# DEFENDER ’24 tests DDXX European theater familiarity

/ Published May 15, 2024
GERMERSHEIM, Germany , 
Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Expeditionary personnel continue rehearsing forward operations during the waning days of a roughly two-week deployment to Germersheim, Germany, that began in early May as part of the U.S. Army’s DEFENDER 2024 exercise.

DEFENDER lasts from late March through May and is the largest Army-led exercise in Europe, involving more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multi-national servicemembers from more than 20 allied and partner nations.

Working from an alternate Theater Consolidation and Shipping Point established at Germersheim’s U.S. Army Depot, a joint group of about two dozen DDXX personnel from New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, and Tracy, California, as well as members of the joint reserve force, coalesced to practice supporting a U.S. European Command theater sustainment request.  

Army Maj. Marc Guerrisi serves as the DDXX officer-in-charge at Germersheim. He said his team was charged with demonstrating an ability to distribute items to customers quickly while working in a forward-operating environment. Simply getting set up for that work produced learning opportunities.

DLA consolidates priority cargo to ship via military aircraft and routine cargo to ship in consolidated government owned or leased shipping containers. DDXX can receive and distribute all of DLA’s consolidated material effectively and expediently at a significant cost savings to the services.

The training process for DDXX participants began well before the exercise itself. In March, team members performed an agricultural wash of vehicles and equipment bound for Germersheim, a requirement for equipment traveling from the U.S. to Europe meant to limit the spread of animal diseases, African Swine Flu in particular.

“Every theater is different, and for each one they must know how to handle theater-specific distribution processes. This could include customs requirements or transportation arrangements that utilize common user transportation assets or a dedicated truck network or even the need to establish a carrier network,” said John Heikkinen, DDXX Operations and Planning Specialist. “And conducting an exercise overseas is unforgiving, in that if they didn’t pack something out, they’re just not going to have it.”

Heikkinen has been with DDXX since it became a program of record. Now, he said it is nearly 100 team members that can be supplemented by DLA Joint Reserve Force and contract personnel. Initially DDXX served primarily as a forward warehousing platform or provided a TCSP capability. The team has added capabilities such as a Material Processing Center for Navy specific requirements and Incident Support Base functions to support FEMA during a humanitarian or disaster relief event such as a catastrophic hurricane.

“It’s expanded it capabilities exponentially,” Heikkinen said. “The program, as a whole, will continue to become more capable and ready to meet warfighter and whole of government requirements abroad.”

Army Lt. Col. Kimberly Ellenburg, DDXX commander, met with team personnel at the exercise site May 13 and praised both their ability work through logistics issues and to integrate from their separate home stations.

“Getting here was a bit of a learning process for our personnel, but they’ve worked through any challenge that has come up. There’s nothing they haven’t been able to figure out,” Ellenburg said. “They’ve done a phenomenal, seamless job of building a team from both of our locations, which is a testament to the training we do and the missions we send them out on. They’re great at their jobs and they’ve demonstrated exceptional teamwork.”