translog

THE JOURNAL OF SURFACE 

DEPLOYMENT AND DISTRIBUTION

Fall 2008-

Winter 2009 

Global

Surface

Transportation

Experts
2 translog Fall 2008 - Winter 2009

TRANSLOG is published by the Office of Command Affairs, 

Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, 

Headquarters, 709 Ward Drive, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois 

62225, in accordance with Army Regulation 360-1.

All photos property U.S. Army, unless otherwise noted.

Views expressed in TRANSLOG are not necessarily those of 

the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or the Military Surface Deployment 

and Distribution Command. Reference to commercial products or services does not imply Army endorsement. Unless 

otherwise stated, TRANSLOG material may be reprinted if 

credit is given to TRANSLOG and the author.

Submissions: TRANSLOG considers all manuscripts, photo essays, artwork, white papers and general news about military 

transportation, its history, and related human endeavors. 

Material, including photos, may be mailed or sent electronically. Scanned and digital images should be in full-color TIFF 

or JPEG format, at resolution of 300 pixels per inch at 100 

percent size (at least 3” x 4”; preferably larger).

For additional guidance on submissions, content, distribution, 

or address changes contact the editor: 

Mike W. Petersen, Editor

(618) 220-5197

sddc.safb.translog@us.army.mil

translog

THE JOURNAL OF SURFACE 

DEPLOYMENT AND DISTRIBUTION

is a quarterly publication of

Military Surface Deployment 

and Distribution Command 

Maj. Gen. James L. Hodge

Commanding General

Command Sgt. Maj. Tomás Hawkins

Command Sergeant Major

Ken Holder

Director of Command Affairs

Mike W. Petersen

Editor

features 

departments 

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009

September 2008 - January 2009

From the Command Sergeant Major 3

ITV: In Transit Visibility 4

History: Cannons and Colors 10

Transitions 12 

White Papers: Unified View 25

Professional Development: Lean SIx Sigma 27

JLOTS 2008 14

956th Transportation Company makes last load-out 18

Interview with Gen. Duncan McNabb 22

Coast Guardsmen support Army Transportation 27

Alaska Detachment 30

Personal Property workshop bridges gaps 32

Ingenuity, initiative move damaged track vehicles 34

ROK, U.S. militaries collaborate through changes 36

SDDC Alexandria, Va. offices close 38

14 18 30

10 12 SDDC 8
3 translog

Surface Warriors,

Change: one of the few things in life that remains constant. With it comes frustration, resistance 

and growth. More times than not, change makes us better in many ways. If you don’t change with 

the times, life will find a way to pass you by. 

We continue to change to improve what we do so we can be of better service to those we work 

with and provide for. We also look at a broader picture to make attempts to cover areas of transportation otherwise overlooked, like Army Watercraft and Rail, where it is not clear as to who would take 

those few soldiers under their wing for training, support or operational control. 

SDDC continues to grow as we get others to know us better and see us as Global Surface Transportation Experts through our branding efforts. Our presence at Scott Air Force Base continues to grow not only 

in size, but also in our interactions with the base and the 

community. We are two thirds complete with our BRAC 

move, reducing our headquarters footprint from three 

locations to two. This past October, we closed our doors 

in Alexandria, Va., and started to move people and functions to Scott from Fort Eustis, Va. Though the major 

moves won’t happen until July/August of 2010, we look 

forward to all that lies ahead. 

Some of our personnel have changed. They have 

gone on to new duty stations or positions in new organizations. I trust their SDDC experience will make them 

valued assets and make their organizations better because they are there. 

Lastly, I hope all of you enjoyed the holidays and 

have your contributions and resolutions ready to bring in 

the new year. 

Take care. Stay Committed, Dependable and Relentless in 2009. 

Until next time...

from the Command Sergeant Major

Let’s Roll

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
4 translog

in transit visibility ITV transportation and logistics news in brief

in transit visibility

SDDC officially accepted more than 6,400 

acres of former U.S. Navy real estate property 

during a ceremony Oct. 30 at the Military Ocean 

Terminal Concord (MOTCO), Concord, Calif.

The property transferred to SDDC is the former Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach Detachment (NAVWPNSTA Seal Beach Det.,) Concord 

located next to MOTCO in Suisun Bay.

Col. (P) John R. O’Connor, SDDC deputy 

commander, officiated over the ceremony. 

“Today, we witness a significant event for 

the Department of Defense as the United States 

Army accepts control of this strategic site whose 

value is instrumental in support of our nation’s 

armed forces,” O’Connor said. 

SDDC’s 834th Transportation Battalion is 

stationed at MOTCO and will be responsible 

for the daily management of the transferred 

property. 

“The unveiling of this new marquis is a 

significant step, as we assume our new role in 

ensuring our customers are given world class 

transportation services today and in the future,” 

O’Connor said. “Responsible for West Coast 

Ammunition Terminal Operations, [Lt. Col. Russell Cole’s] team continues the best traditions 

of Army surface deployment and distribution 

throughout California.”

The 2005 Defense Base Realignment and 

Closure Commission recommended closure of 

the inland area of the NAVWPNSTA Seal Beach 

Det., Concord, except for property and facilities 

necessary to support operations in the tidal area. 

The 834th Transportation Battalion’s mission is to conduct surface deployment, command 

and control, and distribution operations for the 

Department of Defense through terminals and 

facilities in California in peacetime and war.

SDDC officially accepts former 

U.S. Navy real estate

Col. (P) John O’Connor, deputy commander of 

SDDC, speaks at the changeover ceremony Oct. 30.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
5 translog

Patricia M. Young, an Air Force Senior Executive serving as deputy to the SDDC commander, has been named a 

Meritorious Executive in the Presidential Rank Awards for 

2008. President George W. Bush announced recipients of the 

prestigious awards Oct. 6.

Each year since the establishment of the Senior Executive Service in 1978, the President has conferred the ranks of 

Distinguished Executive and Meritorious Executive on a select group of career members of the SES who have provided 

exceptional service to the American people over an extended 

period of time. The Meritorious Executive rank is awarded 

to leaders for sustained accomplishments. Only 5 percent of 

SES career members receive this award, a silver lapel pin, 

and a framed certificate signed by the President. 

Her dedication during a time of transition for SDDC and 

its employees was instrumental in Young’s recognition by 

the President.

“I am deeply honored and humbled by this recognition,” 

Young said. “The accomplishments of the past few years 

would not have been possible without the confidence of my 

leadership and the hard work of our military and civilian 

workforce.”

As deputy to the SDDC commander, Young is responsible for facilitating continuous improvement and innovation in the development of distribution policies, plans, and 

programs supporting its global mission. These responsibilities impact joint service force 

deployment and logistics operations. 

Young entered federal service in 1985 through the Palace Acquire Career Program with 

the Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Before being assigned to SDDC, Young was assigned to U.S. Transportation Command from 1993-2005. She 

joined SDDC as deputy to the commander in 2005. 

President honors SDDC deputy to the commander

Patricia M. Young, deputy to the SDDC 

commanding general, was named a 

Meritorious Executive in the 2008 Presidential Rank Awards.

Household goods program renamed

SDDC has been providing an improved household goods shipping process for Department of 

Defense personnel called the Families First Program since 2002. The name of this program has 

changed from Families First to the Defense Personal Property Program. 

The name change is an effort to eliminate confusion between the SDDC household goods shipment program and the support provided to military housing construction by a contractor of the same name. The 

focus of the Defense Personal Property Program will remain unchanged and will continue SDDC’s commitment to improving the quality of life for our servicemembers, civilian employees, and their families.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
in transit visibility

6 translog

in transit visibility ITV transportation and logistics news in brief

Defense Personal Property 

System begins Phase II

Officials from U.S. Transportation Command 

and SDDC began live operations of Phase II of 

the Defense Personal Property System (DPS) 

Nov. 19. 

DPS is the automated, end-to-end management system for movement of household goods 

for members of the armed services and Department of Defense civilians. 

The system automates much of the process 

of pre-move counseling, scheduling, tracking, 

invoicing and claims-filing for household goods 

shipments. 

Phase II initiates DPS operations at 18 

personal property shipping offices designated in 

conjunction with their service headquarters. The 

locations are listed at www.move.mil. 

Deployment of the DPS to personal property 

shipping offices worldwide is scheduled for early 

2009. 

DPS was designed by SRA International Inc., 

a leading provider of technology and strategic 

consulting services and solutions to government organizations and commercial clients. 

“We have been working together with 

SRA to develop and deploy a system 

that will make life easier for our servicemembers when they are relocated,” said 

Army Lt. Col. William Carberry, the 

USTRANSCOM joint program manager 

for DPS. “It’s all about improving quality 

of life.” 

The DPS system will replace the aging 

Transportation Operational Personal Property 

Standard System. 

For more information on DPS, visit www.

move.mil.

598th takes major step 

forward in relocation

After many years and innumerable meetings, the cornerstone to the relocation of SDDC’s 

598th Transportation Group to the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps Barracks, the Van Ghent 

Kaserne in Rotterdam, became a reality Dec. 17.

At the 598th Headquarters in Capelle 

aan den Ijssel, Netherlands, Captain Pieter 

Rol, Dutch Royal Navy and Daniel Koci of 

IMCOM-Europe Real Estate, executed a Consignment Agreement in which the Netherlands 

Ministry of Defense agrees to consign a portion 

of its land for the 598th Transportation Group 

and tenant activities use.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
7 translog

ICODES chosen to support 

single load planning 

capability

The Distribution Steering Group approved 

the expansion of the Integrated Computerized 

Deployment System (ICODES) as the platform 

for a DoD Single Load Planning Capability 

(SLPC) October 2007 and directed implementation to begin Sept. 3. 

ICODES-GS (Global Services) will be a 

joint decision-support system developed to assist 

users with planning and execution in the loading 

and stowage of military cargo aboard military 

and commercial ships, railcars, yards and trucks. 

The SLPC effort will converge functionality 

found in ICODES and the Automated Air Load 

Planning System, providing load planning capabilities for all modes and conveyances in a single 

software application. 

