LOGLINES

U.S. CENTRAL 

COMMAND

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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY JULY – AUGUST 2011
DIRECTOR

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Navy Vice Adm. Alan S. Thompson, SC, USN

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

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LOGLINES

Official Flagship Publication of the Defense Logistics Agency

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Loglines l July - August 2011 1

CONTENTS

Continuous Engagement 2

The Defense Logistics Agency provides a range of support to warfighters in Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations in Southwest Asia.

Precious Metal 6

New DLA Disposition Services sites in Afghanistan increase the 

efficiency of disposition and security of warfighters there.

Lifelines 10

DLA provides the full range of medical supplies and medicines 

needed by warfighters in Southwest Asia. 

Multi-focus Support 14

From uniforms and textiles to construction equipment, DLA Troop 

Support provides a variety of supplies troops need in theater.

A Taste of Home 16

When troops in Afghanistan clamored for American-style menus in 

their dining facilities, DLA Troop Support answered their call.

Sustaining the MRAP 18

From the moment production started on Mine Resistant, Ambush 

Protected vehicles for Iraq and Afghanistan, DLA has supported the 

lifesaving vehicles’ deployment and success. 

Shore to Ship 26

Material processing centers aid in efficient delivery of goods to ships.

Customer Satisfaction 28

A new tool allows for more responsive customer interactions.

Uniforms for the Fallen 35

DLA Troop Support preserves dignity for fallen warfighters.

A Conversation with ... 22

DLA NewsWire 25

Money Matters 30

We are DLA 32

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

July - August 2011

pg 2

pg 10

pg 35

pg 18

W O R K I N G W I T H I N

U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND

Cover photo illustration by Paul Crank / Original photo by Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dexter S. Saulisbury

pg1 IFC-Contents JulAug 2011.indd 1 6/16/11 
2 www.dla.mil

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND

Continuous

Engagement

Story by Beth Reece

wrapped up in the responsible drawdown 

of forces in Iraq for a while now, there’s 

still a U.S. mission going on there that we 

need to support.”

More than 300 DLA employees are 

on the ground in Southwest Asia assisting 

military customers, with large numbers 

in Afghanistan and Iraq and a smaller 

contingent in Kuwait. Customers depend 

heavily on their assistance to get commodities like food, fuel, repair parts and 

construction material since operations 

started in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bird 

said. But as the presence of U.S. forces 

in those countries shifts, warfighters and 

their leaders are putting pressure on 

the agency to increase distribution and 

disposition services.

“DLA Disposition Services is probably the biggest player in Iraq right 

now, but the demand for reutilization 

services and demilitarization is picking 

up in Afghanistan, where we have forces 

stretched out across the country,” he said. 

“Disposition and distribution are our 

most demanded capabilities right now.”

DLA answered the need for improved 

distribution throughout Afghanistan 

in May with the opening of the Theater 

Consolidation and Shipping Point in the 

country’s north, near Mazar-e-Sharif. 

The TCSP is a transshipping point for 

U.S. cargo going into Afghanistan via 

the Northern Distribution Network, a 

series of rail, road and water supply lines 

created to help bypass dangerous routes 

through Pakistan.

“The TCSP is designed to streamline 

those items that create the bulk of traffic 

tying up our distribution lanes and will 

allow us to prioritize items so we know 

what really needs to go forward to our 

customers and what can be held onto for 

a while,” said Marine Capt. Shawn Harris, 

a joint distribution logistics officer for 

DLA Distribution. 

Before the TCSP opened, DLA paid 

about $2 million a month to commercial 

carriers to lease commercially owned 

containers to transport supplies throughout Afghanistan. Now, distribution 

process workers at the TCSP reconfigure 

and pack items in government-owned 

containers that cost the agency nothing.

“The savings we’ll achieve by doing 

this will probably be exponentially more 

When nearly 900 Defense 

Logistics Agency employees 

volunteered in March for 

deployment to U.S. Central 

Command, Army Col. 

Michael Bird, the commander of DLA 

Central, was stunned and grateful. 

“It blew me away that so many of 

our employees would willingly volunteer 

to leave their families behind and go 

in harm’s way for six months,” Bird 

said. “This should take the pressure off 

employees who’ve actually done four or 

five rotations.”

Not every volunteer will get the 

opportunity to deploy, but Bird said those 

who do will continue the “herculean 

efforts” already made by DLA employees 

during the drawdown in Iraq and buildup 

of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. 

“Some of our hardest work remains 

to be done. We’ve gotten over the hurdle 

of supplying large volumes of construction material for the surge, but you can’t 

use the phrase ‘leveled-out’ to describe 

our work in Afghanistan; providing logistics in a landlocked country is a daily 

battle,” he said. “And though we’ve been 
Loglines l July - August 2011 3

As U.S. troops continue leaving Iraq, a small

group of Defense Logistics Agency employees

remains behind providing reutilization and

demilitarization services.

— Photo by Air Force Senior Airman Perry Aston
4 www.dla.mil

than $2 million a month,” Harris said. 

“I think we’re going to see the benefits of 

this down the road when we talk about 

budgets and how much we actually pay 

contractors to do things that we could 

probably do a little more efficiently in 

combat theaters.” 

The facility will eventually become 

part of a larger logistics hub being 

planned by U.S. Central Command and 

U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, he added. 

The TCSP is an extension of 

Distribution Depot Kandahar, which 

opened in July 2010 as an expeditionary 

depot and transitioned to a full-fledge 

depot in January. About 650 different types 

of items are stocked there, Bird said, and 

the number will grow as DLA determines 

which have the greatest demand.

Stocking material in theater helps 

reduce dependency on expensive strategic 

airlifts, but the challenge of delivering supplies over degraded roads in the country 

remains, he added. Officials are standing 

up the National Afghanistan Trucking 

Service, part of an effort by the U.S. government and partner nations to promote 

economic development in Afghanistan. 

The growing military infrastructure 

throughout the country has also increased 

the need for more disposition sites where 

warfighters can dispose of unneeded 

equipment. Disposition yards are now 

open at Bagram Airfield, Kandahar 

Airfield and Camp Leatherneck, and 

another is being planned for construction 

near the TCSP in the north.

Placing disposition yards in close 

proximity to the agency’s distribution 

sites, as they are in Kandahar, keeps 

customers from having to travel along 

dangerous roads to numerous locations 

for DLA services, Bird said. 

“Disposition and distribution work 

off of each other because one has an 

Soldiers unload supplies from a CH-47 Chinook

in Jaghato, Afghanistan. The Defense Logistics

Agency is improving distribution of supplies

throughout the landlocked country with such

facilities as the new Theater Consolidated

Shipping Point in the north.

Army Spc. De’Yonte Mosley

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND

pg2-5 Continuous Engagement.indd 4 6/16/11 2
Loglines l July - August 2011 5

outward flow and the other has an inward 

flow. Army Materiel Command is also 

building a national maintenance facility in Kandahar. Having those kinds of 

industrial footings in one location will 

help us manage material more easily in 

the future.” 

Getting land to build such facilities 

is “bar none the hardest challenge” in 

Afghanistan, Bird continued, because it’s 

either littered with mines or owned by farmers. The lack of real estate has even caused 

coalition forces to request the use of DLA’s 

already-established disposition services.

“We’re working right now with the 

Office of the Secretary of Defense to see if 

it’s possible to do some form of coalitionpartner disposition. It’s difficult, and 

we’ve got to set a policy on what we 

can demilitarize and what we can’t. But 

the reality is [that] Afghanistan is not 

Iraq. Space alone is going to drive us to 

consolidate activities,” he said. 

As DLA’s work grows in Afghanistan, 

employees also remain in Iraq to complete a “multi-element undertaking,” 

DLA Logistics Operations Director Army 

Brig. Gen. Lynn Collyar recently said in 

a written statement to the House Armed 

Services Committee. 

Expeditionary disposal remediation teams there continue “clean sweep” 

operations, traveling to units’ locations 

to assist with property identification and 

scrap removal. Other 

DLA members monitor 

demand patterns and 

adjust the procurement of 

supplies flowing into Iraq 

accordingly “to ensure 

readiness of the force 

without contributing to 

the amount of excess 

material,” Collyar added.

Agency officials are 

also working with the U.S. Department of 

State as it prepares to assume leadership 

of the U.S. presence in Iraq in October. 

For example, contracts that DLA already 

has in place for food and fuel will be used 

to ensure uninterrupted support for the 

State Department, Collyar said. 

Serving as what Bird called “the centerpiece between Iraq and Afghanistan” is 

a small team in Kuwait. The distribution 

site there pre-positions high-demand 

stock to quickly supply warfighters in theater. One significant mission is that of the 

MRAP Sustainability Facility, which manages inventory to support Mine Resistant 

Ambush Protected vehicles. 

“The world’s biggest disposition yard 

is also in Kuwait, and the work there isn’t 

slowing down. Units are still fighting in 

Iraq, so they’re going to hold onto their 

equipment until the last minute,” he said. 

The progress DLA has made in 

Southwest Asia and the respect it’s 

earned as America’s combat logistics support agency wouldn’t have been possible 

without the hard work of thousands of 

employees who’ve volunteered to serve 

on support teams throughout the region, 

DLA Central’s commander said. 

