With us all the way: Van Ovost addresses transportation and logistics experts

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (October 18, 2022) – U.S. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, commander, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), addressed a combined audience of service members and commercial industry on Oct. 18 about the necessity of partnership while rapidly adapting to the realities of strategic competition.

“The theme of ‘evolving the strategic advantage’ is well timed,” Van Ovost said during her keynote address at the National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA) Fall Meeting 2022. “We need you with us, all the way.”

Van Ovost used the command’s accomplishments during Operation Allies Refuge (OAR) and deliveries of aid to Ukraine as recent, notable examples partnership, both of which harnessed the power of the entire logistics enterprise – military and civilian.

“Our logistical prowess remains on full display as we balance the rigors of our global mission, while ensuring Ukraine receives the aid necessary to defend their nation,” she said. “I’ll bet President Putin wishes he had transportation and logistics experts like you.”

Since its inception over three decades ago, the professionals of USTRANSCOM “maintain our readiness to fight tonight, while keeping a keen eye on our ability to do so in the future,” said Van Ovost. 

She recognized that the constant evolution of adapting and working together, both industry and Department of Defense, to meet the “strategic needs of our nation is nothing new.” 

Regaling the story of the first time the USTRANSCOM Commander, General Duane Cassidy, addressed members of NDTA, she noted that “even back then, he understood that achieving this goal was only possible through the special relationship between the military and transportation industry.”

This relationship has been on full display as security assistance deliveries have been flowing into Ukraine, despite the enterprise executing in a “manner much different than the preceding years, and with cargo and to destinations not forecasted, and at a pace and scale no other organization can replicate.”

Van Ovost went on the explain the success in Europe is “the result of decades of deliberately developing our global posture and network, the application of our combined capacity, and the ability to command and control our forces with precision.”

However, the freedom of maneuver across largely uncontested environments is not guaranteed and the strategic and operational landscape continues to change “as our country once again engages in strategic global competition,” Van Ovost said. 

She specifically cited China as our most “consequential strategic competitor”, and how along with Russia, they are “working overtime to undermine democracy and export a model of governance marked by repression at home and coercion abroad.”

To combat these more complex, emerging security threats, Van Ovost stated USTRANSCOM and industry partners must evolve our strategic advantage.

Her keynote came on the heels of the release of the new command strategy which outlines the organization’s way forward and addresses how operations, activities and investments must balance the enterprise’s attention on today’s requirements, while preparing to meet tomorrow’s.  

“You’ll find the command’s priorities are designed to meet the realities of the contested environment that we operate in and challenges we must address,” said Van Ovost. “To compete effectively, we must have agile, resistant, survivable, and sustainable logistics – all leading to delivering lethality.”

Van Ovost said that as an enterprise, USTRANSCOM and industry partners will “play an increasingly critical role in achieving our national defense objectives” by underwriting the lethality of the Joint Force and ensuring the viability of deterrence options, while providing flexibility to the nation’s leaders.

“We will work to increase our interoperability,” she said. “This includes empowering our people and partners to develop skills and innovative solutions that will address the challenges of their particular operating environment.”

In closing, she placed the power in the audiences’ hands, stating “you are the ones that will ensure we can compete now and in the future.”

“Our time is now.. the stakes are high, and success is only possible if you’re with us all the way,” she said. “… because together, we deliver!”

To watch the entire keynote address, click here.

USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe and provides our nation's leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.

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