ICODES-GS will contain individual modules 

for load planning different conveyances while 

utilizing deployment lists to produce one or 

more load plans, either simultaneously or independently, depending on mission, location and 

operational scope. This technology will expand 

the intelligent agents currently employed for ship 

load planning, into the additional conveyance 

planning capabilities for airlift, rail, and truckload planning. These agents will be domainspecific, including terms of structural and spatial 

limitations and loading or storage of hazardous 

materials.

The Collaborative Information Workspace 

(CIW) is a research and development effort 

seeking to employ or supplement, the emergent 

USTRANSCOM Enterprise Service Bus. This 

effort intends to link the geographically distributed military service-level planners into a 

virtual, interactively collaborative enterprise by 

sharing pre-stow and as-loaded plans, and cargo 

lists created in ICODES-GS. The CIW intends 

to expose ICODES-GS services and plan artifacts to the larger DoD-wide community. 

This will enable peripheral users of the 

Defense Transportation System access to the 

ICODES-GS end-user applications, and enable external planning systems such as the Joint 

Operation Planning and Execution System to 

automatically employ ICODES-GS services to 

estimate the number of ships and containers required to implement a Time Phased Deployment 

Document, for example.

The desired end state, a single load planning capability, will provide planners with an 

enterprise view using an integrated data source 

for developing load plans and sharing load plan 

information to support logistics decision-making 

at multiple echelons of command. 

This capability will be based upon common 

DoD standard data, which can be used by load 

planners of all services and agencies for conveyance load planning in support of deployment and 

distribution transportation operations.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
8 translog

in transit visibility in transit visibility ITV transportation and logistics news in brief

Maj. Gen. Edward Honor (center) accepts the 

colors of Military Traffic Management Command 

during his assumption of command ceremony Oct. 

10, 1986, at Falls Church, Va.

Chaplain (Maj.) Robert Sullivan reads scripture 

at a memorial service held for Lt. Gen Edward 

Honor at the Scott Air Force Base Chapel.

Lt. Gen. Edward Honor, former Military 

Traffic Management Command (MTMC) commanding general and icon of military transportation and logistics, passed away Sept. 3, 2008 

at the age of 75. (MTMC was renamed SDDC 

in 2004.)

Honor is remembered as a true mentor by 

those with whom he served. He worked to develop other officers and leaders, co-founding the 

ROCKS, Inc., an organization of Army officers 

dedicated to the mentorship and professional 

development of cadets and junior officers. 

“Through those he mentored, his legacy 

will continue,” wrote Richard Killblane, Transortation Corps historian, in his book Mentoring and Leading: The Career of Lieutenant 

General Edward Honor. “Many will pass on 

some of his leadership style to others, and his 

name will be added to the pedigree of Transportation Corps general officers tracing back to 

Charles Philip Gross.”

Honor’s first tour at MTMC began in 1970 

after nearly 16 months serving in Vietnam. He 

served as Passenger Movements Officer and, 

later, as Chief, Passenger Services Division. In 

1973, he returned to work as Director, Personal 

Property. In 1976, he assumed command of 

MTMC Transportation Terminal Group Europe, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

He returned to MTMC in 1983 as Commander, MTMC Eastern Area, Bayonne, N.J. 

In October 1986, Honor was named commanding general of MTMC. He retired as the Director, J-4, the Joint Staff in August, 1989, after 35 

years of distinguished service. Following his 

retirement with the Army, Honor served as the 

president of the National Defense Transportation Association until 2002.

Memorials were held at Fort Myers, Va., 

and at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., current headquarters of SDDC. Honor was buried with Full 

Honors at Arlington National Cemetery, Dec. 1.

Lt. Gen. Edward Honor: Icon of military transportation

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 9

Coast Guardsmen presented Army awards

By Julia Shenk

832nd Transportation Battalion

Honoring a long-standing tradition of joint cooperation, the Army’s 832nd Transportation Battalion recently presented awards to members of the U.S. Coast Guard, Sector Jacksonville 

Military Outload Detachment (MOL), in Jacksonville, Fla. 

Lt. Col. Ralph Riddle, commander, 832nd Trans Bn., awarded eight Army Achievement Medals 

and one Army Commendation Medal to Coast Guardsmen for their outstanding work in support of 

Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom sealift operations in a ceremony Oct. 16.

The 832nd, an SDDC unit under the 597th Transportation Terminal Group, relies on the expertise 

of the Coast Guard during sealift missions at the Port of Jacksonville, Fla. 

“We coordinate Coast Guard assets to provide pier and vessel inspections, vessel escorts for 

inbound and outbound vessels, and point protection of vessels carrying military cargo,” said Lt. Barbara Gowdy, supervisor, Sector Jacksonville MOL.

In addition to force protection, the Coast Guard ensures proper classification, certification, packing, and shipping of military cargo, to include general cargo and hazardous materials. Coast Guard 

personnel also deploy to Army installations to expedite this process for deploying units.

“Our Coast Guard partners are an integral part of our operations here at Port of Jacksonville,” 

said Riddle. “The benefits they consistently bring to our port security and customs enforcement efforts are tremendous.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Meredith Burns, Petty Officer 2nd Class Nicholas Wiltgen, Chief Petty 

Officer Diana Shores, Petty Officer 2nd Class Kevin Morehouse, Petty Officer 1st Class George 

Juaristic, Chief Warrant Officer Bruce Jones, Chief Petty Officer Charles Carroll, and Petty Officer 

1st Class Faith Matuschek received Army Achievement Medals. Lt. Barbara Gowdy received the 

Army Commendation Medal.

(From Left) Coast Guardsmen 

Petty Officer 1st Class Faith 

Matuschek, Petty Officer 2nd 

Class Kevin Morehouse, Chief 

Petty Officer Charles Carroll, 

Lt. Barbara Gowdy, and Chief 

Petty Officer Diana Shores 

pose with Lt. Col. Ralph Riddle 

outside the 832nd Transportation Battalion headquarters.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 10

40 years ago

“An Air Force Reserve aeromedical evacuation 

group will be formed at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. 

... The first of its kind, the 932nd Aeromedical 

Airlift Group will utilize the C-9 Nightingale ‘flying hospital ward’...”

Transportation Proceedings, January 1969

30 years ago

“...as the [MTMC] command team goes into 

its 15th year, it does so with pride in past accomplishments and with confidence that it can 

continue to serve commanders and the individual 

servicemembers....”

Maj. Gen. H.R. Del Mar, TRANSLOG, February 1979

from the archives

What do two Civil War cannons have to do 

with Surface Deployment and Distribution 

Command in the early 21st century? That 

question came to mind on Sept. 8, when two 1857 Napolean guns were installed in a place of honor outside 

SDDC’s temporary headquarters at Scott Air Force 

Base, Ill.

Recent history proves there is a link much more 

current than the distant struggle between the Union and 

the Confederacy. The cannons’ previous location provides most of the answer. Before coming to Scott, the 

weapons were carefully moved from their setting at the 

front of SDDC’s Operational headquarters at Fort Eustis, Va., where they had been since 2001. In 1997, the 

two guns had been removed from their previous place 

outside Gilbreath Hall (with one on each side of the entrance) at Oakland Army Base, Calif., the headquarters 

of Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC)’s 

Western Area from 1965 until it was inactivated along 

with the Eastern Area headquarters at Bayonne, N.J. 

in September 1998. Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne 

became the MTMC Eastern Area headquarters in a 

SDDC artifacts preserve memories, convey traditions despite BRAC changes Cannons and Colors

How artifacts represent the 

heritage of SDDC

By Dr. Kent Beck 

SDDC Command Historian

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
11 translog

20 years ago

“The Department of Defense will begin using 

state-of-the-art technology to electronically track 

high-risk munitions shipments ... starting in January 1989. The system will be called the Defense 

Transportation Tracking System or DTTS.”

TRANSLOG, December, 1988

10 years ago

MTMC’s Joint Traffic Management Office introduced the first side-loading cargo containers, designed by the JTMO to make transporting aviation 

ordnance quicker and more effective. The initial 

contract produced 3,200 side-loading containers.

TRANSLOG, Issue 1, 1999

phased move from Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1974-75.

As SDDC people already know, just as the Eastern 

and Western headquarters were combined at Fort Eustis 

in 1998 by the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure 

commission, the Fort Eustis and former Alexandria, Va. 

headquarters will be collocated at Scott in 2010 due to 

the 2005 BRAC commission.

How did the Civil War cannons originally make 

it to the Northern California Bay Area? At the height 

of the war against the Confederacy, the United States 

acted firmly to defend the San Francisco Bay region 

by occupying and fortifying 

land first claimed by the federal 

government in a proclamation 

by President Millard Fillmore in 

December 1850. Worried about 

a possible attack by Confederate 

privateers, the Lincoln administration stationed troops at Fort 

Mason for the first time in 1863 

and ringed San Francisco Bay 

with enormous cannons – much 

bigger than the relatively 

small and mobile guns later 

moved to Virginia and Illinois. 

A later park ranger used contemporary photos of the 

large guns to locate one and return it to the later Oakland Army Base which dated from Dec. 8, 1941. The 

smaller Napoleons were a mainstay of the Army of the 

Potomac and were placed outside Western Area Headquarters years before the inactivation.

So, by moving the Napoleon guns rather than any 

of the huge cannons in 1997, MTMC chose to preserve 

a manageable reminder of Oakland in its new southern 

Virginia setting. Framed flags have been a similar way 

to remember both Western and Eastern Areas. SDDC 

Fort Eustis boasts framed unit flags from Bayonne, 

Oakland, and the short-lived (1998-2001) MTMC Deployment Support Command. A special dual “shadow 

box” display at Fort Eustis includes the last United 

States flags to fly over the former regional command 

headquarters. A replica of the last flag to fly over Bayonne is displayed in the Command Group at Scott. Two 

MTMC flags, one from the 1970’s or early 1980’s and 

another from the late 1990’s, overlook the main foyer 

of Building 1990 at Scott.

