnerships with base and the community is key for the Army's ability to achieve energy resilience and these islands in contested environments.
"Having conversations and partnerships ahead of time, it's crucial," said Cockrell. "You can see what this region is doing and the partnerships that've been formed, directly impacting Soldiers and their families off the installation. It's a partnership built outside the installation, focused on lethality and the Army's overall mission. It's teamwork."
The Army is working to adopt emerging technologies and foster local partnerships to transform installations to effectively counter challenges of the modern day. Together, the Army and its partners have shared talent, time, and financial resources to deliver the energy solutions to sustain the fight at quicker speeds with reduced overall costs and strain on the communities' grids - combining strength to reach mutual goals and be more prepared for emergencies and disasters.
The Army works with utilities, private investors, and more to lease out federal land to implement modern, reliable energy solutions that provide power to the installation and local community, diversifying and fortifying the energy grid for all.
By leveraging partnerships with academic, community, and industry, the Army is able to modernize to deploy, fight, and win the Nation's wars, he said.
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