I sat down with Ryan Lamke, who runs the Atlantic Council’s Veterans Advanced Energy Fellowship, a program that helps mid-career veterans in energy navigate federal policy. Ryan enlisted as a Marine infantryman and was in Fallujah within six months of leaving for boot camp. Years later, six months into his first job at the Department of Energy, he got back from his honeymoon and found out he was the new senior advisor on China.
Ryan says military tech keeps demanding more power. When he was in Iraq, Blue Force Trackers and IED jammers were the high-tech gear. Now ISR assets are directing the rounds and AI systems are working through the data, and all of it draws power. Battery weight comes straight out of a drone’s payload.
He got a close look at Ukraine through a classmate at the National War College, a Ukrainian Special Forces colonel. Jamming got so good that fighters went to fiber-optic tethers, and he says forests in the Donbas are now crisscrossed with cable.
This year’s fellows are working on energy at bases outside the continental US and how NATO allies structure their 1.5% infrastructure commitment. Ryan’s advice for veterans who want a career like his is simple: say yes, then own what you don’t know. “Everyone wants to pretend to be an expert,” he says.
If you’ve been treating the bases here at home as the safe rear area, give this one a listen.
Chapters
* 00:00 - Introduction
* 01:45 - Ryan’s Role and the Veterans Advanced Energy Fellowship
* 07:23 - Expert vs. Practitioner in a Changing Energy Space
* 09:46 - From Military School to Marine Infantry in Fallujah
* 13:40 - Getting Out: Wounded Warrior Project, Georgetown, and NASCAR
* 17:31 - Into Energy: Ethanol to the Department of Energy
* 19:29 - At DOE: From the Southeast Asia Desk to China
* 22:53 - Energy Security and Defense Tech’s Growing Power Demand
* 25:15 - The Battlefield Then and Now: Batteries, Drones, and Ukraine
* 29:49 - How to Get Involved: The Fellowship and Atlantic Council Events
* 33:17 - Advice: Say Yes, and Say “I Don’t Know”
Resources
People & Organizations
* Kevin Doffing (LinkedIn)
* Project Vanguard (Website - Newsletter - Podcast - LinkedIn - Facebook)
* Ryan J. Lamke (Atlantic Council)
* ELMS Advisory (Website)
* Atlantic Council Global Energy Center (Website - Energy & Defense)
Veteran & Transition Resources
* Veterans Advanced Energy Fellowship
* Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP)
Mentioned in the Episode
* Landon Derentz (Atlantic Council)
* Dan Misch (Atlantic Council)
* Greg Douquet (Atlantic Council)
* Rick Stockburger, Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (DOE)
* 2026 Energy & Defense Summit
* Executive Order: Declaring a National Emergency to Secure the United States Bulk-Power System
* The Hague Summit Declaration
* DOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)
* Dissolving the Fence: Improving Utility Privatization for Defense Installations’ Resiliency
* Enhancing NATO’s Operational Readiness Through Energy Interoperability
More from Project Vanguard
* Veterans, Policy, and the Hidden Energy Battlefield with Michael Dunn
* Securing Energy, Securing America