Artifacts seek to convey legacies as well as recall 

past locations. Naming SDDC headquarters at Fort 

Eustis for Maj. Gen. Henry R. Del Mar and capturing the “rededication” of the building in 2001 salutes 

MTMC/SDDC’s longest serving 

commander and recommends 

his record of achievement for 

those who serve in a later time. 

Similarly, Fort Eustis named 

its Operations conference room 

for Lt. Gen. Edward Honor in 

2001, recognizing his leadership in several key MTMC posts 

(including commanding general). Coincidentally, for its own 

worthy reasons, U. S. Transportation Command, named its 

new main conference room in 

Building 1900 at Scott for Lt. Gen. Honor in September 2007.

Photos of the Oakland Army Terminal and its counterpart at Bayonne across the Hudson River from New 

York City are also prominent at Fort Eustis and Scott. 

Like MTMC in 1997, SDDC in 2008 has transported Civil War cannons to carry part of its own 

past into the future. The latest move of artifacts from 

Virginia to Illinois in 2008 is a down payment on what 

probably also will come to Scott in 2010 when SDDC 

occupies its long-term headquarters. Cannons, flags 

and photos recall the past but hopefully also inspire 

our efforts to answer today’s challenges in a way worthy of our predecessors.

The former MTMC Western Area colors are 

displayed at Fort Eustis, Va.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
12 translog

In this world, it is hard enough to make history once, but Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody has done 

it twice in one day.

At 10 a.m., Nov. 14, Dunwoody became the 

first woman promoted to the rank of four-star 

general in U.S. Armed Forces history during a 

ceremony conducted at the Pentagon. At 2 p.m., 

Dunwoody officially became the 17th commander, and first female leader, of the U.S. Army 

Materiel Command during a change of command 

ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Va., the location of 

AMC headquarters. 

The change of command was presided over 

by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, 

Jr., and included remarks by Gen. Benjamin S. 

Griffin, the outgoing commander of AMC, Casey 

and Dunwoody; music by the AMC Band; a 

ceremonial color guard; and a 17-gun salute by 

the Salute Battery from the 3rd United States 

Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) from Fort 

Myer, Va.

Casey lauded the tremendous accomplishments of Griffin and then welcomed Dunwoody 

to AMC. 

“Ann is no stranger to the war on terror, 

having done a yeoman’s work in the Army’s G-4 

in charge of logistics -- our logistics -- for three 

years before coming to AMC,” he said. “You 

have big shoes to fill, but I am confident you will 

fill them with the same professionalism, pride 

and expertise with which you have done everything else for the past 33-plus years.”

Dunwoody is now the Army’s lead logistician, in charge of supplying everything Soldiers 

need to fight and win our nation’s wars, from 

food and water to bullets and bombs to clothing, 

vehicles and every type of military equipment. 

She will oversee more than 60,000 military 

and civilian employees -- many with specialties in 

weapons development, manufacturing and logisGen. Ann Dunwoody takes command of Army 

Materiel Command in historic ceremony

Gen. Benjamin S. Griffin, Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., and Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody salute the colors 

during Dunwoody and Griffin’s change of command ceremony, Nov. 14, at AMC’s parade field.

transitions

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
13 translog

Brig. Gen. James L. Hodge, 

commanding general of SDDC, was 

advanced to the rank of major general 

Nov. 13, in a ceremony hosted by the 

AMC at Ft. Belvoir, Va. 

Gen. Benjamin S. Griffin, commanding general of AMC, officiated 

the ceremony the day prior to his own 

change of command and retirement.

Hodge took command of SDDC 

June 30, 2008, after returning from 

a tour as commanding general (forward), Army Materiel Command 

Forward and Army’s Coalition Forces 

Land Component Command’s C4 

(Logistics and supply) in Southwest 

Asia. He also served as SDDC’s 

deputy commanding general from 

August 2005 to September 2007.

His other command positions 

include: Commander, 100th Transportation Company, Fort Eustis, Va.; Commander, 64th Forward 

Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Carson, Colo.; Commander, Division 

Support Command, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Ga., and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq; Deputy Commanding General, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, 

Fort Eustis, Va.; and most recently, Commanding General, Army Materiel Command Southwest Asia 

and G-4, United States Army Central Command, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

tics -- who are located at 149 locations worldwide, 

including more than 40 states and 50 countries. 

 “I’m absolutely thrilled and honored to have 

been selected to lead AMC. I know that the team 

at AMC shares your [Casey’s] and the Secretary’s [of the Army Pete Geren] vision and your 

passion for this great Army. When Soldiers see 

the AMC patch, they know they will get help, 

they know they will get what they need. When 

they see our symbol, they know AMC will respond with great urgency,” said Dunwoody.

Dunwoody is now one of only 11 four-star 

generals in the U.S. Army. With 33 years of 

service, Dunwoody has accomplished several 

other historical firsts -- including being the first 

woman assigned as deputy commanding general 

of AMC, the deputy chief of staff of Army logistics, and commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command. 

She received a direct commission as a second lieutenant after graduating from the State 

University of New York at Cortland in 1975. 

She has graduate degrees in national resource 

strategy and logistics management. 

Dunwoody credits her family for her successes. 

During her promotion ceremony at the Pentagon 

she said, “I now know this Army profession I’m 

so proud to be a part of is a reflection of the very 

values I grew up with in the Dunwoody family.”

At the Pentagon ceremony she also emphasized, “If anyone is worried about the next 

generation of warriors, fear not. The bench is 

filled with talented soldiers, sailors, airmen and 

Marines, and while I may be the first woman 

to receive this honor, I know with certainty I 

won’t be the last.”

SDDC commanding general pins on second star

Gen. Benjamin Griffin, commander, Army Materiel Command, 

and Michelle Hodge pin rank on Maj. Gen. James L. Hodge 

during his promotion ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Va., Nov. 13.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
14 translog

Hundreds of Army trucks, Humvees and other vehicles continually rolled 

through the Pacific surf and onto the beach at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in 

late July, just as they did more than 60 years ago during the D-Day invasion 

of Normandy and more than 50 years ago during MacArthur’s invasion of Inchon, 

Korea.

The vehicles and their drivers were participating in Joint Logistics Over the Shore 

(JLOTS), a joint training exercise involving landing and transporting vehicles without 

a fixed port and about 2,500 servicemembers are participating, including a 50-50 ratio 

of soldiers and sailors, many reserve-component, as well as about 50 Marines.

Their mission is to move about 1,800 pieces of equipment from the 3rd Brigade, 

25th Infantry Division from Hawaii to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, 

Calif., in preparation for the unit’s upcoming deployment to Iraq.

“In the war plans that we’ve got for the United States military, JLOTS plays an 

important role,” said Maj. Gen. Raymond V. Mason, commander of the personnel 

performing the exercise, known as Joint Task Force 8, as well as the 8th Theater Sustainment Command. “It’s a strategic role. The ability to move large amounts of forces 

Soldiers, Sailors train 

‘over the shore’

JLOTS 2008

By Elizabeth M. Lorge

Army News Service

A Roll-on Roll-off Distribution Facility waits at the stern ramp of the USNS Pililaau for cargo. The RRDF 

is assembled on-site and acts as a floating dock from which smaller watercraft can be loaded. U.S. 

Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Brian P. Caracci

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
15 translog

behind an enemy to a strategic geographical location, perhaps behind the 

enemy lines where the enemy doesn’t 

suspect it, because there’s no port there 

and all of a sudden we’re able to get in 

behind the enemy and change the tide 

of a battle.” 

He added that the operation can also 

be used in humanitarian situations, such 

as when a tsunami or hurricane destroys 

a port and the military needs to quickly 

get a lot of relief supplies into a location.

According to the commander, it’s the largest JLOTS 

ever in terms of personnel and equipment - the exercise has 

been taking place for about 15 years in different locations, 

sponsored by different combatant commands. 

In the planning stages since November 2007, this year’s 

JLOTS, “Pacific Strike,” kicked off June 12 when Navy 

Seabees began construction of a large base camp, complete 

with hundreds of tents, post exchange, barber shop and 

even a Morale, Welfare and Recreation facility. 

The Seabees went on to construct a 1,200-foot pier in 

just two weeks. A 24-foot wide elevated causeway (ELCAS) 

stretches out into the ocean like any pier, but is wide 

enough to act as a two-lane road for trucks and other vehicles, although according to Navy Lt. Atiim Senthill, drivers 

must stay to the left so they can see the ocean below.

A huge turntable and crane assists in unloading large 

containers from small ships called lighterage and loading 

trucks, which move the containers to the shore.

“It’s like building a bridge that you see across a river 

with the ability to turn that bridge around and download vehicles,” explained Lt. Col. Rod Honeycutt, chief of operations for JTF 8.

“It’s the only system like this in the world. There’s 

not another ELCAS,” said Senthill, the ELCAS officer in 

charge.

In a real-life situation, he said, the pier would be able to 

Top: A sailor signals from the shore to 

an Improved Navy Lighterage System 

(INLS) at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Above: Seabees assemble a crane for 

use on the elevated causeway (ELCAS).

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
16 translog

stay up indefinitely if properly maintained, as long as the weather and sea didn’t cause 

any damage.

Nature, officials said, is actually a huge factor. They learned this from experience as 

the sea damaged a second, roll-on, roll-off pier, called the Trident Pier, and rendered it 

unusable for the exercise.

Small craft also ferried vehicles from the roll-on, roll-off USNS Pililaau to the 

beach. An amphibious vehicle carrying soldier drivers met the craft and Soldiers drove 

the Humvees and trucks onto the beach.

“Just hope you don’t get stuck,” said Spc. Joseph Synor, one of the drivers. “Where 

the ramp’s out now, it’s deep. You’ve got to go fast. If you don’t go fast, you get stuck.”

A number of the vehicles did 

get stuck, but other heavy equipment was on hand to tow them 

out of the water to a chorus of 

catcalls from the shore.

