# Afghan Disposition Mission

/ Published Nov. 1, 2016
Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 
Mobile teams taking Defense Logistics Agency support to the warfighter are not new, but DLA Disposition Services-Afghanistan had an idea to improve support to Afghan forces returning items to the U.S. military.

The Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan asked Navy Cmdr. Orlando Lorié, the DLA Disposition Services-Afghanistan commander, to help the 215th Afghan National Army Corps increase its combat power by removing more than 500 irreparable vehicles from its inventory to free up slots for replacement vehicles. Lorié explained the U.S.-issued vehicles were controlled items that had to be demilitarized before they could be returned to the U.S. government. 

“Once ‘demilitarized,’ the 215th Corps could then receive replacement combat vehicles from CSTC-A,” Lorié said. “That’s when CSTC-A challenged us to complete the mission of demilitarizing and disposing of the large number of vehicles located in a remote area of Afghanistan.”  

Lorié said the vehicles were in various yards throughout the 215th Corps’ facilities, which are scattered among former U.S. and coalition bases in Helmand province.  With its abundant poppy fields, the heavily contested province has seen some of the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan, Lorié said. In addition, the only U.S. presence in the area was a small combat outpost that could not host the mission because of its limited size; this meant the mission had to be executed “outside the wire” on the Afghan facility.  

The location presented a security challenge, Lorié said. The team for conducting DEMIL operations is a mix of military personnel, Department of Defense civilian workers and foreign contractors. Only military personnel are armed, so mobile teams typically operate in a U.S. or NATO base to have a secure environment. But that would have meant taking the damaged vehicles to one of four DLA Disposition Services-Afghanistan sites — the closest being over 100 miles away at Kandahar Airfield. The journey would have taken 12-14 months and cost more than $1 million.

“More importantly, it would also expose thousands of coalition troops to significant risk,” Lorié said.

Lorié said he explored the feasibility of a doctrinal change to create and deploy a mobile DEMIL team. Although DLA Disposition Services had completed a handful of small DEMIL operations on-site, Lorié said it had never conducted such a large mobile operation.  

To help with this new task, three expeditionary disposition experts visiting from DLA Disposition Services’ headquarters helped the local leadership team identify the equipment and develop the procedures to deploy such a unit. Their efforts were rewarded as senior leaders from United States Forces–Afghanistan and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission quickly embraced the mobile team’s course of action because it could get the job done with the greatest efficiency and least danger. 

With a start date of July 1, DLA had less than two months to coordinate logistics, maintenance support and security for what would become the main line of effort to increase the Afghan National Army’s combat power in southern Afghanistan. The key to success, Lorié said, was close coordination among five commands: the 518th Resolute Support Sustainment Battalion, the 2/87th Infantry Battalion, the 215th ANA Corps, CSTC-A and DLA Disposition Services-Afghanistan. With an operations order from USFOR-A in hand, Lorié’s staff created a mission-critical milestone timeline with decision points that triggered alternate and contingency plans. 

They then convened planning sessions with all stakeholders, who developed a comprehensive transportation plan identifying what would be flown and what would travel via ground transportation, Lorié said. 

“From early on it was clear the mission would require special considerations in the areas of life support and force protection, climate and cultural awareness,” he said. 

Lorié said requirements for personnel support further taxed the Afghan camp, already over capacity. Additionally, because every person on the roster increased the number of force protection personnel required, the crew roster was reduced from 22 to 16. 

The extreme heat in southern Afghanistan also made changes necessary. Because portable armor-cutting systems (similar to an industrial cutting torch) produce heat, the unit instead chose to rely primarily on specialized material handling equipment, despite the cost and risk of transporting it. To reduce that risk, most of this specialized material handling equipment was transported by air via three C-17 sorties, although a six-truck convoy was also used. The effects of the heat were worsened by the disposition cutters’ full kit, which includes a Kevlar helmet and vest, respirators and heavy leather personal protection equipment.

Temperatures also forced DLA to reconsider the operational tempo. Lorié said the typical work schedule for personnel in Afghanistan is 70 hours per week with no days off, with the day starting a 7:30 a.m.

“However, because of the high temperatures, the work hours were adjusted to start the day at 5 a.m.,” Lorié said. “The total hours worked each week were also reduced to lower the risk of heat fatigue.”

The heat was also a factor for the force protection personnel, who had to wear combat protective equipment. To acclimate to the heat, they arrived at the Afghan camp seven days before the start of the mission. 

Lorié credits the DLA team on the ground with getting all gear and cutting bays staged and completing an Operational Risk Management assessment three days ahead of schedule. 

“Among the unexpected tasks was to evict a pack of eight wild dogs and then plugging numerous holes in a long fence to keep animals out,” Lorié said.

The next day, the team validated its operations by demilitarizing two Humvees. It also implemented all risk-reduction precautions listed in the risk-management assessment, allowing the mission to begin two days ahead of schedule.

Ultimately, the group completed the mission three weeks ahead of schedule, demilitarizing 619 vehicles in only 10 weeks.

“It was a great experience to see personnel from different organization within DLA come together and work as a team,” said Ruben Ortiz Jr., a DLA safety specialist. “The way the DLA leadership, personnel, contractors and supporting units came together and worked as one made it possible for us to accomplish such a daunting task.” 

For one of the team members, it was a major milestone for his career. 

“This is the most impressive mission I have seen in my four tours with DLA,” said Michael Kelly, team member and DLA Disposition Services’ site chief at Kandahar.

Lorié attributes success to the constant and open communication with all the stakeholders. For DLA Disposition Services-Afghanistan, Lorié said the mission provided a new proven tool that redefines how DLA Disposition Services can reduce its Afghanistan footprint while fully supporting the warfighter.