There’s a saying in military circles: “Amateurs talk tactics, armchair generals talk strategy, but professionals study logistics.” At Annapolis our instructors credited it to General Robert H Barrow of the Marine Corps, but since then I’ve also heard it ascribed to Omar Bradley and several other historical figures going back at least to the Civil War.
During the Energy Wars I was aware of our CBG’s resupply operations, but my direct involvement was quite limited. My duty as a pilot of a F-18 Hornet was to take the war to the enemy, not to track gallons of JP-8 loaded and consumed.
Had I remained active Navy, I probably would’ve dealt more extensively with logistics as I rose through the ranks and took on responsibility for larger units. However, NASA chose to exercise their option, and I accepted their invitation to become an astronaut.
It was when I took command of Shepardsport that I truly became aware of the importance of logistical issues. Even before the Expulsions vastly increased our population, I had to deal with the maintenance of our vital supply lines and the management of our consumables. Obviously, the sudden influx of additional population made those balances all the more critical.
When the diablovirus outbreak began, there were the usual hiccups of any time supply lines are disrupted by an unexpected event, whether it be natural or human-caused. As the crisis progressed, our focus necessarily narrowed to our own situation on the Moon, and it became easy to let our view of things on Earth slip out of focus.
As a result, when I received the news of severe issues in the US trucking industry, I knew that we were looking at a major humanitarian crisis in the making — and there was very little that we on the Moon would be able to do about it.
—- Reginald T. Waite, Capt. USN. Oral history record, “Shepardsport During the Diablovirus Pandemic,” Kennedy University Tycho.