Synor’s next stop was the 

Cargo is unloaded from an INLS 

causeway ferry. U.S. Navy photo 

by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Brian P. Caracci

The completed crane stands ready at the end of the fully-assembled ELCAS at Camp Pendleton.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
Receipt, Staging and Onward facility, 

where about 300 soldiers prepared the vehicles and other equipment for convoys to 

Fort Irwin by both commercial and military 

trucks. Many of the drivers, according to 

1st Lt. David Goforth, will have made three 

or four convoys by the time all the equipment is due at Fort Irwin Aug. 3.

It involves “lots of coordination, organization, making sure the soldiers are in the 

right place and that they know their job,” 

said Goforth. “Lots of training and practice 

to make sure everything’s done right and 

nobody gets hurt.”

The exercise has given him an opportunity to learn new jobs and he said he’s been 

especially impressed by his first exposure 

to the Navy.

“I think it’s absolutely amazing and 

I think it’s really good for the military in 

general to do operations such as this, to 

work with other branches of service,” said Goforth. “We’re all in the military, but we don’t 

usually work together too often. The Navy has been great...Anytime I needed assistance 

with anything, they’ve been a big help.”

That joint effort is key, said Mason.

“I think the soldiers and sailors who are involved in this, number one, want to recognize the capabilities that are out there. That’s important, just being knowledgeable about 

that, particularly at the leadership level. Down at the soldier and sailor level, it’s that the 

Army and Navy can get together and work as a team and put in a great capability like 

JLOTS and bring combat power to bear, or if it’s humanitarian operations,” he said.

“The United States military has great young men and women in it that can take something like this, with as many moving pieces that are out there, and all those complicated 

pieces, and make it happen. It’s just a great team effort,” the commander continued, adding 

that “It really gives a workout to the Army and Navy folks out here to get all the equipment off the ships and across the shore...what we’re doing right now is as real as it gets.”

17 translog

Army trucks roll off an INLS onto Red Beach at Camp 

Pendleton, Calif. The INLS, which can carry loads in sea 

state 3, served as the workhorse for JLOTS 2008.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
18 translog

Long rows of 10th Combat Aviation Brigade helicopters faced the Delaware River 

from the Port of Philadelphia Sept. 20, 

flanked by dozens of cargo containers bearing 

the Falcons’ distinctive stencil. The 10th CAB 

gear was to be loaded on a ship 

for deployment to Operation Iraqi 

Freedom. 

Supervising the load were 

personnel from 956th Transportation Company and 841st 

Transportation Battalion, both 

subordinate units of SDDC. Port 

of Philadelphia stevedores, soldiers from 10th CAB, and SDDC 

personnel collaborated to achieve 

what would be the last load-out for 

956th. The unit, headquartered at 

Fort Monmouth, N.J., will close in 

2009 as part of Base Realignment 

and Closure. 

The complexity of moving an aviation 

brigade’s equipment requires special skills and 

coordination in advance of the load-out, and for 

the Navy Military Sealift Command’s USNS 

Soderman, the load would be followed by an ad956th Transportation Company 

makes last load-out

Story and photos by 

Mike W. Petersen

SDDC Command Affairs

Contractors prepare to tow a UH-60 Black Hawk to the USNS 

Soderman at Port of Philadelphia for deployment to Operation 

Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. Leslye Revis, 956th Transportation Company, walks among the stacks of containers filled with 10th 

Combat Aviation Brigade’s equipment in preparation for deployment. The Sept. 21-22 load-out was 

the last for 956th Trans. Co., which will close in 2009 under Base Realignment and Closure.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
19 translog

ditional load-out scheduled for the Soderman at Charleston, S.C. 

“The USNS Soderman load was difficult because we 

were loading two Brigade Combat Teams at two different ports, and one port had cargo for two different Sea 

Points of Debarkation,” said Capt. Phil Raumberger, port 

operations officer for 841st Trans. Bn. “The amount of 

planning and coordination is huge, and the staging and 

stow plans all need to be detailed and followed to a ‘T’.”

“A lot goes into getting the aircraft staged,” said 

Maj. David McGurk, commander of B Company, 277th 

Aviation Support Battalion. “All the gear was flown in 

and staged Sept. 15-18, but in reality, preparations have 

been ongoing since July.”

An advance team from 10th CAB flew helicopters 

from Fort Drum, N.Y., to the Port of Philadelphia in August as a preliminary meeting with all the parties coordinating the load-out, McGurk said. The load-out involved 

coordination between 10th CAB, SDDC, MSC, specialized contractors tasked with the loading of the aircraft, 

and Philadelphia longshoremen responsible for loading 

the remaining cargo.

In order to fly dozens of aircraft into the Port of 

Philadelphia, 10th CAB had 20 soldiers on the ground 

at the port, as well as an officer in the air traffic control 

tower at Philadelphia International Airport. A radio comSoldiers and contractors prepare the rear rotors of 10th Combat Aviation Brigade’s CH-47 Chinooks 

prior to loading the aircraft aboard the USNS Soderman for deployment to Iraq.

A CH-47 Chinook is lifted by crane to 

the USNS Soderman for deployment to 

Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 10th 

Combat Aviation Brigade.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
20 translog

munication range of up to 

20 miles allowed 10th CAB 

air traffic controllers on the 

ground at the port to help 

the aircraft approach and 

land safely. From that point, 

another team stepped in.

“The longshoremen 

don’t work with helicopters, 

so we had contractors that 

are specialized in loading 

aircraft. We ended up having three unions acting together,” including the crane 

operators, McGurk explained. “What really made 

the load-out smooth were 

the 31 aviation equipment 

contractors doing the lion’s 

share of the work. Moving 

these aircraft is a game of 

inches. Even the smallest 

amount of damage would 

involve an inspection.”

Rick Savage, the contract equipment specialist supervising the aircraft loading, has been 

working around aircraft since 1989, when he was 

an aviation machinist’s mate in the U.S. Navy. 

“Beyond getting the aircraft safely on the ground and 

staged, you need special training to tow, ride the brake, and 

move the aircraft from point 

A to point B,” said Savage. 

“There are a lot of moving 

parts to track.” 

The aircraft varied in size 

from the compact OH-58D 

Kiowa – a two-seater light 

enough to be pushed to the 

base of the Soderman’s ramp 

by a few people – to the CH47 Chinook, weighing more 

than 11 tons. 

“[Savage’s] nineteen years 

in aviation gave him the experience necessary to plan ahead 

and have everything covered 

throughout the process,” said 

McGurk.

As he followed the loadout of the Soderman from start 

to finish, Raumberger got to see first-hand how 

the various teams coordinated their effort, both 

aboard the ship and along the riverfront. 

“It speaks volumes to the level of expertise 

Staff Sgt. Leslye Revis applies a 

tracking sticker on one of the containers being loaded aboard the 

USNS Soderman.

A cargo container bearing the stencil of 10th Combat Aviation Brigade is lowered 

into the hold of the USNS Soderman under the observation of Kristine Sports and 

Capt. Phil Raumberger, 841st Transportation Battalion.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
21 translog

and commitment to excellence of the 956th and 841st 

personnel who are capable of executing such a complex loadout,” he said. “Everyone involved from the 

soldiers to the Department of the Army civilians to 

the labor force understood the importance of a successful load-out.” 

By the afternoon of Sept. 21, all the equipment 

was loaded and secured aboard the USNS Soderman for an early departure. For the 956th, a unit that 

helped establish Port of Philadelphia as one of the 

nation’s strategic ports, the last load-out mission was 

completed ahead of schedule, a testament to the expertise and experience of its workforce.

“The personnel from the 956th will be sorely 

missed, both professionally and personally,” said 

Raumberger. “They did great work for SDDC and 

were a good asset to have in the Northeast U.S. It’s 

unfortunate; I wish them all the best of luck. The 

respect for the soldiers we are supporting is evident in 

everything these guys do.”

Specially trained stevedores use a tractor 

to tow an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior (top) 

and a UH-60 Black Hawk (above) up the 

stern ramp of the USNS Soderman.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
22 translog

The United States military is the bestmanned, best-equipped and best-trained force in the world, but that doesn’t mean a 

thing if it can’t get to the fight. 

The 138,000 military and civilian men and 

women of the U.S. Transportation Command 

and its service components – the Air Force’s Air 

Mobility Command, the Navy’s Military Sealift 

Command and the Army’s Military Surface 

Deployment and Distribution Command – “are 

really the jewel in the crown” of the American 

military, Air Force Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, 

USTRANSCOM commander, said in an 

interview Oct. 27. 

The command gives the United States the 

strategic ability “that is just tremendous” to 

move and sustain its forces globally, the general 

said. “That allows our 

warfighters to have 

great flexibility in their 

options,” he explained. 

“If we’ve done this 

right, they never worry 

about us. They just 

assume it’s going to be 

there.”

The command – 

established in 1987 

–supplies the day-today needs of a military 

force fighting two wars 

and operating in more 

than 70 countries. 

With civilian partners, 

the command also 

stands ready to support 

humanitarian assistance 

missions such as the 

ones that followed the 

earthquake in Pakistan, 

the tsunami in Indonesia 

or hurricanes in the United States.

The command has its own alphabet soup of 

acronyms, officials here said, but the mission is 

simple: get the warfighters to the fight, sustain 

them during the fight and bring them home. 

USTRANSCOM uses air, sea and land modes 

of transportation to accomplish the mission. 

Command officials prioritize requests from the 

combatant commands and put together the best 

way to deliver the capabilities. Depending on 

the mission, requests may be filled by airlift, 

sealift, ground transportation or – more likely – a 

combination of them all.

McNabb said the transportation of mineresistant, ambush-protected vehicles to Iraq 

and Afghanistan is a good example of the way 

USTRANSCOM works. In July 2007, very 

Col. Dave McClean, director of strategy, plans, policy and programs for SDDC 

(left), talks to Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb, commanding general, U.S. Transportation Command, during McNabb’s visit to SDDC Oct. 27. Also pictured are 

(from left): Trish Young, deputy to the commander, SDDC; Col. Prescott Marshall, 

chief of staff, SDDC; then-Brig. Gen. James Hodge, SDDC commanding general. 