“You’ve got to love every one of these 

folks for what they do. They get there, 

and they work hard in very austere conditions,” Bird said. 

Dave Haulman, disposal operations 

program manager for DLA Disposition 

Region West, has deployed three times 

to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. His most recent 

six-month tour wrapped 

up in March. Although 

Haulman said his job was 

to oversee the disposition 

facility there, he often 

found himself directly 

servicing warfighters. 

“Many times convoys 

would roll in at 11 at 

night, so I’d find myself 

out there actually receiving property. You get out there and get 

your hands dirty and help the team catch 

up. Everybody pitches in,” he said.

Seeing the satisfaction on warfighters’ 

faces when they scoured rows of excess 

equipment to find parts they needed to 

repair their equipment made the long days 

away from home worth it, Haulman added.

DLA Headquarters officials have 

been working with field activities to fill 

deployment vacancies across the agency’s 

18-month deployment plan. Those whose 

skills match current needs will help 

provide the best quality service to customers, especially in Afghanistan, where 

troops are currently scheduled to remain 

through 2014, Bird said.

“We don’t know exactly when we’ll 

start moving out,” he said, “but there’s 

still a lot more work for DLA to do in 

Afghanistan.”

Getting land to build

these hubs is the

toughest challenge

due to mined areas

and farms.

Marine Corps Cpl Michael Augusto

Marine Lance Cpl. Seth Peikert observes

supplies being transported via helicopter to

Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. Customers

at remote forward operating bases also rely

heavily on the Defense Logistics Agency to

supply fuel and subsistence.

pg2-5 Continuous Engagement.indd 5 6/16/11 2
6 www.dla.mil

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND

Story by Sara Moore

n the fast-paced operational environment of Afghanistan, military 

members can’t afford to be slowed 

down by damaged, obsolete or 

otherwise unserviceable equipment. 

Throughout the country, a hard-working 

group of Defense Logistics Agency civilians, contractors and service members 

puts in long hours processing and 

disposing of unserviceable property so 

troops can focus on their missions.

DLA Disposition Services 

Afghanistan runs three full-time disposition sites – at Bagram Airfield, Kandahar 

Airfield and Camp Leatherneck – and 

provides on-site assistance to 45 forward 

operating bases through its expeditionary disposal remediation teams. 

The mission is one that has always 

been fast-paced, especially during the 

troop increases of recent years, and is 

expected to become more intense after 

A Defense Logistics Agency Disposition

Services team member operates a scrap

handler to crush steel and destroy unserviceable tactical vehicles at Camp Leatherneck,

Afghanistan. Leatherneck is home to a DLA

Disposition Services site that breaks down

unserviceable equipment to provide clean

materials to support the International Security

Assistance Force.

Precious

Metal

I

pg6-9 Precious Metal.indd 6 6/16/11 2
Loglines l July - August 2011 7

Marine Staff Sgt. Theresa Seng
8 www.dla.mil

the decision is made to begin closing 

U.S. bases and draw down the number of 

troops there.

“Overall, the mission workload is 

very intensive, with personnel working 

long hours seven days a week,” said Navy 

Cmdr. Alan J. Schmitt, officer in charge 

of DLA Disposition Services Afghanistan. 

“The environment is fast-paced. With 

turn-ins coming in on an hourly basis, 

there is no time for delays or our workload will quickly stack up.”

Schmitt’s team includes 19 civilians, 

24 military members – who make up the 

expeditionary disposal remediation teams 

– and 67 contractors. In the contingency 

environment of Afghanistan, their primary role is to demilitarize and dispose of 

unserviceable equipment.

“Our mission is extremely important,” 

Schmitt said. “Bases and units generate a 

lot of unserviceable property, and space is 

at a premium. The limited space available 

is very valuable and is greatly needed 

for sustainment needs in support of the 

warfighter. Bases need to quickly get rid 

of unserviceable property before it builds 

up and takes away valuable space and 

becomes unmanageable.”

Shipping all that scrap property – the 

site at Camp Leatherneck alone removed 

more than 1,600 tons of scrap material 

in fiscal 2010 – back to the U.S. would 

be impractical and expensive, so DLA 

Disposition Services sites in Afghanistan 

sell the majority of the scrap to local contractors. Before materials are released, 

disposition personnel ensure the items 

have been properly demilitarized lest they 

fall into the wrong hands.

Chris Harris, chief of the Leatherneck 

site, said he enjoys a good working relationship with the local scrap contractor, 

but all the equipment moving through the 

site still needs to be thoroughly demilitarized before it’s sold as scrap. The site 

deals primarily with battle-damaged military vehicles, including Mine Resistant 

Ambush Protected vehicles, so his team is 

especially vigilant in ensuring none of the 

scrap material can be used against U.S. 

forces. 

“The protection of the United States’ 

national security interests is of utmost 

importance, ensuring we do not jeopardize these interests by properly demilitarizing and mutilating equipment [and] 

property and removing and destroying all 

offensive and defensive applications so 

they cannot be used against our warfighters on the frontlines,” Harris said. 

Besides the obvious items that could 

be used against U.S. forces, like military 

vehicles and weapons systems, there 

are also other items that people may 

not realize could be dangerous, Harris 

said. He noted that water tanks or other 

containers and even things like the timers 

from washing machines can be used for 

improvised explosive devices.

The site at Leatherneck became 

active in August 2010 and since then 

has seen a steady increase in the volume 

of work, Harris said. The site supports 

many forward operating bases, so he 

said he expects to become even busier in 

the coming months as units prepare to 

Debris is shredded at the DLA Disposition

Services lot at Camp Leatherneck. The site

removed more than 1,600 tons of scrap material in fiscal 2010.

Marine Staff Sgt. Theresa Seng

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND

pg6-9 Precious Metal.indd 8 6/16/11 2
Loglines l July - August 2011 9

redeploy from the country.

Another of the DLA Disposition 

Services sites that opened within the past 

year was the site at Kandahar Airfield. 

That site became active in December 

and has been working full-tilt to process 

and dispose of damaged equipment 

while also establishing its presence and 

infrastructure. 

Air Force Capt. Teresa Hernandez, 

the officer in charge of the Kandahar 

Disposition Services site, said that since 

she arrived in February, she has been 

working on expansions and improvements to the disposition yard, like a new 

administrative building and four new 

concrete pads to sort and separate scrap 

metal. At the same time, her team has 

been very active in working with forward 

A DLA Disposition Services team member

operates a plasma cutter, which slices through

steel and destroys unserviceable tactical

vehicles, at Camp Leatherneck. The site, one

of three in Afghanistan, deals primarily with

battle-damaged military vehicles.

operating bases through the expeditionary disposal remediation teams. Those 

teams travel to outlying bases and assist 

with the proper disposal of excess and 

damaged material. 

When she first arrived, Hernandez 

said, the nearby FOBs had a lot of unserviceable material and no way to get rid of 

it. Through the work of her EDRT chief, 

much of that scrap has been cleaned up, 

preparing the bases for the inevitable 

withdrawal of forces.

“When it comes time for us to 

move out, we’re not going to leave all 

this unserviceable property behind,” 

Hernandez said. “So we’re going to help 

out the environment and help out the 

warfighters by keeping their FOBs clean.”

As the Kandahar site becomes more 

established and the U.S. mission in 

Afghanistan evolves, Hernandez and her 

team have to stay flexible, she said. Her 

team members are undergoing training 

to oversee hazardous waste removal at 

specified locations, including recently 

completed contracting officer’s technical 

representative training. 

Flexibility and adaptability are key 

themes for DLA Disposition Services 

throughout Afghanistan, Schmitt said. 

In addition to changing workloads due 

to troop increases or withdrawals, DLA 

Disposition Services personnel have to 

deal with challenges such as transportation delays, severe weather and external 

issues affecting staffing. Through it 

all, however, DLA Disposition Services 

Afghanistan is accomplishing its mission 

of overseeing the proper turn-in and 

disposal of unserviceable property.

“Overall we’ve had a great team 

effort among DLA Disposition Services 

civilians, military and contractors to 

enable us to achieve continued mission 

success,” Schmitt said. “DLA has some of 

the most dedicated and knowledgeable 

professionals that you’ll find in the 

[combined/joint operations area], and 

they can definitely be proud of what they 

have accomplished.”

DLA Disposition Services Afghanistan provides

critical support to U.S. forces with the disposal

of unserviceable equipment. The three fulltime DLA Disposition Services sites process

and dispose of damaged equipment and

provide on-site assistance to forward operating bases, ensuring warfighters can continue

their missions.

Marine Staff Sgt. Theresa Seng

Marine Cpl. Michael Augusto

pg6-9 Precious Metal.indd 9 6/16/11 2
10 www.dla.mil

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND

Army Sgt. Katryn McCalment

pg10-13 Lifelines.indd 10 6/16/11 1
Loglines

l July - August 2011 11

Lifelines

s the wars in Iraq and 

Afghanistan and operations 

throughout the rest of the Middle 

East have continued through 

the years, one constant has been 

troops’ need for lifesaving medical equipment and supplies. The Defense Logistics 

Agency has been there every step of 

the way, partnering with the services to 

ensure supplies are forward-positioned 

and ready when troops need them.

