Trident Pier on the Gaza coast

A newly released watchdog investigation into President Joe Biden's mission last year to deliver aid to Gaza via a military logistics system known as JLOTS has confirmed years of cost cuts left the system seriously imperiled and military officials also failed to properly plan for the effort.

In the spring of 2024, in the wake of a massive Israeli campaign that left much of Gaza destroyed, Biden ordered that the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, be used to construct a pier in the war-torn region to deliver millions of tons of aid to starving residents.

The pier, operated by the Army[1] and Navy[2], ultimately helped offload nearly 20 million pounds of aid. But a stream of issues, breakdowns, injured service members and delays led to concerns about the Army's ability to build the piers and the health of the service's watercraft community.

Read Next: Veterans Urge Reform as VA Undergoes Major Changes and Faces Ongoing Health-Care Challenges[3]

Now, the Defense Department inspector general, in a report released Tuesday[4], found the Army and Navy didn't put enough money into maintaining the systems and U.S. Transportation Command -- a top Pentagon command overseen by a four-star general -- didn't do enough to set standards or minimum requirements for the two services.

The Pentagon "possessed the capability to conduct JLOTS operations and exercises, but reductions in capacity resulted in challenges to effectively perform these missions," according to the report.

However, the findings are not new to those who worked in and around the JLOTS systems.

A Military.com investigation[5] found the Army's watercraft elements may not have been ready for prime time. The capability, which had lingered in obscurity for a half-century, was suddenly stress-tested when it was tasked with one of the Pentagon's highest-profile missions in years.

Several experts and former community insiders told Military.com last year that the system, while capable, has suffered from funding shortfalls throughout the 20 years of the Global War on Terrorism.

The report confirmed that, noting that in the last 10 years -- from 2014 to 2024 -- the Army cut about $23 million from its operations and maintenance budget for the system. The Navy cut $69 million.

The report said the cuts "coincided with reductions by both services to reduce the quantity of JLOTS-capable units and equipment" and that "the reductions created significant challenges for each service's ability to meet future JLOTS requirements."

According to a now-retired Army warrant officer who served on the JLOTS vessels, the craft that are still in service are so old that some still have engines that say they were built in "West Germany."

In the wake of the Gaza pier mission, also known as Operation Neptune Solace, investigators found the Army showed that its watercraft fleet had dropped six vessels -- from 73 craft in November 2023 to 67 in November 2024.

"The Army did not provide an explanation for why its reported total watercraft count dropped," the report noted.

Both the Army and Navy also struggled to gather enough people to get the mission going.

The Army unit tasked with carrying out the mission, the 7th Transportation Brigade, or 7TBX, "lacked sufficient, certified, Army mariners to meet manning requirements on some Army watercraft and struggled to keep its assigned mariners."

"According to 7TBX officials, manning shortages delayed the deployment[6] of some Army watercraft for Operation Neptune Solace," investigators found.

On the Navy's side, its unit, Naval Beach Group 1, "had to pull together every person they could to sufficiently staff vessels in accordance with Navy requirements," the report said.

Meanwhile, when the Army invited the media to see some of the ships depart for the mission[7] in March 2024, leaders from the community made no mention of the issues and the 7TBX commander, Col. Samuel Miller, even boasted that the Army's first vessel left "36 hours after the president made that statement in the State of the Union address" that kicked off the mission.

Military leaders also failed to set up the mission for success, and the report found there were serious shortfalls in the planning stages of the mission.

"Operation Neptune Solace and [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] plans did not contain mission‑specific information necessary to successfully conduct a JLOTS operation," the report found.

Furthermore, in interviews with investigators, both Army and Navy officials said "combatant command planners generally did not seek input from JLOTS subject matter experts in the units on the development of operational plans" and, thus, they "did not fully identify or consider mission-specific requirements, such as beach conditions, average sea states, and other factors likely to affect the ability to successfully conduct a JLOTS operation."

As a result, the pier broke apart several times[8] and had to be towed out of the area, suspending aid delivery. In one instance, the foul weather resulted in several Army boats and their crews being stranded on the beach in Gaza. While the soldiers were evacuated fairly quickly[9], it took several days for the Israelis to return all the boats into the water.