(Editor’s Note: Photo digitally altered to adhere to security protocols.)

USTRANSCOM commander discusses ‘jewel in the crown’ of U.S. military

Interview with Gen. Duncan McNabb

By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 23

few MRAPs were in service in Iraq. Defense 

Secretary Robert M. Gates asked Congress 

for more MRAPs, and the vehicles began 

coming off assembly lines and were 

readied for shipment to U.S. 

Central Command. 

As the “distribution 

process owner,” 

USTRANSCOM 

has end-to-end 

responsibility for 

the supply chain, 

from assembly 

line to user. 

The command 

worked closely 

with industrial 

partners to plan 

the movement 

of the MRAPs to 

Central Command and 

monitored the various 

choke points along the way. The 

effort got under way in September 

2007, and by the end of the year, 1,500 

MRAPs were in the combat theater. To date, 

more than 10,300 of the vehicles have been 

delivered. 

This was more than just collaboration, it was 

fusion, McNabb said.

“If you think about collaboration, a lot of that 

is just knowing what everyone is doing,” he said. 

“But if you think of why you want collaboration, 

it’s because you want to synchronize what 

they’re doing. That’s fusion.”

The command flew the first vehicles 

to the theater aboard heavy-lift aircraft. 

Later shipments went by sea. In addition, 

USTRANSCOM officials had to ensure there 

were people in theater who knew how to offload the vehicles and ensure they were combat 

ready. The command also worked with CentCom 

logistics officials to get the vehicles from 

airports or seaports to the men and women 

who needed the protection these vehicles 

provide.

This was an example of all 

involved working together 

to identify potential 

bottlenecks for the 

distribution process 

and put in place 

ways to smooth 

the flow of goods 

and materials, 

McNabb said. 

“Synchronizing” 

and “orchestrating” 

are two terms 

constantly heard at 

USTRANSCOM, and 

McNabb said he wants 

to improve the distribution 

coordination in the military. 

The USTRANSCOM organization 

charged with this responsibility is the 

Deployment and Distribution Operations 

Center, “a true fusion cell,” where members 

of the command and its service components 

receive the combatant commands’ requirements 

and generate distribution solutions, McNabb 

explained. 

In determining the best solutions to fulfill 

the need, the group asks a lot of questions, the 

general said. Should the goods be delivered 

by military assets or by civilian lift partners? 

Should it be delivered by air or sea or by some 

combination of both?

“I want to put everything together in a way 

that is precise,” McNabb said. “You fuse your 

operation. You need to have redundancy in your 

system, but you want to make sure you have it 

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
24 translog

all orchestrated.”

With new organizations called joint 

deployment and distribution operations centers, 

USTRANSCOM now has the end-to-end 

visibility it needs to do its job and provide 

warfighters with better service, McNabb said. 

The first of these stood up in CentCom in 

January 2007, and now all of the combatant 

commands have them, he said.

Technology will help with the transportation 

mission, the general said, noting that 

USTRANSCOM is the DoD proponent for 

automatic identification technology and radio 

frequency identification. Both provide better 

visibility of cargo in transit. “If you can see it, 

you trust it,” McNabb said. 

The technology will allow maintenance 

or supply specialists to use computers to see 

exactly where their piece of cargo is. Overnight 

delivery companies pioneered the technology in 

the civilian world, and just as people waiting for 

a package can track where it is, DoD personnel 

will be able to do the same, McNabb said.

Eventually, the general said, this will change 

the customer’s behavior. Now, supply personnel 

may order parts two or three times, because they 

don’t know where their gizmo is, but they want 

to be sure they get it.

“FedEx changed peoples’ behavior with their 

tracking system,” he said. “People can trust that 

they will deliver it when they say. That’s how we 

want [servicemembers] to view the supply chain. 

They can watch it every day and verify that it’s 

moving. With that trust, you also save a lot of 

money.”

The command has many other initiatives 

working, including how best to deliver supplies 

to places where the infrastructure has been 

wiped out and coming up with better ways to 

write and monitor contracts. USTRANSCOM 

officials are looking at ways to increase access to 

Afghanistan, and are working with commercial 

carriers to ensure that vital part of the supply 

chain is healthy. They are taking best practices 

learned from civilian organizations and adapting 

them to military applications, McNabb said.

The fusion idea is at the center of all this, 

the general said. When USTRANSCOM’s new 

headquarters building opens here in 2010, the 

expanded operations center will include people 

not currently on the main floor.

“We don’t know what synergy will result 

from that,” McNabb said. “The idea is to get to 

where we are fusing all actions, and everything 

is on the table. When you have a championship 

organization like this one, people are always 

looking for ways to make it better.” 

Job No. 1 for the command is to take care of 

the warfighter, the general said.

“The very next job is to make sure we can do 

this for the future, and that depends on a strong 

sealift industry and a very strong airlift industry,” 

he said. The economy has not been kind to the 

airline industry, McNabb said, so he is worried. 

He is meeting with airline chief executive 

officers in the coming weeks to see what effect 

the economic downturn will have on military 

operations.

“The partnership with air and sea lift 

companies is a very cheap way to maintain the 

military’s capabilities for war,” he said. 

McNabb recently returned from visiting the 

USTRANSCOM assets in the CentCom area of 

operations, and from consultations with leaders 

in the region.

“What I found is how far we keep coming,” 

he said. From the ports to airfields, he said, 

everybody is looking at ways to improve services 

to the troops.

“It is the way that everybody is working as a 

member of the team that is amazing to me, and 

humbling,” McNabb said.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 25

white papers:

Unified View: 

How U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command and 

the Defense Logistics Agency are collaborating 

to deliver faster solutions to warfighters

U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Joint 

Forces Command and the Defense Logistics 

Agency have developed a way to provide faster 

support to warfighters for deployment and 

distribution related issues. 

The process centers on a capabilitiesbased assessment called Unified View. This 

streamlined process uses the joint exercise 

program and lessons learned from current 

operations and past experiments to improve 

the integration of deployment, distribution and 

sustainment processes for the joint force. 

The recommendations or solutions that result 

from Unified View follow the Joint Capabilities 

Integration Development System (JCIDS) to 

eventually become joint doctrine. As a result of 

this partnership, the warfighting customer is now 

seeing a dramatic reduction in the time it takes 

to develop solutions, from as long as five years 

down to 18 to 24 months.

Unified View applies the JCIDS analysis 

to the experimentation process. The goal is 

to define problems, research possibilities, 

recommend solutions through experimentation, 

and ultimately provide useable solutions to the 

field in the shortest time possible.

USTRANSCOM and USJFCOM started 

Unified View in 2005 to establish a continuous, 

systematic and shortened process for developing 

and gaining approval to address deployment 

and distribution challenges. DLA accepted 

an invitation to co-sponsor Unified View 

experiments in 2006 and as a result, the scope 

expanded to include sustainment.

The first part of the Unified View capabilitybased assessment is the functional area analysis 

which identifies potential problem areas in the 

operational tasks, conditions and standards 

needed to accomplish objectives. Next, a 

functional needs analysis is performed to 

identify gaps in existing capabilities for those 

areas examined in the functional area analysis. 

The functional solutions analysis is then used 

to research possible courses of action, and 

ultimately to produce a set of solutions. These 

solutions are usually presented as changes 

to doctrine, organization, training, materiel, 

leadership and education, personnel, and 

facilities (DOTMLPF - areas to be considered 

whenever establishing a new capability). 

The collaborative efforts of USTRANSCOM, 

USJFCOM and DLA have already yielded 

benefits: Unified View 2005 focused on the 

integration of the deployment and distribution 

processes. As a result, the Joint Requirements 

Oversight Council directed implementation 

of two solutions derived from UV05: Force 

Tracking Number and Focus Warfighter.

Force Tracking Number is currently being 

implemented via the Joint Staff Force Tracking 

Number Business Rules Message, and will 

be incorporated completely into the Joint 

Operations Planning and Execution System 

(JOPES) version 4.2. This UV05 solution 

improves the sourcing and tracking of forces 

throughout the deployment process and improves 

force closure reporting. 

Focus Warfighter integrates all requirements 

into a single, integrated, coordinated strategic 

and tactical transportation solution. Integrating 

requirements provides opportunities to use 

resources for other requirements. This increases 

flexibility and reducing overall rework of 

requirements. An example is shipping low 

priority commodities via surface movement 

instead of air to save resources. Focus Warfighter 

offers a more reliable, predictable service and 

increases visibility of all movements. 

By Scott Ross, USTRANSCOM Public Affairs (Contractor)

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
26 translog

Unified View 2006 built upon the previous 

year’s success. It focused on the integration 

of the Joint Deployment/Global Distribution 

processes. USJFCOM needed a method to 

manage and track valid force allocation requests, 

sourcing recommendations and allocation 

decisions that could adequately support its 

mission. Global Force Allocation Management 

and Sustainment Forecasting and Planning 

helped provide a solution as a result of UV06.

The following year, Unified View 2007 

identified gaps and possible solutions for two 

problem statements: 

(1) Deployment systems do not support 

joint information requirements needed 

for command and control and reporting 

transportation tracking/closure (Unit Move 

Tracking), and 

(2) Combatant commands require an 

improved capability to identify, plan, 

and manage multinational, interagency, 

international organization, and nongovernmental organization coalition 

deployment, force rotation, redeployment, 

and sustainment requirements during 

time-phased force and deployment data 

development, validation, and movement 

execution in an end-to-end manner. 

(Movements include all self-deployers, US 

military lift, non-US lift, and commercial 

contract/civilian carriers (air, land, and sea).

Two Change Recommendations were 

proposed as a result of UV07. 

(1) USTRANSCOM’s Transportation 

Tracking Number (TTN) was proposed 

as a potential solution to the issue of 

Unit Move Tracking. 

(2) Nine DOTMLPF-P recommendations 

were proposed to address the process 

improvement of Multinational Coalition 

(MNC) Deployment Planning and 

Movement Execution.