DLA’s medical support to the U.S. 

Central Command area of operations 

includes the full range of medical commodities, from vaccines to surgical items 

to major equipment like CT scanners, 

said Army Col. Alex Zotomayor, chief 

of the Medical Operational CustomerFacing Division at DLA Troop Support. 

In the early days of the war in 

Afghanistan, it became clear that 

distance would be a big challenge in getting medical supplies to troops quickly, 

Zotomayor said. To overcome that challenge, DLA partnered with the U.S. Army 

Medical Materiel Center-Southwest 

Asia, which was established in 2002 and 

designated the theater lead agent for 

medical material for USCENTCOM in 

2006. TLAMMs, as they are called, are 

the military service activities that serve 

Story by Sara Moore

The Defense Logistics Agency partners

with the U.S. Army Medical Materiel CenterSouthwest Asia to provide medical supplies to

U.S. Central Command troops like this Army

medic drawing blood from an Afghan villager

at a free clinic at Bagram Airfield’s Korean

Hospital. A

pg10-13 Lifelines.indd 11 6/16/11 1
12 www.dla.mil

as the central point of contact for medical 

logistics support for a combatant command, he explained. 

USAMMC-SWA and DLA enjoy a 

unique relationship, said Army Lt. Col. 

Kevin Cooper, the center’s commander. 

Through a performance-based agreement between Office of the Deputy 

Chief of Staff of the Army for Logistics, 

DLA and the Army Surgeon General, 

USAMMC SWA and its counterpart 

TLAMMs operate within the DLA 

Defense Working Capital Fund.

“This strategic partnership between 

the Army and DLA reduces [Defense 

Department] supply chain infrastructure 

and facilitates responsiveness to the theater health service system,” Cooper said. 

Operating within the Defense Working 

Capital Fund means that USAMMC-SWA 

is able to better manage inventories, 

workload and cost control, making DLA 

more responsive to its customers’ needs, 

Zotomayor said. The inventory managed 

by USAMMC-SWA is owned by DLA but 

is distributed by the Army, he noted.

“It makes us more responsive and 

allows us to have quicker customer 

deliveries to the warfighter,” he said. 

“USAMMC-SWA acts as a DLA depot for 

our medical material. We own it, and it’s 

forward positioned for more responsive 

and quicker delivery times.”

Because USAMMC-SWA is forwarddeployed to the USCENTCOM area of 

responsibility, it is able to provide roundthe-clock medical logistics support, deploy 

customer assistance teams on a moment’s 

notice, and take advantage of both commercial and military air distribution assets, 

Cooper said. The command primarily 

supports troops in the field in Iraq and 

Afghanistan, as well as medical treatment 

facilities throughout the USCENTCOM’s 

AOR. However, its customer base also 

includes more than 280 active customers, including medical units in Kuwait, 

the United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, 

Bahrain, Oman, Yemen and Pakistan.

In the past year, USAMMC-SWA’s 

sales totaled $146 million, with an average of 675 daily transfer orders and 605 

average daily sales orders, Cooper said. 

The command manages more than 2,600 

lines of critical medical supply items. For 

items that USAMMC-SWA doesn’t stock, 

it reaches back to its partner unit, U.S. 

Army Medical Materiel Center-Europe, 

in Germany, which operates in the same 

supply chain framework and can fill in 

the gaps for timely delivery to warfighters 

in the field. 

To fill its customer requirements, 

USAMMC-SWA uses the Theater 

Enterprise Wide Logistics System, a 

state-of-the-art enterprise resource 

planning system that provides instant 

data-sharing and standardization of 

globally recognized business practices. 

Two Navy medics lift a box of medical supplies

for a community health initiative in Kakar village,

Helmand province, Afghanistan. Medics like

these in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility

rely on DLA to provide the life-saving medical

supplies and equipment they need.

Medical supplies, like these at the Kandahar

Regional Military Hospital in Kandahar,

Afghanistan, are critical to U.S. troops in

the USCENTCOM area of responsibility.

DLA provides these supplies and equipment

through a partnership with USAMMC-SWA.

Photo courtesy of USAMMC-SWA

Navy Chief Brian Brannon

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND
Loglines l July - August 2011 13

Army Pfc. Brandon Landon, a medic with

Headquarters and Headquarters Company,

Task Force Destiny, checks a patient’s blood

pressure at Kandahar Airfield’s revamped

Consolidated Aid Station in Kandahar province,

Afghanistan. Medics in the USCENTCOM area

of responsibility rely on DLA for medical supplies

and equipment to perform their mission.

Army Spc. Tracy Weeden

This system processes all the orders that 

come from the various ordering modules 

customers use, Cooper said. Customer 

requests are pulled, packed and shipped 

daily, and the command works with 

USCENTCOM to ensure timely delivery 

through a mixture of commercial and 

military air transportation.

“Whether hazardous material, 

temperature-sensitive medical products, general cargo or controlled items, 

USAMMC-SWA provides responsive support to its joint customers, usually with a 

two- to four-day response time,” he said. 

But USAMMC-SWA does more than 

just deliver medical supplies. Its proximity to its USCENTCOM customers allows 

it to offer a host of other services, Cooper 

said. The command sends customer assistance teams across the region to address 

specific medical supply or maintenance 

issues. In addition, the command’s forward repair activity medical team, made 

up of medical maintenance professionals 

with expertise in laboratory, pulmonary 

and imaging equipment, provides on-site 

support for training or technical issues. 

USAMMC-SWA also assists in developing 

and coordinating medical supply chain 

planning for USCENTCOM and has a cell 

responsible for the inventory, tracking, 

recycling and maintenance of patient 

movement items, which are equipment 

and supplies needed to support patients 

during aeromedical evacuations. 

As the U.S. presence and missions in 

the USCENTCOM AOR have shifted over 

the years, DLA’s and USAMMC-SWA’s 

missions have shifted slightly, Zotomayor 

and Cooper said. Cooper noted that since 

its establishment, USAMMC-SWA has 

been able to reduce its footprint while 

providing the same high level of support to customers. Although troops have 

pulled out from Iraq, Zotomayor said, 

there is still a U.S. presence throughout 

the region and medical logistics support 

is still critical.

“It’s just basically a shift as far as 

workload,” he said. “Stuff going into Iraq 

is decreasing, and eventually stuff going 

into Afghanistan will decrease too. But 

as long as we have a military presence in 

the CENTCOM area of operations, our 

TLAMMs will continue to support with 

medical material.”
14 www.dla.mil

Multi-focus

Support

Story by Jonathan Stack

uniform and several accessory items 

Soldiers wear, like cold weather gear 

and Kevlar helmet covers. 

The Army won’t be the only service 

wearing this new pattern, Farrell said. 

“The Air Force has asked the Army 

[for] permission to use it,” he said. 

“Any Air Force unit being sent to 

Afghanistan is also being issued [the 

new uniform].”

The Army began fielding the OCP 

uniform in July 2010, after deciding to 

do so in February of that year, he said.

“The Army early on bought their 

own uniforms and did their own fielding, ... but we’ve been coordinating with 

them since the beginning,” Farrell said. 

“The Army has some of their own contracts that are finishing up, but we have 

contracts with several different contractors that are providing between 50,000 

[and] 60,000 uniforms a month.”

He said this initiative was accomplished because of the good planning 

and hard work of DLA Troop Support’s 

contracting and planning team and 

coordination with the Army. 

“It’s been a real good effort between 

DLA and the Army to make it happen,” 

he said. 

Troop Support focuses on 

supporting them in those 

missions. 

DLA Troop Support provides food, 

clothing, textiles, medicines, medical 

equipment, and construction supplies and 

equipment, enabling service members 

to achieve their missions in U.S. Central 

Command’s area of responsibility.

One of the items DLA Troop Support 

is supplying is a new uniform for Soldiers 

in Afghanistan, the Operation Enduring 

Freedom Camouflage Pattern uniform. 

“It ... provides better camouflage,” 

said Dave Farrell, DLA Troop Support 

Organizational Clothing and Individual 

Equipment Customer Facing Division 

chief. “It’s only issued and authorized in 

Afghanistan. ”

The Army selected the new camouflage 

pattern after various tests and studies 

determined the Army Combat Uniform 

didn’t provide the maximum possible 

concealment in Afghanistan’s terrain.

The OCP product line includes the 

The Army selected the Operation Enduring

Freedom Camouflage Pattern uniform after

service officials determined the Army Combat

Uniform didn’t provide the maximum possible

concealment in Afghanistan.

— Photo courtesy PEO Soldier

While U.S. warfighters 

focus on their missions 

in Iraq, Afghanistan and 

other parts of the globe, 

Defense Logistics Agency 

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND
Loglines l July - August 2011 15

DLA Troop Support will continue 

to provide uniforms through the Army 

Direct Ordering program, which DLA 

Troop Support manages, he said. 

ADO is a Web-based ordering service 

run by DLA Troop Support. DLA partnered 

with the Army to develop ADO to replace 

uniforms for Soldiers deployed to the 

USCENTCOM region.

It is accessible through Soldiers’ 

Army Knowledge Online accounts and 

gives customers in such locations as Iraq, 

Afghanistan, Qatar and Kuwait the option 

to order more than 50 uniform items and 

accessories, ranging from ACUs to physical 

fitness uniforms.

