A Void in Our Communication of Information
The technology age has given way to an immense amount of information readily available at our fingertips. No longer are we restricted to printed media to communicate our ideas and share information to increase our knowledge. The Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin (ASPB) took the first step in this direction when it became fully digital in the summer of 2023. But there was still a void in our communication of information, in our ability to directly speak with our audience and the sustainment enterprise.
I was selected as the Sustainment Center of Excellence Harding Fellow in the summer of 2024 and tasked with ensuring our professional bulletin provided content that is relevant, high quality, and accessible. The team here was already achieving that goal and doing excellent work conveying our messages to the force through professional writing. However, I wanted to find ways to expand our initiatives and increase our engagement with our audience. (For a complete understanding of the Harding Project and my path thus far with the fellowship, check out the article “The Harding Project Unlocks the Key to Knowledge: A Perspective from the First Sustainment Harding Fellow,” in the winter 2025 edition of the ASPB.)
As a Harding Fellow, I have the opportunity to network and engage with a multitude of entities. One such opportunity was appearing on a podcast episode of Revolution in Military Affairs titled “The U.S. Army’s Harding Project.” As soon as I finished recording the episode, I thought to myself, “why aren’t we doing something like this?” I realized this would be the perfect platform to make the transfer of information and content fully accessible.
In today’s busy age, people consume their information while multitasking or while on the move. I found myself listening to audio books or podcasts while I worked in my woodshop or on long road trips. Thus, I knew that we could take this same concept and apply it to our mission.
Podcasts are growing at a steady rate. A 2023 Pew Research Center study found that half of Americans listened to a podcast in the last year. It is estimated that globally by the end of the year podcast listeners will reach 630.9 million. It was clear that this was an untapped market for us to reach into, to further engage our audience. I pitched the idea to our team and the Chief of Staff of the Army, and everyone loved the idea.
From the Ground Up
Once I got the idea for a podcast and our senior leaders approved it, I was off to the races with developing it. I soon found out it was not something that would happen overnight. I reached out to individuals who either run or have run a podcast. Their insight helped guide me in the development of our new podcast. One of the main things I learned with launching and operating our podcast is how it takes a full team to do a podcast. I was on my own but did not let that deter me from reaching my goal.
The first step was developing a concept and focus for the podcast. I knew we needed the conversations on each episode to spark discussions across the sustainment enterprise and to sharpen our skills and knowledge as sustainers. Thus, the focus would be on new developments, current trends, and how we can forge the path ahead for the next generation of sustainment Soldiers. The episodes would be designed to be short and packaged for quick consumption, since the market is so saturated with competing elements for our attention. In each episode, I, as the Sustainment Harding Fellow, would talk with leaders on a variety of topics in the sustainment enterprise. We had our purpose and direction for the podcast but still needed a name.
The goal for the name of the podcast had to be something that people recognized and easily drew the connection with sustainment. So, I reached out to my peers at the Captains Career Course for inspiration. After developing a variety of names, we decided on The LOGSTAT, which came from our resident infantry officer, CPT Mark VanKopp. This name meets all aspects that one looks for when naming a podcast. It provides clarity on the podcast theme, uniqueness that sets it apart from a very saturated market, brevity to help the audience remember, catchiness to make a lasting impression and encourage word-of-mouth promotion, and searchability to increase our discoverability. When Soldiers hear the word LOGSTAT (logistics status), they think of sustainment, especially those outside the sustainment community. That is exactly what we were looking for: short and to the point.
Next, I worked on building the structure for recording and editing the podcast. I quickly learned how podcasts normally have an entire team dedicated to developing, marketing, editing, and hosting them. I was a one-man team, learning all this on my own. Thankfully, after some networking, I connected with Dave Garrison at the Training Technology Division at U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) on Fort Lee, Virginia. His team provided the key to getting the podcast off the ground, with their ability to offer a studio to record and the ability to edit for publication. Jeff Peters took on the role of editing the podcast for us and brought all my ideas to life.
The foundation was built, and I started testing out the studio by recording the introduction, conclusion, and a teaser episode. But before we launched, we needed a logo, a symbol to catch people’s eye. The ASPB team, Mike Griffth, Bob DelBane, and I worked through different concepts and our visual information specialist, Sarah Lancia, brought it to life. We now had the perfect logo that would be recognizable to the community.
Only one major step lay between us and publication: we had to establish how to build the actual podcast channel on all the different platforms. Thus, we went through DVIDS, who made the process very efficient for us to launch the podcast. We submitted our podcast name, logo, and description, which enabled them to build the channel for us. The only thing we had to do was upload the episodes after we prepared them for publishing, and they would publish them on each of the external platforms. The last part was coordinating with the CASCOM public affairs office for review and release authority for each of our episodes.
Going Live
After six months of development, The LOGSTAT podcast went live on February 18, 2025, with the teaser episode. There I discussed the creation of this new podcast and the way ahead for the ASPB. We publish on the following platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
The first episode I recorded was about company command with CPT Ulysess Laman. We discussed the challenges of company command from both a Reserve and active-duty perspective. While this was the first one, I recorded, this ended up being the third episode to publish. Then, I began the process of coordinating with guests and developing the topics. The first official published episode was with CPT Dave McKinney, in which we discussed the integration of combat arms and logistics on March 12, 2025.
In today’s world, more and more people are using artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in their writing and development of ideas. As I discussed in my last article “Is Efficiency Worth Sacrificing Our Humanity?” in the spring 2025 edition of the ASPB, I still believe this is destroying our creativity and making us lazier. That is why I do not use ChatGPT, CamoGPT, or any AI-driven writing assistance programs to develop the titles, concepts, or overall flow for the podcast. This is solely from human creativity, and I want the content we deliver to be authentic dialogue.
When I first thought about the concept for the podcast, I never imagined the enormous demand that would occur in such a short time. I am beyond thankful and full of energy to continue to deliver cutting-edge dialogue as we tackle the sustainment topics that mean the most to the listener. As of June 13, 2025, after publishing seven official episodes, we have received 2,054 total views and have 202 followers across all platforms. Thus, to meet demand, we decided to move to publish weekly. Now we have double the content and a growing increase in our lethality.
A Click Away
Launching a podcast from scratch was truly an endeavor and no easy feat. However, all the time and energy were worth it. The LOGSTAT is the Army’s official premier podcast on all things sustainment.
We reach Soldiers all over the globe with our weekly conversations. This podcast has opened the door for us to speak directly to our community with content that is most important to them. Our goal is to continue to support and educate sustainment enterprises all over the globe. The conversations provide information from articles that we further expand on with the authors or developments occurring across the formation with subject matter experts. Each episode is only a click away, which increases our lethality across the force at all levels.
We ask that you continue to leave reviews to increase our following so more Soldiers can find this content. If you have any feedback or if there is a topic you want us to discuss, please reach out to me. I am always looking for new content to expand our reach.
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CPT Garett H. Pyle is currently the Military Editor-in-Chief for the Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin and has been selected as the first Sustainment Center of Excellence Harding Fellow at Fort Lee, Virginia. He joined the Army Reserves in 2012 as an O9R (Simultaneous Membership Program Cadet) where he simultaneously attended ROTC at Washington & Jefferson College, where he commissioned in 2016 in the Transportation Corps. He holds a Master of Arts degree in transportation and logistics management from American Military University. He is an Honor Graduate of both the Transportation Officer Basic Course and the Logistics Captains Career Course.
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This article was published in the summer 2025 issue of Army Sustainment.
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