 

Unified View 2008 is underway as of 

November 2008, and focuses on requirements 

and movement control, visibility, and 

deployment and redeployment closure. 

Unified View 2009 is set to begin in January 

and USTRANSCOM encourages those with 

logistics, deployment and/or distribution 

challenges to participate. 

For more information, contact Col. Blake 

Mahan at (618) 229-3041, blake.mahan@

ustranscom.mil, or Mr. Steve Daniels at (618) 

229-1788, stephen.daniels@us.transcom.mil. 

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 27

SDDC will host Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Green 

Belt Training at the Education Center, Scott Air 

Force Base, Ill., February 23-27 and March 

23-27, 2009. The training is divided into two 

one-week classes, allowing students to work 

their LSS project between classes. The training is open to military and civilian employees. 

SDDC G5 pays TDY cost for SDDC employees 

attending the training.

LSS is the Army’s disciplined, fact-based 

process improvement methodology. Its tools 

and techniques have already been applied 

throughout the Army to generate more efficient and effective processes, saving billions 

of dollars and improving support to the warfighter. Green Belt students acquire the basic 

knowledge and skills necessary to apply LSS, 

enabling them to complete an LSS project. 

After completion of a project, the Department 

of the Army certifies the employee as an LSS 

Green Belt, including a special skill identifier 

for military personnel. 

For more information and enrollment, contact 

the SDDC LSS Office:

Mr. Don Keane, (618) 220-5813

Donald.J.Keane@us.army.mil

Mr. Jim Coe (618) 220-5073 

Jim.Coe@us.army.mil.

Lean Six Sigma Training at SDDC Lean Six Sigma Training at SDDC

During the SDDC Commander’s Conference at Scott Air Force Base, Nov. 15, Maj. Gen. James L. Hodge, SDDC commanding general presented Cheryl Freeman her 

U.S. Army Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Green Belt 

Certification. She is the first SDDC Department 

of the Army civilian employee certified as an 

LSS practitioner. 

Freeman is a traffic management specialist in the G3 Fusion Center at Scott Air Force 

Base. She started her Green Belt project while 

assigned to the 842nd Transportation Battalion, 

Beaumont, Texas. 

The purpose of the project was to improve 

local tracking of commercial truck carriers’ 

responsiveness to transportation requirements. 

As a result of the project, service violations decreased 85 percent warning letters decreased 71 

percent and non-use letters decreased from six 

to zero within a year. 

Commanding general presents first SDDC Lean Six 

Sigma Green Belt to Fusion Center’s Cheryl Freeman

Cheryl Freeman is presented with her Green 

Belt certification, a first in SDDC, by Maj. Gen. 

James L. Hodge.

professional development

Lean Six Sigma

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
28 translog

The latest cargo move Nov. 4-7 at the 

Port of Valdez presented no trouble 

for the Alaska Detachment of the 599th

Transportation Group. Although the barge 

carrying the cargo arrived late Nov. 4, once it 

came in, the detachment and contractors worked 

through lunch to make up the time, and the rest 

of the move went well.

The weather also held for most of the 

move. Valdez is known for its heavy snowfalls, 

averaging about 350 inches a year, according to 

the Anchorage Daily News. But the detachment 

had clear, crisp weather for most of the move, 

with snow only Nov. 6-7.

Bob Meno, chief of the detachment since 

2005, said the detachment commonly encounters 

two main problems unique to Alaska – extremes 

in weather and tides.

“With Valdez, we don’t have a problem with 

the tides because it’s a floating dock,” Meno 

said. “The problem that we have here is there is 

no rail transportation out, and the weather is so 

bad in the winter.”

Meno said the detachment works closely 

with the Alaska Department of Transportation 

to ensure that Thompson Pass, the only way out 

of Valdez to military bases in Anchorage and 

Fairbanks, remains open during moves in the 

spring and fall. 

The Alaska Detachment is comprised of 

four employees who move everything in Alaska 

except that which goes by air. The detachment is 

responsible for three Army brigades out of Fort 

Wainwright and Fort Richardson, as well as for 

all of Eielson and Elmendorf Air Force Bases.

“Alaska is also planning to add another Army 

brigade,” said Meno.

Meno has worked for the detachment since 

1990, so has a lot of experience with SDDC in 

Alaska. He said the team is now up to full, fourperson strength for the first time since he has 

been employed there.

Alaska Detachment

Moving the military in the 

Land of the Midnight Sun

Story and photos by Donna Klapakis

599th Transportation Group

A forklift driver loads trucks bound for military bases in Anchorage and Fairbanks at 

the Port of Valdez Nov. 7. After enjoying three crisp, clear days for the move, snow 

came in the evening of Nov. 6, and continued through Nov. 7.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 29

“This is the first time I’m fully staffed. I 

brought all three down so they could get oriented 

and get some experience,” said Meno.

The newest member of the team, transport 

technician Frank Gamboa, has been with the 

detachment only a month. He was impressed 

with the speed of the move.

“Although I don’t have anything to compare 

it to, at first I could not understand how the guy 

driving the forklift could be so fast. I thought 

there was no rhyme or reason to the way he was 

setting down the containers. But everything was 

in the right place to expedite the move out by the 

trucks,” Gamboa said.

Bill Plummer has been a marine cargo 

specialist with the Alaska Detachment for two 

years. He said the moves out of Valdez are not 

difficult for the detachment. 

“This is the easiest mission here for us, but 

for the truckers who do the hauling from here to 

the bases, it is a 700-mile turnaround,” Plummer 

said. “At least this year the weather is clear and 

cold. Last year for the move, the detachment had 

to deal with gale-force winds and heavy snow 

for all phases of the off-load.”

Meno said conditions during spring and 

fall moves in Valdez do not compare with their 

winter moves out of the Port of Anchorage.

 “For deployments in January for the three 

brigades, the temperature is zero to minus 10 

degrees with wind chill at the Port of Anchorage 

of minus 45 degrees,” Meno said.

The temperature extremes are only a part of 

the challenge, according to Meno.

“The major problem with the Port of 

Anchorage is the tidal change of 31 feet,” said 

Meno. “A lot of military vessels are cape-sized 

and LMSRs, and they depend on the ability to 

put a ramp down to load. With a big tidal change, 

we can only work two hours on each side of the 

two high tides a day.

“The other problem is that the Port of 

Anchorage freezes up in the winter. Valdez and 

Seward are ice-free ports,” he said. “With a tidal 

change of 31 feet in Anchorage, that breaks us 

the ice so we can still use the port, but then the 

ice in the water is like icebergs.

More complications can arise from cold 

weather, as well, including the mobility of the 

workers.

“As people wear more and more clothes to 

keep warm in the extreme conditions, they are 

less able to do the work required. Plus, not all 

of our equipment that SDDC uses functions in 

those conditions,” added Meno. “WPS scanners 

don’t work if they are out in the cold. The men 

try to keep the scanners next to their bodies to 

keep them warm, and then just take them out 

to scan each bar graph, but a lot of times the 

equipment will malfunction, and they will have 

to write everything down.”

Concurrent with the move, the detachment 

also hosted the 1394th Transportation Group, a 

reserve unit from San Diego, Calif. The group 

plans to work a move at the Port of Valdez in the 

spring. It was here to observe this move, as well 

as to set up arrangements for the planned move 

in the spring. 

While waiting for a barge carrying 

military cargo, Bob Meno, chief of the 

Alaska Detachment, explains the Port 

of Valdez to members of the 1394th 

Transportation Group from San Diego, 

Calif., Nov. 4.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
Delivering needed supplies via container 

to the warfighter is a critical mission 

of SDDC. Tracking the containers in 

which these supplies are shipped to the front line 

is a challenge for both the warfighter and those 

who manage them at SDDC. 

“Whether they are the old variety or the new, 

the soldier is in need of the container on the 

battlefield as much today as in the past,” said 

Robert Friedman, SDDC Container Management Office. 

However, it wasn’t until the Gulf War 

that this increasing use of containers was 

having a far reaching effect on transportation expenditures, and USTRANSCOM was 

directed to take over the role as the Distribution Process Owner for Container Management.

Since then, the handling, tracking, monitoring and maintenance of general cargo 

containers in the Department of Defense has 

undergone many changes. 

In August 2004, SDDC began serving 

as the Central Command Theater Container 

Manager and initiated efforts to develop 

systems to manage and report on container 

activities in the CENTCOM theater of operations.

The latest effort combines the resources 

of the Army’s Intermodal Distribution 

Platform Office (AIDPMO) with SDDC’s 

Container Management Office. This merger, 

together with the development of an SDDCmanaged Army Reserve element, dramatically increased the assets responsible for the 

management of this global DoD general cargo 

fleet.

“From the high in December 2004 of $16.2 

million estimated detention to the current low in 

October 2008 of $795 thousand, carrier detention has been a significant expense of the Global 

War on Terror,” said Col. Kenneth Shannon, 

SDDC’s director, Container Management Of30 translog

Container detention cost at all-time low

By June M. Pagan

SDDC Command Affairs

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 31

fice. “SDDC’s impact on reducing these costs 

in conjunction with CENTCOM was to initiate a Container Management Element (CME) 

comprised of 50 Reserve personnel to provide 

management efforts.” 

According to Shannon, by December 2005, 

detention had been reduced to $7.8 million per 

month, and it has been reduced each year since. 

In October 2008, the end-of-month estimated 

detention fell to below $800 thousand, the first 

month that estimated detention has been reduced to below the $1 million level. 

“This is in no small part due to the efforts 

of all personnel in the theater and the hard 

work of the CME personnel supporting the 

operation,” said Shannon. 

The way ahead for further reductions in detention and other container expenses was further 

solidified on Oct. 1, 2008, by the Army Material Command. AMC assigned the AIDPMO, 

located at Tobyhanna Army Depot, to SDDC. 

“This action provides an opportunity to 

work coordinated actions on leasing, inventory 

and maintenance of containers to support the 

joint warfighter,” said Shannon.