During a conference earlier this year 

that focused on improving supply chains 

and procurement of military equipment 

in Afghanistan, Army Command Sgt. 

Major Otis Cuffee, DLA’s command 

senior enlisted leader, discussed the ADO 

program with other senior Army enlisted 

leaders. He said he got a lot of positive 

feedback about the ADO program.

“The Soldiers are overly joyous about 

the support coming out of [ADO],” he said. 

DLA Troop Support also provides 

steel to support Army Corps of Engineers 

projects in Afghanistan. 

“We’re doing a project for the Afghan 

national security forces to provide steel 

for the construction of facilities for 

them,” said John Cuorato, DLA Troop 

Support Construction and Equipment 

customer operations director. 

DLA Troop Support helps procure 

quality materials for building structures. 

The Army Corps of Engineers has long 

been involved with the construction of 

the large corrugated metal buildings used 

as temporary industrial facilities.

“We started doing our market 

research in December 2010. [In] January 

2011, the Corps submitted their requirements, and we placed our first order in 

March 2011,” Cuorato said.

The Army Corps of Engineers initially 

purchased about $14.2 million worth of 

steel, he said. In the beginning of April, 

the Corps submitted a request for an 

additional $15 million worth. 

“[The project] is going well,” Cuorato 

said. 

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ace Rheaume

Sailors run a steel pick through an Ultimate

Building Machine on a building project at

Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. DLA Troop

Support is providing steel like this to support Army Corps of Engineers projects in

Afghanistan.

Editor’s note: This article contains information from previous

DLA Today articles.

DLA Troop Support supplies

the Operation Enduring

Freedom Camouflage

Pattern uniform to Soldiers

in Afghanistan. The Army

began fielding the OCP

uniform in July 2010.

Army Sgt. Christopher Klutts

pg14-15 MultiFocus Support.indd 15 6/16/11 2
16 www.dla.mil

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND

A Taste of Home

Story by Janeen T. Poulson

Defense Logistics Agency Troop 

Support heard the requests and partnered 

with NATO’s Maintenance and Supply 

Agency to completely overhaul the menus.

“Over time, more and more U.S. 

military were eating in NAMSA-run dining 

facilities in Kandahar,” said Richard Faso, 

director of DLA Troop Support Subsistence 

customer operations. “U.S. military eating 

there wanted to eat like the rest of the 

U.S. troops [on other installations] in 

Afghanistan, and their complaining 

ultimately led to the change.”

DLA Troop Support Subsistence 

provides all the food U.S. troops consume 

by using a wide network of acquisition 

personnel, supply managers, technical 

professionals and quality controllers. The 

supply chain uses a variety of acquisition 

techniques to procure customers’ 

requests. One such procurement strategy 

used is the prime vendor program. 

here’s the beef? That was 

the question asked by many 

American troops stationed 

at Kandahar Airfield, 

Afghanistan. Unaccustomed to 

the European fare served at dining facilities 

throughout the installation, troops desired 

menu options that would be pleasing to the 

palate and remind them of home.

Janeen T. Poulson is a writer for DLA Troop Support.

W
Loglines l July - August 2011 17

Implemented in 1993, the subsistence 

prime vendor program uses commercial 

distributors to deliver a variety of food 

items and beverages to customers in a 

specific geographical region. A supplier, 

or prime vendor, is responsible for the 

procurement, storage and transportation 

of food to various areas. Through this 

program, U.S. troops are able to receive 

fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, poultry, fish, and just about every other item 

that can be purchased in an American 

grocery store.

NAMSA chose to use the prime vendor 

program to facilitate the menu changes at 

dining facilities on Kandahar Airfield.

 “The types of food catered more 

to the coalition units that were serving 

on Kandahar,” said Army Maj. Jason 

Fairbanks, operations officer for the 

Defense Logistics Agency Support Team, 

Kandahar detachment. “[Former] menu 

choices included roast lamb, pot roast, 

lentil salad, fresh fruits and vegetables, 

and European cereal choices. Desserts 

included cobblers, rice pudding, soft 

serve ice cream, etc.”

Fairbanks, deployed to Kandahar for 

the past six months, uses the DFAC daily 

and has been there for the menu renewal. 

The food that was served is the same 

quality as the food back at home, he said. 

The only difference is the transition to 

more American food choices.

The short-order bars in most DFACs 

now have options like pasta, personal 

pizzas, onion rings and chicken nuggets, 

which Fairbanks said are immensely 

popular with young service members. 

Other new menu selections include ribeye 

steaks, southern fried catfish, pepper 

steak and roast turkey, to name a few.

“My favorite food is Cajun, and I 

was surprised to see jambalaya on the 

menu, with authentic andouille sausage,” 

Fairbanks stated.

The biggest impact of the new menu 

was the addition of Baskin-Robbins ice 

cream, he added. For weeks leading up to 

the transition, general officers constantly 

asked him when the Baskin-Robbins ice 

cream would be available on the new menu.

The first deliveries of the new menu 

options began in early February. By 

April 1, troops deployed to Kandahar 

were enjoying a taste of home. 

“We have heard that the change has 

been positive,” Faso said. “Troops are making their way to these dining facilities now, 

since they are serving Americanized food.”

All menu changes in Kandahar are 

complete, and troops are feasting on the 

types of meals they desired, Faso said. 

DLA Troop Support officials are now 

working with NAMSA to begin a similar 

transition at facilities in the Kabul area. 

Deployed troops and civilians eat lunch inside

the Niagara dining facility at Kandahar Airfield,

Afghanistan. The Niagara is one of four dining

facilities on Kandahar that changed their menus

to serve more American-style food.

— Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Stephen Schester
18 www.dla.mil

SUSTAINING

THE MRAP

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND
Loglines l July - August 2011 19

Story by Beth Reece

R

ichard Curry trusted his life 

to a Mine Resistant Ambush 

Protected vehicle in 2008. 

Deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, as 

commander of 37th Infantry 

Brigade Combat Team, he and his Soldiers 

relied on the newly fielded vehicle during 

combat patrols and convoy escorts, 

while insurgents, as they had for years, 

continued attacking U.S. forces with 

small-arms fire, large-caliber machine 

guns and explosives. 

“I know this much, the MRAP gave 

my Soldiers the protection they needed 

to accomplish the mission and return 

home to their families. My own crew was 

engaged and took fire from crew-served 

weapons and [improvised explosive 

devices], and if not for the MRAP, I’m not 

sure I’d be here today,” Curry said.

He has since retired from the Army, 

but Curry so believes in the lifesaving 

power of the MRAP that he now works 

for Defense Logistics Agency Land and 

Maritime as a contractor with Cherokee 

Information Services and the senior 

program analyst for the MRAP program.

The Defense Department prioritized 

the fielding of MRAPs to units in Iraq 

and Afghanistan in 2007. Designed to 

shield occupants from enemy attacks, 

MRAPs come in 52 variants. The most 

recent is the MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle, 

or M-ATV, a smaller, lighter version 

that allows troops to travel off-road over 

Afghanistan’s rugged terrain.

DLA manages more than 40,000 line 

items for the MRAP and stocks about 

25,000 of them, said John Dreska, DLA 

Land and Maritime MRAP program 

manager. Dreska heads a team of 120 

government employees and contractors 

whose sole priority is to support repairparts sustainment for more than 13,000 

MRAPs fielded in Afghanistan and about 

1,500 used for predeployment training in 

the United States. 

“[In one week in May] alone we 

shipped more than $16 million in parts 

to support MRAPs. And since January 

2007, we’ve shipped over $1.7 billion in 

parts,” Dreska said. 

Weekly support of the M-ATV alone, 

he added, averages from $3 million to 

$4 million, with a high of more than $7 

million in a week.

HIGH READINESS RATES

Readiness levels for MRAPs in 

Afghanistan have remained at 94 

percent for more than a year, a feat 

Dreska and Jeff Gamber, deputy MRAP 

program manager, attribute to DLA’s 

early involvement with the MRAP Joint 

Program Office. That office is headed 

by Marine Corps Systems Command 

in Quantico, Va. DLA and the JPO also 

work closely with six original equipment 

manufacturers responsible for producing 

MRAPs, including Oshkosh Defense and 

Navistar Defense. 

“We got engaged in supporting lifecycle management of the MRAPs before 

provisioning even started,” Gamber said. 

“Normally, DLA doesn’t get involved 

until after the program management 

office has provided us a list of parts and 

asked us to buy the inventory. But in this 

case, we were buying parts to support the 

rapid rollout of MRAPs at the same time 

original equipment manufacturers were 

shipping them to customers.” 

DLA Logistics Information Service 

has also contributed to high readiness 

rates by assigning a national stock 

Army Spec. Joshua Tisdale, a mechanic with

1st Calvary Division, hooks up wires to the

starter while installing a new engine on a Mine

Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle in Iraq.

The Defense Logistics Agency manages more

than 40,000 line items for the MRAP.

Army Spc. Howard Alperin
20 www.dla.mil

number to each MRAP part so customers 

can easily order them through standard supply systems, Dreska said. And 

customers’ orders are quickly packed 

and shipped by distribution process 

workers at DLA Distribution facilities in 

Susquehanna, Pa., and Red River, Texas. 

