DLA NewsWire
 
  By DLA Public Affairs
  **AGENCY HELPS PUT FORMER MILITARY VEHICLES ON THE ROAD AGAIN**
Three sport-utility vehicles that once supported American forces will be returning to the road overseas as part of a Foreign Military Sales case with Moldova.
According to a recent field report, the three 2008 Ford Escapes provided are valued at more than $30,000. Property Disposal Specialist Gilbert Delagente at the DLA Disposition Services site at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, described the transaction as his most challenging shipment since joining DLA Disposition Services as an RTD specialist.
“The vehicles were on a FMS freeze since December 2014,” Delagente said. “When I finally received the approval to process the shipment, there were numerous issues.”
Delagente explained that Moldova’s lack of a port of debarkation was a challenging issue, but he was able to overcome it with help from local transportation personnel at DLA’s Distribution Depot and the Fleet Logistics Center. The experts from DLA and the Navy were able to find an alternate port in Romania.
Vehicles received by the Moldovan National Army from the U.S. government through technical assistance programs are used to strengthen operational and peacekeeping capabilities and used to replace old remaining transport units, according to the Ministry of Defense. The ministry also noted that Foreign Military Sales personnel and contact persons were always helpful in resolving any administrative and logistic issues linked with the departure and receiving of vehicles, technical assets and spare parts. *— Tim Hoyle
DLA Disposition Services
More online: go.usa.gov/xNEje*    **D-DAY VETERAN REFLECTS DURING MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCE**
A World War II combat veteran offered a narrative of his military service in Europe to Naval Support Activity Philadelphia employees as part of a Memorial Day observance May 18.
Les Cruise, a 91-year-old Horsham, Pennsylvania, native, parachuted into Normandy, France, during the D-Day invasion June 6, 1944, with the 82nd Airborne Division.
The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support workforce, along with other Naval Support Activity-Philadelphia tenant employees, listened as Cruise recounted how he enlisted in the Army in the winter of 1942 and then volunteered to be a paratrooper. He was sent overseas and assigned to his unit as a replacement in 1944 for the invasion of Europe.
“This is a friend of mine. We jumped into Normandy,” Cruise said, projecting an old photo of his friend on the screen. “On the 7th of June, we were receiving an artillery barrage on one side of the road and some guys got killed and we were ordered go and take up their position. Unfortunately, as we hit the other side of the road, we heard more artillery coming down.” *— Jason Kaneshiro
DLA Troop Support
More online: go.usa.gov/xNNZE*   **PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: WHY DST IS IMPORTANT, WHY I WOULD DO IT AGAIN**
Many people have asked me why I volunteered to go to Kuwait. Even more have asked me if I was scared.
If I am very honest, the answer is yes. But if I admitted that, even to myself, I would not have gone.
So I smiled and said no, of course not. What is there to be scared of? The worst thing that could happen to me is I get a paper cut. I was going to be in a very safe environment. And after all, the Kuwaiti people like Americans.
When I started with the Defense Logistics Agency, I wanted to learn everything I could about my job and how to do things as efficiently as possible. I soon found a division of duties and a lack of “cradle-to-grave” opportunities meant I would not be learning everything I had hoped to.
I was coming to the end of my intern program and learned about DLA Support Teams. These very unique teams of volunteers represent DLA by deploying overseas for six months to provide support to the nation’s military personnel downrange.
I got started by interviewing in 2013 with the DLA Aviation Customer Operations Directorate team supporting the DSTs and was forewarned, deployment was not easy or pretty. One of the team members told me, “You carry your own weight and then some. Life is sometimes rough and where we have a decent place to live for six months you are often called on to do jobs outside your comfort zone.”
I thought I was a good candidate for the deployment. My husband and I shared seven children (six have served in the military, and the seventh married a Navy nuclear propulsion technician). My husband is retired Army, my brother was a Marine, my father was a tail gunner in World War II. I have been around a lot of military personnel. I thought I could not only get a better idea of what they have lived through, but would also become a better employee for DLA by understanding the real needs of the men and women downrange, and what they face on a daily basis.  *— Amelia Stanko
DLA Aviation
More online: go.usa.gov/xN9FF*   **GIMCHEON STAFF HELPS RETIRE AGING WARRIOR FROM THE SKIES**
Not all of the vehicles involved in the Army’s divestiture of excess items travel on wheels or tracks; some use rotors to fly through the air.
Recently, Defense Logistics Agency employees from the DLA Disposition Services site at Gimcheon, Korea, helped the Army’s 17th Cavalry get rid of 27 of its OH-58 Kiowa Warrior aircraft. The Kiowa Warrior is a single-engine, single-rotor armed reconnaissance vehicle generally used to support troops fighting on the ground.
Area Manager Terry Harrington said the workload was a challenge with the increased turn-ins from the Yongsan Relocation and Land Partnership Plans, but noted the team there “contains seasoned professionals that aren’t new to these types of challenges ... without incorporating overtime or extra shifts.”
He noted that Air Force Master Sgt. Kenneth Pugh, Gimcheon’s Property Management Branch chief, served as a project lead for the divestment, working with Ronald Beach, chief of the Logistics Management Division for the Armed Scout Helicopter Project Office.
Contractors performed the required demilitarization of the helicopters with an excavator. Harrington said the disposal support representatives were “extremely meticulous” during their inspections of each Kiowa given the type of weapon system and the gravity of the effort.  *— Tim Hoyle
DLA Disposition Services
— More online: go.usa.gov/xN9Fu*