“Increased emphasis has also been placed 

on the utilization of various IT systems to assist in the reduction of detention,” said Lt. Col. 

Ernesto Mora, SDDC Container Management 

Office. “Although the systems do not actually 

enter the data, they do provide a means to track 

the movements thru the various modes of transportation enroute to the final destination. This 

is where the human element plays the largest 

role, accounting for the container and its return 

in a timely manner to reduce detention.”

Additionally, more than 80,000 ocean carrier and leased containers have been purchased 

by SDDC and AIDPMO which has resulted in 

a further reduction in daily detention and costs.

“There is still the need for continued 

emphasis by leaders at all levels on container 

management to continue the highest and best 

use of container assets,” said Shannon.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
32 translog

Pacific Personal Property workshop closes gaps for military, industry

Story and photos by Donna Klapakis

599th Transportation Group

SDDC’s Personal Property Office – Pacific 

hosted a Personal Property Training 

Workshop in Honolulu Oct. 8-9.

Mae Ohori, director for the SDDC Pacific 

Personal Property Office, said that though her 

office hosts a workshop every other year, this 

was the first time they had piggybacked on the 

Household Goods Forwarders Association of 

America conference to hold the workshop.

“It is the most well-attended conference 

we’ve had. There were about 250 attendees,” 

Ohori said. “We also had good support from 

all the services on getting the right people here 

who needed to come.”

Because SDDC is the executive agent for 

the Department of Defense’s personal property 

program, it oversees the movement of all 

household goods and servicemembers’ personal 

vehicles, Ohori said. The expenditures for the 

program are approximately $1.9 billion a year.

Ohori said SDDC is instituting the 

Defense Personal Property System to 

automate permanent change of station moves 

for servicemembers and their families. 

Servicemembers will have access to their 

shipment information at all times throughout 

the move.

During her keynote address, Patricia M. 

Young, deputy to the commander of SDDC, 

asked attendees for their help in implementing 

the system and urged them to ask questions and 

offer ideas about DPS and the Defense Personal 

Property Program.

Charles F. McCann Jr., vice president of the 

Pasha Group, said that set the right tone for a 

successful conference.

“Trish Young set the tone for the meeting. 

She told us to ask questions and to interact 

with each other. That was the theme of her 

talk, and people have been doing that. She kept 

her opening warm, and not intimidating, and 

I think that’s carried over through the whole 

The Personal Property Training Workshop in Honolulu was attended by nearly 250 servicemembers and civilians and covered changes in the $1.9-billion personal property program.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 33

conference,” McCann said.

Gunnery Sgt. Adam McDermott from the 

Marine Corps Base, Hawaii, Transportation 

Management Office, said the DPS portion of the 

conference was the most helpful to him because 

the system will be new. It will be taking the 

place of his current personal property system. 

McDermott said he was also looking forward to 

the talk on full replacement value because the 

new program just started last year.

Joe Goetzke, chief of Personnel Claims and 

Recovery Division, U.S. Army Claims Service 

at Fort Meade, Md., spoke on full 

replacement value. 

Concerning military members’ 

household goods that are lost 

or broken during a shipment, 

Goetzke said from the podium, 

“I don’t care if it’s 20 years old; 

we’re replacing it.”

“The conference helps with 

working the gaps between what 

the military wants and what 

industry expects,” Goetzke said in 

an interview. “The presentations 

are good, but as with any 

conference, most of the work is 

done in the hallways.”

McCann also appreciated 

the networking that people can accomplish at a 

conference of that size.

“I really appreciate the ability to talk with 

agents from Guam and Okinawa to understand 

how the restructure is focused on Guam, 

Okinawa and Korea. This helps us to think about 

what changes we can make to do something to 

help service the military,” he said.

Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel Bradley, the 

deputy chief of staff for passengers and personal 

property at SDDC headquarters, said he also 

appreciated the interaction. 

“It’s a good opportunity for SDDC to come 

to the Pacific and a chance to interact with 

everyone from young servicemembers up to the 

headquarters representatives from different areas 

and industry in the same room. We are able to get 

their ideas on the challenges on implementing 

programs... I like the input and interaction and 

both the government and industry presentations. 

I got to see different perspectives from different 

services.”

“This is one of the few venues where we get 

to have that interaction between the industry and 

DOD,” said Charles “Chuck” White, director 

of government & military relations for the 

Household Goods Forwarders Association of 

America. He also said he enjoyed learning more 

about the Defense Personal Property Program.

“This is always an excellent meeting, and 

also we didn’t have it last year. Our message at 

the conference to DoD is that we just want to 

take the time to get the program right. This type 

of venue makes sure issues are raised to get it 

right,” said White.

Ohori said representatives from the U.S., 

Singapore, Guam, Japan, Okinawa, Thailand, 

Korea, Taiwan, Philippines and Kwajalein 

attended. The Department of State, industry 

forwarders, local agents, ocean carriers, the 

Coast Guard and all four DoD services were 

represented.

Patricia M. Young, deputy to the commanding general of SDDC, 

delivers the keynote address to the Personal Property Office - 

Pacific Workshop held in Waikiki, Hawaii.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
34 translog

Transporting battle damaged Abrams tanks 

and Bradley fighting vehicles is no simple 

affair. Special ground transportation is 

required and is a costly proposition. Ralph Cote, 

a marine cargo specialist with the 842nd Transportation Battalion in Beaumont, Texas, found a 

solution that is saving thousands of dollars.

In early 2005, the battalion received, on a 

recurring basis, heavy tracked vehicles with 

damages making them unsuitable for rail movement. The badly damaged tracked vehicles being 

retrograded to the depot for repairs could only be 

accommodated by trucks. 

 “The number of damaged track vehicles, 

coupled with numerous ships en route to Beaumont, placed a heavy burden on port clearance 

(in early 2005),” Cote said. “Rounding up carriers to truck this outsized cargo was becoming limited due to sister ports needing the same 

requirements.”

The majority of cargo clearing a CONUS 

port moves by rail. Exceptions are made when 

port clearance time is critical, there is no rail service or when there are cost savings via line haul. 

 “In the mean time, our docks and yards were 

filling up and it became evident that we needed 

to come up with a fast fix to the ongoing problem,” Cote said.

Stevedores load an Abrams tank onto a DODX railcar fitted with special cribbing designed by 842nd 

Transportation Battalion’s Ralph Cote. Cote’s ingenuity has saved the Army thousands of dollars in 

transportation costs for damaged track vehicles that would otherwise be moved by truck.

Ingenuity and initiative help move damaged track vehicles

By Don Japalucci and Ken Pendergraft

842nd Transportation Battalion

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
translog 35

Refusing to accept the 

concept of “this is how we’ve 

always done it,” he provided a 

new solution to an old problem, and in turn has saved the 

government, nearly $180,000 

in transportation costs to date. 

The solution was a simple, 

yet ingenious device using offthe-shelf components to create 

a “crib” to enable the Abrams 

or Bradley to be lifted onto a 

rail car. 

The American Association 

of Rail Road (AARR) requires 

that all blocking, bracing and 

cribbing will be secured directly to the rail card independently of the vehicle with no 

metal-to-metal contact. 

Normally, the cribbing 

needed to move these track 

vehicles cannot be affixed to a 

DODX rail car without modifying the car. Cote 

designed, and had manufactured, cradles made 

of timbers with tie down points affixed for securing directly to a DODX steel top car. This meets 

the AARR requirement without having to modify 

the DODX car. 

“Blocking, bracing and cribbing are common practices in the stevedore and rail industry,” 

said Cote. “Test models were constructed and 

inspected by Union Pacific and through trial and 

error, the final product was developed, approved 

and is now in use.”

Utilizing this cribbing, the 842nd Trans. Bn. 

shipped five battle damaged Abrams tanks to 

Anniston Army Depot on three DODX cars for 

a total cost of $32,655. Had these tanks been 

shipped by truck, the total cost would have been 

$110,000. Mr. Cote’s innovation resulted in a 

savings of $77,345, or $15,469 per tank. 

Another example utilizing this cribbing: 

one Abrams tank was shipped by rail to Aberdeen, Md., for a cost of $15,778. Had this 

one tank been shipped by commercial truck, the 

cost from Beaumont to Aberdeen would have 

been $44,000. The cribbing netted a savings of 

$28,221. (It should be noted, the more cars, the 

lower the cost per car). 

Coordination has been conducted with IntelliTrans to have the DODX cars routed back to 

Beaumont for future use. Upon return of the 

DODX cars, if there is no requirement, the 

cribbing and extra lashing is removed from the 

DODX car and the car put back into service. 

Cost to construct 20 cribs was $34,000. The 

exact life span of the cribbing before repair 

requirements or rebuilding is currently unknown. 

Cribbing currently being used has been in service since May 2005. Recovery of the cribbing 

is coordinated with the receiving activity, and 

returned by either commercial truck or rerouting 

of the DODX car back to the 842nd Trans. Bn. 

Cost savings are expected to reach far into 

the hundreds of thousands of dollars as battle 

damaged tracked vehicles redeploy from the war 

zone and head to reset facilities.

Thanks to Cote’s ability to identify a problem, supply effective remedies, and reduce transportation cost, not only has this cribbing saved 

the 842nd Trans. Bn. thousands in transportation 

costs, but has been used by Defense depots and 

sister battalions as well.

Stevedores secure an Abrams tank to a railcar at the Port of Beaumont, Texas. The cribbing beneath the tank has already saved at 

least $180,000 in the transportation of damaged track vehicles.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
For members of the 599th Transportation 

Group, more than the name of the exercise 

had changed as they went to work at the 

Combined Seaport Coordination Center (CSCC) 

in Busan, Korea.

For the first time, the Korean military took 

the lead in the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian 

(UFG) exercise, formerly called Ulchi Focus 

Lens (UFL). 

Col. Lee Jong-goo, Republic of Korea (ROK) 

Port Operations Group commander, acted at the 

ROK co-chair for the exercise at the CSCC. He 

said changing roles is a challenge. 