“And from day one, we’ve had our 

guys embedded with the warfighter in 

theater to attend maintenance meetings 

and provide on-the-ground support,” 

Dreska said.

In Afghanistan, the five-member 

MRAP Surge Team is spread throughout 

Bagram and Kandahar airfields and Camp 

Leatherneck, where members work with 

nine regional support activities to help 

solve logistics issues before they become 

major problems, he added.

Duane Gross, a weapons system 

support manager from DLA Land and 

Maritime and team leader for the support 

team in Afghanistan, supports the 401st 

Army Field Support Brigade at Bagram 

Airfield. Most of the work he does involves 

arranging spare-parts support for battledamaged vehicles. 

Most battle-damaged MRAPs are 

repaired within one or two weeks, Dreska 

said, because DLA stocks high-demand 

parts at DLA Distribution sites in 

Kandahar and Kuwait.

“If they’ve got all the parts they need, 

they can have the vehicle back up in 15 

days. The goal is to have all the vehicles 

back up within 30 days,” Gross said, 

adding that he rarely hears a customer 

complain about missing parts.

BATTLE DAMAGE

Rugged terrain and improvised 

explosive devices have wreaked the most 

havoc on MRAPs. Damage to an MRAP 

variant called the Cougar, used primarily by the Marine Corps, required DLA 

to supply new axle and suspension kits. 

Dreska’s team and DLA Distribution’s 

James Whitney worked with vendors and 

David Harris, deputy commander of DLA 

Distribution Susquehanna, to get about 

88,000 parts shipped to Susquehanna. 

From there, they were shipped to a contractor for kit consolidation and airlift. 

“DLA Distribution Susquehanna 

did an outstanding job expediting these 

urgent shipments from the vendor 

to Force Protection Inc., performing 

the work directly on the dock with 

turnaround times of less than a day,” 

Whitney said. 

Marines with 8th Engineer Support Battalion,

1st Marine Logistics Group, travel in a convoy

of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles

through a bazaar in Marjah, in Helmand

province, Afghanistan.

 Marine Sgt. Brandon M. Owen

WORKING WITHIN U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND
Loglines l July - August 2011 21

The kits contain all the repair parts 

needed, Dreska added, so mechanics only 

need to attach the suspension and wire it. 

“Then the vehicle is off and running again.”

Demand is also rising for rocketpropelled grenade protection nets for 

M-ATVs. The Kevlar nets are used as 

add-on protection to stop RPGs from 

penetrating the vehicle’s armor. 

“We worked with the MRAP Surge 

Team in Afghanistan and the manufacturer to forecast the need for parts for 

these nets. We then bought the items 

and stocked them,” Dreska said, “Now 

we’re seeing increasing demands as nets 

are torn and as supply support activities 

begin stocking the parts locally.”

If vendors raise prices for specific 

parts too much, Dreska’s team will 

turn to the Rock Island Arsenal Joint 

Manufacturing and Technology Center 

in Illinois for help manufacturing the 

item in-house. For example, the center is 

currently building turret mounting plates 

for MRAPs because DLA had problems 

getting a reasonable price and delivery 

time from the original manufacturer.

“Rock Island Arsenal has projects on 

almost all the armor assemblies used on 

MRAPs. They’ve proven to be a valuable 

asset in our effort to achieve 10 percent 

cost reductions,” said Laverne Johnson, 

of DLA Land and Maritime.

Military units are so concerned about 

the sustainment of MRAPs that Dreska 

said his staff gets frequent requests for 

information before units deploy. 

“It’s a real testimony that we know 

the units we’re supporting before they 

even deploy to Afghanistan,” he said. 

“Just before the 310th Expeditionary 

Sustainment Command went downrange 

recently, they invited me to come out to 

Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., and brief 

them on the types of support we provide. 

That’s something you just didn’t see in 

the past. We also hosted the leadership 

team of the 4th ESC at DLA Land & 

Maritime before they recently deployed. 

Face-to-face exchanges go a long way 

toward building relationships over such 

great distances.”

The collaboration between DLA’s 

primary-level field activities, manufacturers, the joint program office and service 

components is also proof that defense 

and industry representatives are committed to saving warfighters’ lives, Dreska 

continued.

“The fact that we’ve worked together 

on every single issue that 

comes up, whether it be a distribution issue or a stock issue, 

is incredible,” he said. 

Army Brig. Gen. Darrell 

Williams, DLA Land and 

Maritime commander, said 

that cooperation is significant.

“This team effort to provide 

for the best possible protection for our troops is simply 

amazing,” he said. “I’m proud of the part 

our MRAP team in the DLA enterprise 

plays in this process.”

According to a September 2010 

story in USA Today, nearly 80 percent of 

roadside bomb attacks on Humvees from 

January 2009 through the end of July 

2010 killed one or all of the occupants. 

The figure dropped to 15 percent for 

attacks on MRAPs. 

“MRAPs save lives every day,” Curry 

said. “Providing everything Soldiers need 

to keep MRAPs fully mission capable is 

our job, and we take it very seriously.”

A Soldier drives a Mine Resistant Ambush

Protected vehicle during a convoy escorting

local resupply trucks in Afghanistan. The

MRAP is designed to shield occupants from

enemy attacks, and readiness levels have

remained at 94 percent for more than a year

thanks to the efforts of DLA Land and Maritime.

Army Spc. Brian Graves (left)

and Staff Sgt. Robert Scott of

8th Engineer Battalion connect

armor to a Mine Resistant

Ambush Protected vehicle at

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

The Defense Logistics Agency

works closely with customers

and manufacturers to forecast the

need for MRAP parts and quickly

source them.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark Burrell

Army Staff Sgt. Stephen Schester

pg18-21 MRAPs.indd 21 6/16/11 3
A Conversation with . . .

22 www.dla.mil

What are some of DLA’s new programs in Afghanistan to provide 

better support to troops in combat?

We’ve had a few big initiatives 

in Afghanistan over the past year. 

One that has just recently reached 

initial operational capability is 

the Theater Consolidation and 

Shipping Point, or TCSP. About 

a year ago, we were approached 

to see what we could provide at 

the operational and strategic level 

to help in the area of distribution, because our ground lines of 

transport were flooded with a lot 

of material and containers.

One important core competency of DLA Distribution is the 

TCSP. It allows us to take in material in commercial shipping containers and transfer it to government-owned containers that won’t 

incur any detention fees. This also 

allows us to get positive control 

of what we have. It provides a 

clearinghouse of sorts where we 

can validate that the addressee is 

still in theater and still requires 

the material before we move it on 

to its ultimate destination. 

We obtained the necessary 

real estate near Mazar-e-Sharif 

in the north, because there is an 

increasing amount of material 

coming in through the Northern 

Distribution Network. It is 

initially staffed by government 

employees, but it will eventually 

Col. Michael Bird

DLA Central Commander Discusses Recent Logistics Developments in Southwest Asia

be government-managed and 

contractor-operated. It will have 

an open yard that has material 

flowing in and out to help the 

equilibrium and velocity of supply 

movements on the ground lines 

of communication. We believe 

this will be extremely beneficial to 

our troops in Afghanistan. Up to 

now, the nearest similar operation 

was at Distribution Depot Kuwait, 

Southwest Asia, or DDKS.

A second significant enabler 

is the facility that started with 

our Defense Distribution 

Expeditionary Depot, or DDED. 

This is a deployable depot that 

can be set up in an austere environment to provide a warehouse 

capability close to the warfighter. Once the DDED got the 

operation started, it evolved into 

Distribution Depot Kandahar, 

Afghanistan, DDKA, which is a 

more enduring operation. They’re 

now building a permanent warehouse right there in Kandahar, 

near our new disposition yard. 

Army Col. Michael Bird

Defense Logistics Agency Photo
DLA Strategic Communications

Loglines l July - August 2011 23

We also have a helium transfill 

facility there, and Army Materiel 

Command is going to build a 

maintenance facility in the same 

vicinity. Having all of those in one 

place will definitely result in some 

synergy.

The third initiative is what 

we’re doing for the Afghan 

national security forces. We’re 

providing materials to the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers for the 

construction of numerous new 

facilities. The rolled steel and 

other construction items will be 

used to build Afghan national 

security forces bases throughout the country. That’s of huge 

importance because it gives them 

increased capacity to assume 

more responsibility for their own 

security.

Navy Vice Adm. Alan Thompson, 

DLA director, recently put out a call 

for the agency’s civilian workforce 

to volunteer for deployments, 

many of them to this area of 

responsibility. How crucial are 

those civilians in making sure DLA 

has the number of boots it needs on 

the ground to support warfighters?

The bottom line is deployed 

DLA team members are the glue 

that’s holding it all together. The 

way that DLA has really shown 

its colors in the past couple 

years is by virtually getting into 

the foxhole with the warfighter. 

Without the civilians who volunteer to do these things, we’d be 

undermanned. They’re the center 

of gravity, working through the 

warfighters’ problems. They’re 

coaching and mentoring warfighters to track items through the 

supply chain while ensuring that 

we get their requirements right. 

We just really couldn’t do what 

we’re doing without them. The 

resounding response to the director’s call shows you how dedicated 

the DLA workforce is, knowing 

those places are austere and very 

dangerous. To volunteer for something like that is phenomenal.

