Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.

Throughout my career in the Marine Corps, logistics has always underpinned every operation — from training exercises to overseas combat tours to planning for future conflicts. Weapons, material, fuel and other supplies that our troops rely upon are delivered across thousands of miles of ocean, principally by ship.

I can assure you, the 70-ton M1A1 tanks I commanded in Fallujah in 2007-08 did not arrive by cargo plane. These vital war supplies, along with troop transport, are delivered by the U.S. Merchant Marine.

Not to be confused with the Marine Corps of which I served, the

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