Remember the Great Green Fleet?

There is a long and not so glorious tradition of the US Military being used - both their people and their money - by politicians to pursue non-military agenda items either due to ideology or in order to take advantage of one of the military's unusual characteristics: we follow orders.

Leverage that feature/bug with the deep well of institutional good will those in uniform have ... and you can see why all sorts of pet projects/agenda items/supporter payoffs are spot-welded on to DOD.

The neo-pagan religion of "climate change" (no different than moon worship as it is always there, always will be there, cannot be stopped or encouraged to any significant degree by mortals) is no different.

How is the Army doing?

...preparing installations to use less energy and stand up to extreme weather will cost the Army a total of $5.2 billion through fiscal year 2027. The strategy’s acquisition and logistics line of effort is estimated to cost $1.6 billion. Training comes to a budget-friendly $1 million.  

What the implementation plan lacks, however, is the technology to carry it out—because that technology does not exist. 

“Many of the objectives in the strategy reach out into the 2030s, 2040s, some even all the way up to 2050. Because the long-term goals we have to accomplish…we don’t know how we’re going to accomplish them yet. The technology is going to continue to evolve,” Farnan said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event. 

The climate implementation plan includes some familiar ideas, like microgrids and electric vehicles. But exactly how the Army will electrify all its vehicles, especially the heavy-duty ones, is unknown. 

“The honest answer is: I don’t know,” Farnan said. “And that’s why the goal is up to 2050. Because we don’t know how we’re going to get there yet. The technology is not there to give us full electrification of tactical vehicles.” 

“I don’t know how we’re going to do battlefield charging yet. Nobody knows that,” Farnan said. 

Not to be outdone, how about the USAF?

The Air Force’s Climate Action Plan touts itself as “instilling a culture in which Airmen and Guardians understand the implications of climate change.” But reading the 20-page guide reveals a plan for the Air Force so much more ambitious than that.

The plan aims to spend $100 million of the Air Force’s annual budget by 2027 on “base resilience” to climate change.

Critics necessarily retort that this amounts to $100 million taken from the Air Force’s mission to make the world safe for all pronouns.

What that actually represents is $100 million for projects to protect from extreme weather - something our species has done since we built our first lean-to - but that isn't as sexy. 

Does any of this help us with China's rising challenge west of Wake?

No, of course it doesn't. 

Follow the money.