Posted on Feb 18, 2026
Army Special Forces Veteran Using Military Skills to Boost US Supply Chains
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Justin Baucum is among those working to replenish strained defense, aerospace and energy supply chains in an age of rapid technological advancement. Software is rejiggering how factories operate and are producing parts.
U.S. supply chains have faced cracks in recent years due to natural disasters, labor shortages, raw material shortages, and tariffs enforced by the Trump administration. The tariffs were implemented as a means of bringing back domestic manufacturing and bolstering the United States’ standing in ongoing trade battles with major adversaries like China.
“Overarchingly, as an industry, manufacturing to support defense and the critical industries is just continuing to decline,” Baucum told Military.com. “Over the last couple of decades, we've just eroded our capability and we've sent things offshore. A lot of folks that were good at making things are retiring, selling their businesses, moving on."
Baucum has taken his learned lessons in service and business to Isembard, a company that builds precision components for aerospace, defense, aviation and energy through a network of modular, software-driven factories that deliver complex parts in days rather than months.
U.S. supply chains have faced cracks in recent years due to natural disasters, labor shortages, raw material shortages, and tariffs enforced by the Trump administration. The tariffs were implemented as a means of bringing back domestic manufacturing and bolstering the United States’ standing in ongoing trade battles with major adversaries like China.
“Overarchingly, as an industry, manufacturing to support defense and the critical industries is just continuing to decline,” Baucum told Military.com. “Over the last couple of decades, we've just eroded our capability and we've sent things offshore. A lot of folks that were good at making things are retiring, selling their businesses, moving on."
Baucum has taken his learned lessons in service and business to Isembard, a company that builds precision components for aerospace, defense, aviation and energy through a network of modular, software-driven factories that deliver complex parts in days rather than months.
Army Special Forces Veteran Using Military Skills to Boost US Supply Chains
Posted from military.com
Supply
Military Industry
Special Forces
Defense
Posted 2 d ago
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Interesting stuff, but with my background of only four Micro and Macro Economic courses forty years ago...the only thing I understand is that nobody keeps inventory anymore, the supply lines are fragile, and any hope of making everything you need without outsourcing resources, skills, or materials...is pretty much a pipe dream. There still needs to be a Global network in place both for goods and sales. And his business is designed, like most these days, to have as few employees as possible. I guess that guideline hasn't changed in fifty years: Faster, better, cheaper. Good luck, and maybe he will inspire other young men to think outside the box too.
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I hope he's successful. Our Commerce and Transportation departments at the federal level have been ineffectual.
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