All told, the report notes that 62 service members were injured during the operation, though the report noted that all those injuries occurred during the performance of duties, off duty or from preexisting medical conditions.

At the time of the mission, officials only revealed three injuries -- but one was so severe that the service member never returned to duty[10]. The circumstances of those injuries were also never explained.

The report says that the Navy reported damage to 27 watercraft and equipment totaling approximately $31 million.

A fuller accounting of the injuries and equipment damage was made available to investigators at the request of Congress, but the report placed that data in a classified section.

"We have provided the classified annex as a separate document to those with a specific need to know and review the information in it," the section read.

Despite the issues, many of which were known at the time of the operation, Pentagon officials regularly stressed[11] that the pier delivered some 20 millions pounds of aid -- food that would have otherwise not have made it to the war-torn region. At one point, the pier ended up providing the second-highest volume of aid[12] from any entry point into Gaza.

Related: As the Gaza Pier Is Packed Up, Experts Worry About What It Portends for a War in the Pacific[13]

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here[14].

Read more

U.S. Air Force Academy cadets form ranks and prepare to march towards Mitchell Hall

Democratic lawmakers are asking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to share plans for cuts to civilian faculty members at the military academies and war colleges.

The May 1 letter signed by 14 Democratic representatives asked for Hegseth to provide the timeline and scale of cuts to the institutions and the metrics used to justify the changes.

The letter drew on Gazette reporting highlighting the coming cuts to civilian faculty and staff at the Air Force Academy and it could hurt technical majors. West Point and the Naval Academy have not announced cuts and did not respond to Gazette requests about whether the schools are planning cuts.

The lawmakers sent their request as the Department of Defense is cutting 5%-8% of its civilian workforce to focus on the president’s priorities and restoring readiness, a news release said.

The letter expressed concern that cutting civilian faculty could lead to cuts to majors and minors and hurt the diversity of thought at the institutions.

“Gutting civilian faculty can harm educational quality, stretch military instructors even thinner, damage research partnerships, and limit the critical thinking skills that save lives when plans fall apart in the field,” the letter said.

The letter gave a deadline of 14 days to respond to a series of questions about cuts and their potential impacts.

The questions asked for impact assessments of the coming cuts and for details about the processes to ensure that high academic standards will continue to be met.

The letter was also sent to the leaders of West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, the Merchant Marine Academy, the Naval War College, the Army War College, the Air University, the National Defense University and the Marine Corps War College.

The letter did not have any signatories from Colorado, but Rep. Jeff Crank, R- Colorado Springs said he planned to be engaged in the issue at the Air Force Academy.

“As a member of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, I anticipate this being discussed in the coming months. I look forward to examining how any proposed changes would affect the curriculum at the Air Force Academy,” he said.

Former Army Ranger Rep. Jason Crow, D- Aurora, said he has heard about the concerns about cuts at the military academies.

“I will always fight for young Americans who have made a commitment to serve our country,” he said, in a statement.

The same day lawmakers sent their letter, the Denver Post published an opinion piece that raised similar concerns and garnered more than 90 signatures, including six retired generals. It specifically addressed the Air Force Academy.

“Civilian faculty, almost all with PhDs and deep backgrounds in both education and related research (including many experienced U.S. military veterans), bring depth, balance, continuity, and forward-looking insights to cadet education,” the opinion piece said. It also said the cuts would put the school’s accreditation in technical fields at risk.

The school employs 491 faculty members, with 308 uniformed members and 183 civilians, the Gazette reported previously. Civilians represent about 37% of the faculty.

At West Point, civilians represent 26% of the faculty and at the Naval Academy it’s a 50-50 split between civilians and uniformed instructors.

The cuts at the Air Force Academy are expected to extend beyond faculty to other civilian positions, such as child care, finance roles and communication. In January, the Academy employed about 1,360 civilians.

Since the Air Force Academy is overbudget for its civilian workforce, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind said on April 11 he is preparing to cut 240 civilian positions. He did not know at the time if 140 people who he said had resigned voluntarily or retired early would count toward the 240 positions to be eliminated.

The Secretary of the Air Force press desk said Monday it could not say how many Academy employees had currently taken deferred resignations or early retirement.

© 2025 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Visit www.gazette.com[1]. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.[2]

© Copyright 2025 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read more

More Articles …