How did increasing the number of 

disposition hubs in Afghanistan 

from one to three enhance DLA’s 

ability to assist warfighters in 

shedding damaged or unneeded 

equipment?

In the beginning of our presence in Afghanistan, we were 

only in Bagram. That’s where 

our first disposition yard was 

located on a very small piece of 

land. We now provide disposition support in almost all of the 

regions in Afghanistan, with 

the yard in Bagram serving two 

regions, the east and the area 

around the capital. Putting two 

DLA Disposition Services yards in 

the south has been huge. There’s 

one right at the tip of the spear 

at Camp Leatherneck with the 

Marine Corps, along with the one 

I already mentioned at Kandahar. 

Having multiple disposition yards 

gives us operational flexibility 

and is a force protection measure 

because it keeps people off the 

roads. When we only had one 

location, people frequently had 

to travel over long distances. This 

expanded service takes those 

people off hazardous roads that 

are susceptible to the enemy’s 

improvised explosive devices. 

Another important disposition 

capability is getting our people 

out to forward operating bases 

and mentoring warfighters on 

how to give equipment back or 

demilitarize it. 

What were some of the challenges 

associated with the DLA 

Disposition Services’ mission to 

sort through eight years’ worth of 

equipment in Iraq and decide what 

to keep and what to get rid of?

The good news is that they 

had disposition yards established 

early on in Iraq. The challenge is 

not to rush. The chain of command of U.S. Forces – Iraq is 

really enforcing supply discipline. 

They’re making sure that what’s 

coming in to us is coded correctly. 

Something shouldn’t be coded 

unserviceable when it’s something 

we could get out to someone else 

to use. If it’s not coded correctly, 

it eats up more time and effort 

hunting down someone with 

expertise on a particular piece 

of equipment. We don’t want to 

needlessly destroy something. 

One of the big leaps we’re 

making is a newsletter in Kuwait 

that proffers up items to those 
A Conversation with . . .

24 www.dla.mil

who could use them. We know 

there are two nations out there 

where we’ve done nation building – Iraq and Afghanistan – and 

others we work with that can use 

some of this equipment to help 

their countries and their security 

forces.

With that mission largely complete, 

what are some of the other areas 

DLA is focusing on in Iraq?

We’re focusing on a huge 

inter-agency mission. When the 

State Department takes over, 

we want to provide some great 

enablers and our core competencies. We’ve been directed by the 

Office of the Secretary of Defense 

to provide that for the State 

Department. We’ll be providing 

subsistence, energy and disposition services to them for at least 

the first year after U.S. forces 

leave. We will stand them up in 

a logistics posture so that, after a 

year, they will have the contracts 

in place to do it on their own.

The Department of Defense 

will not just leave in December 

and say, “Okay, it’s yours.” We’re 

trying to do a “left seat, right seat” 

transition with State so they can 

have all the necessary pieces in 

place and we can find any bugs 

and work them out before we 

leave. The State mission there is 

extremely important, and we need 

to be at their side to help as much 

as we can.

When the time comes, what are 

some of the lessons learned from 

the drawdown in Iraq that will be 

valuable in Afghanistan?

The expeditionary disposal 

remediation teams and their 

ability to get out and be eyes 

and ears for disposition, coaching guys to do the job right and 

seeing what they have, have been 

hugely successful. I think one of 

the lessons we’ve learned is that 

we had redundant capabilities in 

Iraq with different entities doing 

similar things. We’re probably 

not going to have that ability in 

Afghanistan because of space 

and real estate constraints. We’re 

going to have to evolve into locations that do multiple activities 

because of space. We’re learning 

that you’ve got to start early. 

Equipment has to start flowing 

into depots to be reset. One thing 

we don’t want is to have aircraft 

and vehicles “dead-heading,” or 

coming back empty. There’s been 

a big push to find that valuable 

space to use for things we can get 

out now.

Warfighters are stationed throughout the region, not just in 

Afghanistan and Iraq. How does 

DLA make sure they have what 

they need to live and work wherever they are?

We have multitalented 

individuals – warfighter support 

representatives, or WSRs – who 

we try to sprinkle throughout 

other countries. These WSRs are 

permanent party. Although their 

initial tours are one to two years, 

we are often able to keep them 

longer. We have one in Qatar 

that services that country. He’s 

only one person, but he supports 

numerous organizations there, 

including Al Udeid Air Base 

and Camp As Sayliyah. We also 

have one in Bahrain at the Naval 

Support Activity. The Navy’s 5th 

Fleet, the most permanent U.S. 

military presence in the region, is 

there. Representatives from DLA 

Energy, DLA Distribution, DLA 

Disposition Services and DLA 

Troop Support are also there. And 

finally, even though we have had 

a DLA support team in Kuwait 

for the duration of Operation 

Enduring Freedom, a warfighter 

support rep is also positioned 

there for the long term.

Is there anything else you’d like to 

talk about?

It’s really all about teaming, 

partnering and collaborating 

with each other across the DLA 

enterprise. DLA is quite large, but 

there’s nothing better than being 

forward in a tactical position and 

knowing you can reach back to 

27,000 people you can depend 

on to stop what they’re doing and 

help you day or night. That’s a 

great feeling. Even here in [U.S. 

Central Command Headquarters, 

in Tampa, Fla.] knowing I can 

reach out to any of the primarylevel field activities and get what I 

need is a great feeling. 
Loglines l July - August 2011 25

DLA NewsWire DLA Strategic Communications

fficials at DLA Distribution Hill, Utah,

are consolidating existing warehouse 

space and converting unused processing 

areas into storage space to meet goals set 

forth by the 2005 Base Realignment and 

Closure legislation.

“Prior to BRAC, the upper processing 

level of the warehouse was used primarily 

for the receipt of material, packaging 

of material, and office space,” said Kyle 

Swaner, a distribution facilities specialist 

at DLA Distribution Hill. “Much of the 

conveyor and other systems used to 

process the material were not being used 

to their greatest potential. ”

BRAC projects at Hill included tearing 

out and removing unused conveyors, 

reconfiguring and consolidating the 

receiving process and packaging area, 

installing a streamlined overhead conveyor 

system, installing a new dimension and 

weigh system, removing several old break 

rooms, and constructing a single multipurpose break and training room. It also 

included installing new pallet and package 

racks, and installing energy efficient 

lighting in the rack locations. 

DLA Distribution Hill, Utah, Works to Complete BRAC Goals

The reconfiguration and consolidation 

resulted in the availability of about 

56,000 more square feet, including about 

34,000 square feet for pallet racks, 7,500 

square feet for package racks, and 15,000 

square feet for a walk-to-pick area.

“The walk-to-pick area houses small, 

fast-moving items and is adjacent to 

the receiving and packing area, which 

maximizes efficiencies in storage and 

distribution of these items,” Swaner said.

The new overhead conveyor system 

allows the entire area to be connected 

without taking up valuable floor space 

and eliminates the need to walk an item 

from one area to the next.

“Centralizing storage with the other 

distribution functions will allow us to 

generate 70-80 percent of our daily 

issue workflow from the same building,” 

Swaner said.

— Jessica Roman

DLA Distribution Public Affairs

2011 Department of Defense 

Maintenance Symposium & Exhibition

www.sae.org/dod

November 14–17, 2011 • Fort Worth Convention Center • Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Achieving Readiness through Effi ciency and Effectiveness in Maintenance Operations

P110796

Administered by

for the U.S. Department of Defense

Key issues to be addressed at the Symposium include:

• Gaining effi ciencies in Department of Defense maintenance operations

• Responding to rapid acquisition sustainment challenges

• Exploring public & private sector roles in DoD’s maintenance industrial base

P110796 DOD Symposium Horz Ad.indd 1 5/10/11 4:52 PM

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

O
26 www.dla.mil

SHORE TO SHIP

Story by Jonathan Stack

T

hink of them as the Navy’s 

personal overnight delivery 

service. Defense Logistics Agency 

Distribution’s material processing 

centers located across the globe sort 

and stage material destined for Navy ships.

MPC employees break the material 

down by storeroom or other delivery 

locations on a ship prior to delivery.

“If an item is earmarked for a 

storeroom, we’ll have it broken down 

by storeroom, and if it’s earmarked to 

be turned directly over to a division on 

the ship, then we break it down in that 

manner,” said Tim Bailey, manager of the 

largest MPC in Norfolk, Va.

DLA Distribution’s management of 

this function alleviates work for Sailors, 

said Dave Olenick, a DLA Distribution 

supply management analyst. 

“When they get back from overseas 

deployments, they can spend more time 

with their families and perform other 

tasks aboard ship,” he said. 

It also allows DLA to provide a critical 

customer service to the Navy, Bailey said. 

“That customer service allows Sailors 

to perform other missions,” he said. 

DLA Distribution MPCs combine 

A helicopter delivers supplies to the

amphibious assault ship USS Essex. DLA

Distribution material processing centers

break material down before being delivered

to ships.

— Photo by Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Ryan Smith

26 www.dla.mil

T
Loglines l July - August 2011 27

material in the most convenient manner 

for Sailors, he said.

