# Noble joins Defense Department logistics leaders for INDO-PACOM engagements

/ Published March 27, 2023
FORT BELVOIR, Va., 
The Defense Logistics Agency’s commander of joint regional combat support joined senior Defense Department logisticians for a tour of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command installations in Hawaii and Guam March 18-25.

Navy Rear Adm. Doug Noble, who also serves as the agency’s director of logistics operations, represented DLA on a trip led by Christopher Lowman, assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Leo Kosinski, the Joint Staff director of logistics, and attended by senior logisticians from the military services and INDO-PACOM. The logistics leaders used the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the strategic challenges the Joint Logistics Enterprise could face in a contested environment against a near-peer threat.

                Navy Rear Adm. Doug Noble, right, DLA director of logistics operations and commander of joint regional combat support, talks to Navy Cdr. Chris Radke, commander of DLA Energy Southwest Pacific, March 24, 2023, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Noble engaged with the DLA team on the island at the end of a tour of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command sites in Hawaii and Guam led by Christopher Lowman, assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Leo Kosinski, the Joint Staff director of logistics focused on the strategic challenges the Joint Logistics Enterprise could face in a contested environment against a near-peer threat. Courtesy photo                            Noble joins Defense Department logistics leaders for INDO-PACOM engagements                            Navy Rear Adm. Doug Noble, right, DLA director of logistics operations and commander of joint regional combat support, talks to Navy Cdr. Chris Radke, commander of DLA Energy Southwest Pacific, March 24, 2023, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Noble engaged with the DLA team on the island at the end of a tour of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command sites in Hawaii and Guam led by Christopher Lowman, assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Leo Kosinski, the Joint Staff director of logistics focused on the strategic challenges the Joint Logistics Enterprise could face in a contested environment against a near-peer threat. Courtesy photo            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Courtesy PhotoVIRIN: 230324-D-XX999-001

“The National Defense Strategy’s primary focus is to sustain and strengthen U.S. deterrence against China, and the USINDOPACOM region is where deterrence occurs daily.” Noble said. “It is critical for DLA, in cooperation with our partners across the Joint Logistics Enterprise, to ensure the sustainment our U.S. and partner forces require across the spectrum of operations.”

Noble said the trip allowed leaders to understand the unique challenges warfighters and logisticians could face in a future conflict and begin finding mitigation strategies to ensure success.

“In today’s era of competition, we must be agile and anticipatory in our supply chains. We need to ensure that logistics provides options to the warfighter, not limitations,” he said. 

While in Hawaii, the group met with INDO-PACOM leaders to discuss the command’s Set the Theater initiative, a framework to address the tasks required to ensure warfighters in the theater are supported in the event of high-intensity joint combat operations in a contested logistics environment.

The group then spent two days in Guam, which has experienced several changes to logistics support infrastructure in recent years, including a new 70,000-foot subsistence prime vendor warehouse on the island and a new 23.2-mile pipeline that carries fuel from Naval Base Guam to Andersen Air Force Base. Noble said it was crucial to have a “boots on the ground” view of operations on the island.

“It’s critical for the nation’s logistics combat support agency to work through this evolution with our service component partners to ensure we stay ahead of any potential impacts to DLA’s support to the warfighter,” he said. “If we have to support operations in a contested environment, we need to be ready now – not after the first shot is fired – and engagements like this help us get ahead of the biggest challenges.”