Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps asks DLA ‘What if?’

It started with a pair of boots.

While visiting a training operation in Norway, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz said he saw a lance corporal wearing jungle boots while standing in several feet of snow.

He asked the young Marine why he wasn't wearing cold weather boots, to which he replied that he didn't have a pair. This led Ruiz down a path that included visits to places like the Marine Corps Logistics Command.

"I visited every individual issue facility that I could to see what the problem is - and continues to be - with individual combat equipment, and I was upset with what I was listening to," Ruiz said during a Defense Logistics Agency Warfighter Talk Feb. 18. "Everywhere I went after that visit, I would pay attention to what the Marines were wearing, the gear that they were carrying, how they were carrying it, how it was being maintained, and what was being bought and worn versus what was being issued and worn."

During a visit to Marine Systems Command, the Marine Corps' senior enlisted leader was told there were plenty of cold weather boots on the shelf.

"For me, when I looked in the mirror, all I could ask myself is, 'What if we actually issued the Marines the gear that they need?'" he said.

His logistics journey eventually led him to visit DLA's headquarters.

"My experience is that I knew nothing about what you did until a few hours ago, and that most Marines know nothing about what you deliver to them day in and day out," Ruiz said. "I plan to change that. I had no idea when I was in the warehouse 25 years ago that the things I was moving on heavy palettes had taken years of research and so much hard work to get these things into production and out to the Marines."

Ruiz, who is the 20th sergeant major of the Marine Corps, said logistics is about the "what ifs."

"Once upon a time, the Wright brothers looked at each other and said, 'What if we could fly?' It didn't take very long before somebody else says, 'What if we can put a machine gun on it?'" Ruiz said.

"Logistics is art and science," he continued, adding that it is also the engine of military innovation.

"What if we can make it smaller? What if we can make it faster? What if we can increase the distance times three?" Ruiz said.

"I come to tell you that I will push as hard as I can and for as long as I can to make sure that the gear that you are testing is trusted and worn by the Marines," Ruiz continued. "What I ask from you is that you never stop dreaming and you never stop asking yourself, 'What if?'"

Following his talk, questions from the DLA workforce related to Force Design 2030, Marine barracks and mental health.

A recording of the event is available to DLA employees on the Campaign of Learning page (a DLA Common Access Card is required).