 “This is important to us nationwide and at 

country-level trying to take operational control 

and transform for sustainment defense,” Lee 

said. “The big challenge is to check and review 

the future of CSCC.”

Lt. Col. Joel Peterson, 599th chief of staff for 

operations who acted as the 599th co-chair for 

the exercise, concurred. 

 “I agree with Colonel Lee that as the ROK 

takes operational control we have to relook at the 

process and linkages we have used to make sure 

the processes still work correctly,” Peterson said.

Both co-chairs said they were happy to learn 

that the relationship between the two countries’ 

militaries did not change when roles changed.

“I learned what can we do exactly during 

wartime and the kind of situation that can happen, and what countermeasures to take,” Lee 

said. “Secondly, ROK and the Busan port agencies and Navy can make a team and share in 

everything.”

 “Everything in the organization, supported 

and supporting relationship structure and the 

things we do at the CSCC don’t change whoever 

is in charge,” Peterson said. “The CSCC should 

maintain the same structure and the relationship 

should continue.”

The exercise also brings the importance 

of the functions of the Port Operations Group 

(POG) to the fore in the minds of the Korean 

military planners.

 “Most of the ROK military doesn’t know 

about the POG mission and functions. They just 

know the POG during exercising,” Lee said. 

“I’d like to express the importance of the CSCC 

and the roles of the POG and the 599th for the 

mission and functions for contingencies on the 

36 translog

Korean, U.S. militaries collaborate through changes

Members of the ROK army, the 599th Transportation Group and individual mobilization augmentees man the CSCC at Pusan’s Pier 8 during the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise Aug 20.

By Donna Klapakis

599th Transportation Group

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
Korean peninsula.”

Guy Campbell, the 599th forward planner, 

took the job here in November 2007, and began 

makings plans for the exercise immediately after 

he arrived.

 “The overall concept of the 599th in Ulchi 

Freedom Guardian is execution of the group’s 

single port manager function,” he said. “That 

includes face-to-face coordination with our ROK 

counterparts to coordinate simulated offload and 

throughput of U.S. forces for UFG.”

The plan allowed SDDC personnel to communicate and work with their counterparts in a simulated wartime environment. Although he did not write the 

scenario, Campbell helped shape it to 

make events more realistic and to support 

the storyline. He provided education to 

the people in theater on how SDDC and 

the U.S. Transportation Command function, along with the group’s roles and 

relationships in theater. 

Campbell said the exercise is a snapshot of Korea for members of the group.

 “It’s a good opportunity for the 

group, because the port operators here 

get to see the Korean military side all the 

time,” he said.

Lt. Col. James E. Miller is an individual mobilization augmentee for the 599th. 

He has worked for the 837th Transportation Battalion in Busan, Korea, and for 

the 599th since 2001, and is now on his 

eleventh UFL/UFG. He said the augmentees and civilians who come to Korea 

year after year for the exercise provide continuity for the exercise.

“Unlike active duty who rotate after about a 

year, and who are only able to participate in an 

exercise once or twice, reservists who come back 

can hit the ground running from day one,” Miller 

said. “That’s our job – to mobilize and come to 

this theater and perform the roles we’re doing 

now.”

Ronald Day, deputy assistant chief of staff 

for operations at the 599th, has been to 16 UFL/

UFG exercises. He said this exercise was challenging for transporters because the scenario was 

set so early in hostilities.

 “The interesting thing about this exercise is 

that we started when the hostilities kicked off. 

That was a challenge for us. We don’t start our 

participation until the vessels arrive. The transit 

time is from three to six weeks from the U.S.,” 

he said. 

Day said the early start for the exercise did 

help with another aspect of the 599th plans.

“For us to get here early, it helped to exercise 

the wartime plan because we come early and set 

up the CSCC,” said Day.

Both Day and Peterson expressed appreciation for the exercise because of the opportunity 

it afforded for Korean and U.S. military to work 

together.

“I love these exercises because you really get 

to interface with your counterparts a lot. We really are elbow-to-elbow with our counterparts,” 

Day said.

 “I appreciate our host country’s hospitality. It has been an opportunity to experience the 

country and culture and get to know our allies 

better,” Peterson said. “We know that we have 

the capability to bring forces and equipment to 

Korea, should it ever come to that, in defense of 

their country.”

translog 37

Air Force Lt. Col. Joel Peterson, 599th operations chief, 

and ROK Col. Lee Jong-goo, ROK Port Operations Group 

commander, talk during the certificate presentation ceremony for UFG in the CSCC Aug. 21.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
Asignificant event in the history of SDDC 

quietly occurred Sept. 30, 2008. On this 

date, the last of personnel departed and 

offices officially closed at the once-vibrant command headquarters in Alexandria, Va., culminating the headquarters almost 43-year presence in 

Northern Virginia. 

For the past eight years, headquarters staffers 

were housed in the Hoffman Building II, relocating from the Nassif Building in Falls Church, Va., 

where it had been located for 35 years. 

According to Kent Beck, SDDC Command 

Historian, between May through August 2000, 

1,294 MTMC employees and 366 contractors 

moved into the Hoffman Building. The approaching expiration of the Nassif Building lease in 

2000 and the clear need for major renovations 

prompted a decision to relocate MTMC to the 

Hoffmann II building said Beck. 

“During those years in Virginia, the headquarters weathered a move from Baileys Crossroads in the Nassif Building to the Hoffman 

Building and processed actions for the reductions from two BRACs, the PORTLOOK study, 

the Battalion Evaluation Group Standardization, staff support centralization, renaming from 

MTMC to SDDC, as well as various staff elements, large reorganizations and smaller unit restructures,” said JoEllen Smith, a former SDDC 

G1 supervisor.

The headquarters recent relocation to Scott 

Air Force Base in Illinois yet again spoke volumes of change; however, the command’s leadership, coupled with the staff’s management skills, 

minimized the impact of this major transition 

-- one characterized by further re-engineering and 

reshaping at all levels. 

Staffers who relocated to Scott Air Force Base 

as well as those who remained at the Hoffman 

Building until the last day continued their critical duties and worked to ensure a seamless move. 

Employees who chose not to move to Scott Air 

Force Base witnessed the steady emptying of the 

offices on each floor as staff elements moved on.

“At day’s end, 1,000 workstations, 80 private 

offices, 15 conference rooms and eight storage 

areas had been cleaned and cleared,” 

said Bernard Walls, SDDC G4 chief. 

“The SDDC office space was returned 

to the HQDA Real Estate Facilities 

Office with no exceptions noted.” 

On Sept. 30, the remaining G4 

team took a last look, ensured the 

lights were all turned off, offices were 

marked “cleared,” and the doors were 

locked and shut tight. The G6 team 

had already taken care of the technology throughout floors eight through 

12, and usable supplies were sorted 

and centralized in one location for 

other government agencies.

“The Logistics contractors will 

remain onboard for another six to 

eight weeks to clear all the offices on 

each of the floors as required by the 

38 translog

SDDC closes Alexandria offices

By June M. Pagan

SDDC Command Affairs

The Hoffman Building II, former SDDC headquarters, shown 

during a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of 

the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
39

“Working at SDDC was special for me because 

I was afforded every opportunity to excel and 

grow in my career field. My fondest memories 

of MTMC/SDDC (HQs) are the times in which 

we celebrated together as a family...the luncheons, the award ceremonies, etc. I had the opportunity to view pictures of such events (thanks 

to Teresa Hall). To remember the people who 

departed – each face, each smile – I feel a bit 

of emptiness because being at SDDC for over 

18 years, I felt like I was losing my family. I will 

never forget those moments.”

Michael McCauley, former G4 (currently with DOL 

at Fort Myer, Va.)

“I have lots of good memories while I worked 

for MTMC/SDDC over the past 26 years and 

nine months of my life. I will never forget the 

people...past and present.” 

Nancy Cook, former G8 Manpower Division

 “The best memories I have of working at SDDC 

Alex are of all the truly dedicated professional 

people that I had the privilege of working with 

and getting to know. I feel that my time at SDDC 

provided me with great opportunities to learn 

from the many dedicated personnel associated 

with SDDC, both past and present. I will continue my career with the Army, currently with Army 

Contracting Command.” 

Mary Prunty, former G8 Budget Division

“Looking back on my career and reflecting on 

the wonderful people I have worked with is 

something I will always treasure. I am looking 

forward to retirement for I do not view retirement as the end of a career. Instead, retirement 

is the beginning of a new chapter in life – full of 

endless possibilities. While it is extremely hard 

to say goodbye, I wish you well...and know that 

it has been a great pleasure working with you.” 

Linda Moody, G8 Civilian Pay

translog

DA Real Estate Office,” said Walls.

According to JoEllen Smith, as she departed 

that building for the very last time on that very 

last day, it was quite an awesome sight of finality. 

“As Virginia King, director G1/4, has always 

said, the one thing we can always count on is 

change,” said Smith, who was retiring from federal service for a new chapter in her life as well.

Although SDDC’s former headquarters location in the Hoffman Building II is now part of 

the command’s proud history, it was behind these doors that a myriad of proud achievements 

and mighty missions were performed, co-workers joined together as a team to support the 

warfighter and their families, and long lasting friendships were forged.

While most of the employees who once graced the many offices had already departed 

before the final September date -- some to new jobs at Scott Air Force Base, others to new 

phases of life within the National Capital Region or beyond, yet others to a more relaxing 

time called retirement -- all were flooded with fond memories. 

 SDDC takes pride in the accomplishments of its former headquarters workforce at the 

Hoffman Building. On behalf of the entire command, thank you for your outstanding service, 

and we wish you all the very best as you move on to your next assignment with SDDC at 

Scott Air Force Base, or through whatever door now opens onto another chapter in your life. 

We salute you for a job well done.

Fall 2008 - Winter 2009
SDDC

M I L I T A R Y 

S U R F A C E 

D E P L O Y M E N T 

AND

D I S T R I B U T I O N 

COMMAND

Building 1990

709 Ward Drive

Scott Air Force Base, IL 

62225

Committed Dependable Relentless