“We allow the Sailors ... to schedule 

their workload, and they can do that 

by selecting specific delivery times and 

dates,” Bailey said.

Material flowing through the MPCs 

includes helicopter blades, engine 

parts, aircraft parts, combat system 

parts, weapon system parts, general use 

supplies, hazardous material and medical 

material. MPCs deal with all DLA supply 

chains except for subsistence and fuel, 

Bailey said. 

“We process a lot of transactions,” he 

said. “[We processed] $1.4 million worth 

of transactions last year.”

Prior to DLA taking on the duty of 

sorting and staging material, shipments 

were delivered directly to ships, and 

Sailors broke them down.

 “Then the Navy said they wanted to 

come up with a smarter way of doing it, 

move that work off the ship and provide a 

more streamlined and customized sort,” 

Olenick said.

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Martin Cuaron

In 2001, the Navy was running its 

own form of the processing center, and 

DLA Distribution used that system when 

it first took on the mission, he said. 

“Then we ... expanded the functionality 

into the Distribution Standard System in 

2007,” he said. 

DSS is the information technology backbone for DLA Distribution. It is an automated 

information system that manages all functional business processes of DLA’s warehouse 

operations: receiving, storage, consolidation, 

packing, shipping, inventory, inspection and 

workload management. Adding MPC functionality to the system improved processing 

and operational efficiencies, Olenick said.

Once key data elements — such as the 

supplementary address, transportation 

priority, project code, document number 

series and coded special requirements — 

were added to DSS, it allowed for sorting 

to be systematically performed by identifying requirements based on a customer’s 

request, he said. 

“It provides customized ‘sorts’ for the 

ships so [Sailors] can take the material 

right to the specific location onboard,” 

he said. 

Once material has been processed 

through an MPC, a material manifest and 

receipt-in-process file of the items on the 

manifest can be provided to ships that 

request them. 

“We’ve reduced the receipt processing 

time by giving them electronic files, 

which will allow the Sailors to upload this 

material into their database and process 

1,000 receipts in a matter of minutes,” 

Bailey said. “If they had to do it manually 

it’d take a significant amount of time. “

Navy personnel use the RIP file to 

upload each document to process the 

receipt, which reduces the manual effort, 

improving material processing and 

allowing Sailors to take charge of the 

material sooner.

MPCs allow Sailors to not have to be 

onshore processing and sorting material 

coming off trucks, Bailey said.

“If you had that happening, no work 

would get done, because they would be on 

the pier all day receiving trucks,” he said.

Navy Lt. Eric Musial

Material is stacked on pallets in the DLA

Distribution material processing center in

Norfolk, Va. MPCs located across the globe

sort and stage material destined for Navy ships.

U.S. Sailors receive supplies on the USS

Whidbey Island while in the Mediterranean

Sea. Prior to going to the ship, material flows

through DLA Distribution material processing

centers. MPC supplies include helicopter

blades, engine parts, aircraft parts, combat

system parts, weapon system parts, general

use supplies, hazardous material and medical

material.

pg26-27 Shore-to-Ship.indd 27 6/16/11 3
28 www.dla.mil

Customer Satisfaction

the opportunities resulting from this 

customer interaction and record these 

opportunities in CRM,” said Stephen 

DiRico, DLA Troop Support Pacific, 

Hawaii Area Office deputy chief. 

The information is useful in 

determining which programs can be used 

and applied to similar organizations with 

similar missions, he said. DLA personnel 

who interact with customers use the four 

CRM process areas: customer outreach, 

opportunity management, account 

management and service management. 

“Customer outreach is DLA’s process 

for marketing and outreach efforts 

to ensure investments are prudent 

by prioritizing the events that DLA 

attends,” then DLA Strategic Plans and 

Policy Director Jeff Curtis wrote in a 

D

efense Logistics Agency employees 

have a tool that will help put 

customer relationships at the 

forefront of the agency’s efforts. 

Since 2007, the Customer 

Relationship Management Program has 

supported DLA’s customer engagement 

activities, using a database to improve 

information sharing enterprisewide, 

which improves stewardship and 

increases the efficacy of support to 

warfighters.

For example, a team of forward 

logistics specialists who meet and work 

directly with customer organizations 

in DLA Pacific’s area of responsibility 

use the database to keep the rest of the 

agency aware of opportunities there.

“Their focus has been to identify 

memorandum about the program. “It 

appropriately coordinates resources 

and tracks outcomes to better focus the 

agency’s future efforts.”

The first process documents 

customer interactions, such as speaking 

engagements, trade shows and seminars, 

across the agency, said Michael Singer, a 

DLA management analyst.

 “Once you engage customers, 

you have a potential lead that can be 

developed,” he said. “Leads are entered 

into the tool and then processed over 

to subject matter expert cells through a 

process we call opportunity management.”

In opportunity management, those 

cells evaluate the lead and determine if 

the agency should pursue further interaction, he said.

Story by Jonathan Stack
Loglines l July - August 2011 29

“The opportunity management process 

provides the framework for gathering 

information and tracking activities around 

encouraging a customer to do business 

with DLA, as well as tracking activities 

after a customer has decided to do 

business with DLA,” Curtis said. 

This process can be generated from 

a lead obtained through a customer 

engagement activity or created directly as 

an opportunity from an immediate sales 

interaction, he said.

“Opportunity management is a key functional area allowing you to organize your 

sales processes from the initial sales lead 

to the close of the sale,” DiRico said. “It can 

help you keep your sales team on track by 

giving it a defined sales process and access to 

important sales-related information.” 

The third process, account management, 

documents and tracks customer needs, 

stakeholders and supporting initiatives.

“The account management process 

consists of gathering and consolidating 

customer information, creating an 

account plan, executing the plan, and 

measuring and [communicating] results,” 

Curtis said.

Throughout the account management process, the success of an accountfocused approach hinges on customer 

input generated from CRM processes 

across the agency, he said.

Service management captures, tracks 

and responds to customer inquiries.

“The service management process 

involves lifecycle documentation of 

customer interactions from initial contact 

through to final resolution,” Curtis said. 

“This process provides a consistent 

approach in addressing customer requirement-driving efficiencies and quality 

control in customer service.”

Customers with issues or new 

requests can call the Customer 

Interaction Center in Battle Creek, Mich., 

which is staffed every day, Singer said.

“We average, across the enterprise, 

39,000 customer contacts a month, and the 

CIC handles 92 percent of those,” he said. 

 The CIC documents all incoming 

customer contacts. Its goal is to provide 

customers with the most accurate information quickly during their first interactions, Curtis said. 

“The use of all four areas across the 

agency enables larger-scale documentation of customer requirements and 

issues,” he said. 

Curtis said this provides shared data 

enterprisewide, enabling more analysis and 

a better understanding of customer needs. 

“This deeper understanding will aid 

in the development of more refined and 

more unified strategies to meet customer 

priorities and expectations,” he said. 
30 www.dla.mil

Money Matters

Improving

Oversight

Story by Sara Moore

DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Alan 

Thompson announced this spring the 

establishment of the DLA Office of the 

Inspector General, which will unify and 

focus audit and investigative oversight 

functions throughout the agency. 

The standup of the DLA IG comes in 

response to a peer review by the Defense 

Department Office of the Inspector 

General that found DLA’s previous audit 

structure to be too decentralized and not 

conducive to the enterprise approach the 

agency promotes.

“Based on my first assessment, I 

realize that we as an agency weren’t 

necessarily collecting all the risks that 

we identified through our different 

reviews and putting them 

together in some sort of cohesive fashion so that the enterprise senior leaders 

are deciding what areas are the most 

risky,” said Simone Reba, deputy director 

of DLA Finance, who is serving as the 

interim inspector general. 

To correct this problem, Reba said, 

the agency is consolidating all enterpriselevel audits under the DLA IG and keeping local management reviews under the 

internal review offices at each field activity. Previously, the DLA Accountability 

Office served as the agency’s oversight 

organization. It had no formal 

oversight or control 

over local internal 

“If we do a little

self-reflection, it’s

going to save us in the

long run, not only with potential

fraud, waste and abuse, but [it will]

also [help us] to be more efficient with our

resources.”

— Simone Reba

nternal reviews and audits are tools 

that businesses of all sizes use to 

help avoid financial risk, increase 

efficiency and improve operations. 

As it processes thousands of contract 

actions each day and serves military 

members around the world, the Defense 

Logistics Agency is taking steps to 

improve its accountability and 

oversight functions to ensure 

good stewardship of taxpayer resources. 

I
Loglines l July- August 2011 31

Money Matters DLA Strategic Communications

Loglines l July - August 2011 31

DLA Strategic Communications

review offices, but 

asked them to work on 

enterprise-level audits as 

well as local issues. This led to 

some confusion and problems with 

the auditing process.

“Having the DLA IG stood up 

establishes a single entity to quickly 

get in place the enterprise policies and 

procedures and audit formats required to 

pass the Defense Department Inspector 

General peer review,” said Fred Baillie, 

DLA chief of staff. “It also retains the 

capability for the local commanders to 

have internal review offices to do things 

that are important and key to the local 

commander but that do not necessarily 

require the scope and depth of a formal 

audit.”

The first actions of the DLA IG were 

to separate and consolidate the employees who perform enterprise-level audits 

and those who perform internal reviews, 

Reba said. Once that was accomplished, 

the DLA IG was able to ensure centralized 

training, policies and execution of audits 

and then put policies in place to correct 

the deficiencies found by the DoD IG. 

To help inform the DLA IG of 

possible problem areas that may 

need review, the agency will use the 

enterprise risk management process. 

This process assesses findings from 

management reviews, audits and 

external factors to identify areas with 

the highest levels of risk, Reba said. It 

will be used for local internal reviews as 

well as IG audits, she said.

“This ERM process should really 

help us figure out what is the most 

important thing to work on, so that 

way we can make sure we’re getting 

the biggest bang for our buck, not 

only for audits but for all of our self 

assessments,” she said. 

The initial short-term goal of the 

DLA IG was to take the corrective actions 

needed to ensure a clean follow-up peer 

review by the DoD IG office, Reba said. 

But having a centralized oversight organization will reap many benefits for the 

agency, she added. Taking a hard look at 

areas of potential risk and putting actions 

in place to prevent that risk will help the 

agency avoid money-draining problems 

like fraud.

“If we do a little self-reflection, it’s 

going to save us in the long run, not only 

with potential fraud, waste and abuse, 

but [it will] also [help us] to be more 

efficient with our resources by doing it 

right up front instead of having to do a 

lot of correction on the back end when 

someone else tells us we have a problem,” 

Reba said. 
32 www.dla.mil

We are DLA

DLA Strategic Communications

ince the Base Realignment and 

Closure 2005 legislation was 

passed, Defense Logistics Agency 

Aviation’s work force has increased 

by more than 1,400 civilian and 

military personnel in 19 locations. Many 

of these team members work alongside 

warfighters to provide weapon systems 

management, industrial retail supply, and 

strategic acquisition support. 

DLA Aviation employees support 

more than 1,300 major weapon systems 

and manage 1.3 million aviation repair 

parts and operating supply items.

The We Are DLA campaign went 

a long way in helping DLA Aviation 

employees who transferred from jobs 

with the military services understand the 

broad scope of the agency’s operations. 

DLA Aviation officials are now working to 

expand the organization’s relationships 

with other DLA activities. For example, 

DLA Aviation’s Industrial Plant 

Equipment Division has joined forces with 

DLA Document Services in Norfolk, Va., to 

improve access to equipment manuals. 

DLA Document Services is scanning 

and converting more than 76,500 pages 

and 192 industrial equipment drawings 

into an electronic document management 

system, said Keith Beebe, director of 

corporate communications for DLA 

Document Services. 

“Instead of having to work with hard 

copies, the project will 

allow DLA Aviation IPE 

to have quicker access to 

their documents, including 

search capability, 

improving their workload 

processes,” he said.

DLA Document 

Services is also working 

with DLA Aviation 

in Oklahoma City to 

digitalize documents related to 

parts processing and receipt, 

said Air Force Col. Richard 

Schwing, DLA Aviation 

commander in Oklahoma City. 

Currently more than 400,000 

forms are generated yearly.

“Digitalizing forms to 

allow for electronic online 

searches will significantly 

improve logistics efficiency 

and performance and save 

storage space across 23 DLA 

Aviation shop services centers 

at Oklahoma alone,” Schwing said. “DLA 

Aviation is currently evaluating the 

proposal and determining the potential 

scope of implementation.”

Reducing its warehouse footprint and 

storing materials where warfighters need 

them are two of the ways DLA Aviation 

is working with other DLA activities to 

reduce costs, he said.

In 2009, DLA Distribution worked 

with DLA Aviation in Oklahoma to move 

the F-110 engine kit building process 

from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Tinker 

Air Force Base, Okla. Tinker is the depot 

source of repair for these engines.

Bill Lederer, a DLA Aviation logistics 

management specialist in Oklahoma, 

worked closely with officials from 

DLA Distribution Oklahoma City and 

the Air Force’s F-110 Engine Program 

Management Office.

By Cathy Hopkins

WE ARE

DLA AVIATION

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class

Dustan Holloway inspects

radio frequency cables on an

EA-18G Growler aircraft. DLA

Aviation ensures parts for aircraft across the services are

readily available.

Cathy Hopkins is a writer for DLA Aviation Public Affairs.

Navy Seaman Billy Ho

Navy Seaman Apprentice Brian Read Castillo

S
Loglines l July - August 2011 33

“My thoughts were if the kits are 

being managed and used at Tinker, they 

should be built here,” he said. “Regardless 

of where the kits are built, the cost to build 

is the same, but by moving the point of 

build, we get better asset visibility and cut 

customer transportation costs.”

Terry Phillips, the kitting production 

controller at DLA Distribution Oklahoma, 

agreed with Lederer. He said the move was 

in line with DLA Director Vice Adm. Alan 

Thompson’s three focus areas: Warfighter 

Support Enhancement, Stewardship 

Excellence and Workforce Development. 

DLA Aviation continually looks at 

its processes and methods to improve 

performance. One way it does that is by 

sharing knowledge and joining forces 

with other experts.

DLA Aviation works with the DLA 

Office of Operations Research and 

Resource Analysis to customize critical 

decision support analysis that assists 

in decision making and developing 

concepts and models used in analyzing 

DLA Aviation’s needs, said Jean Parrish, 

DORRA’s chief of logistics business 

process reengineering

DORRA developed an enterprise cost 

model called the Vendor Stock Retention 

Model that assists DLA Aviation in 

comparing government or private sector 

stocking and delivery of materials to 

determine the financial impact on supply 

chain performance, she said.

“DLA Aviation relies on DORRA’s 

analytic expertise in developing material 

acquisition business case analyses to 

assess risk, cost and performance for new 

sourcing strategies, contract renewals and 

option year approvals,” Parrish said.

DORRA analysts also provide DLA 

Aviation with metrics and data analysis 

support. Recently, DORRA built models 

Navy Seaman Gladys J. Domingo assembles

a front tire for an aircraft tow tractor. DLA

Aviation’s cooperation with the agency’s other primary-level field activities ensures parts

get to warfighters as quickly as possible.

identifying the dependent relationship 

of DLA Aviation metrics to simulate 

notional scenarios identifying the impact 

one metric’s change could have on 

another, she said.

To improve DLA Aviation sales and 

operations planning, DLA Aviation 

employees, along with contractors from 

Accenture, developed an S&OP metrics 

tracker tool, said Kent Ennis, DLA 

Aviation’s S&OP division chief.

“Knowledge and use of the tool is 

being shared across the enterprise,” 

Ennis said “We are working with DORRA 

to assess the tool, which requires several 

days to run each month, and manual file 

distribution. DORRA is looking to identify 
DLA Strategic Communications

34 www.dla.mil

We are DLA

alternative data streams and processes to 

improve monthly execution of the tool and 

the possibility of converting the tool to a 

Web-accessible database.”

DLA Aviation has also teamed with 

DORRA on a business case analysis using 

an advanced-release concept to reduce 

production lead time for a supplier, 

Parrish said. 

“The concept determines the amount 

of investment required if there is a request 

to have a supplier produce items early 

to meet demand dates at specific performance levels,” he explained. “This kind 

of analysis may help in financial management to determine if the requirement is 

affordable before decisions are made.” 

The concept has been used in the past by 

the Air Force for procurement of depot-level 

reparables, said Paul Wind, DLA Aviation’s 

Strategic Acquisition Directorate’s sourcing 

strategy branch chief. 

“We’re considering its potential 

inclusion in follow-up joint opportunity 

contracts as existing corporate contracts 

expire,” he added.

“DORRA’s efforts help DLA Aviation 

identify alternatives,” said Jesse 

Wilkinson, chief of DORRA’s Technical 

Support Team. “We present the pros and 

cons so that decision makers are 

better able to make informed 

business choices.”

One of the least-known groups 

of commodities managed by DLA 

is geospatial intelligence products, 

which include maps, charts and publications, said Kevin Bettis, Mapping Customer 

Operations deputy division chief.

“DLA Aviation’s Mapping Customer 

Operations Division has a uniquely symbiotic relationship with DLA Distribution 

Mapping and DLA Logistics Information 

Service, he said. “These organizations 

coordinate daily to accomplish the 

mapping mission for military services 

worldwide and played a major role in 

humanitarian relief efforts in Japan, 

Haiti and Indonesia.”

DLA Aviation is responsible for 

supply chain management of 85,000 

mapping products and 6,600 customers in the armed services, other federal 

agencies and NATO. DLA Distribution 

Mapping is responsible for distribution 

and manages nine map support offices 

that provide over-the-counter support to 

warfighters around the world. The DLA 

Logistics Information Service assigns the 

national stock numbers and produces the 

electronic catalogs.

The three activities demonstrated the 

critical collaboration between them during a recent joint exercise, Bettis said.

“U.S. Central Command wanted to 

test how quickly National Geospatial 

Intelligence Agency and DLA could 

produce brand new hard-copy maps and 

deliver them to deployed warfighters,” he 

said. “DLA was able to get the maps to 

CENTCOM’s area of responsibility within 

30 days from the time the exercise started 

with a request for new maps to warfighter 

receipt of maps.” 

Bettis said the required actions 

engaged all DLA activities in the supply 

chain, from initial requirement to assignment of national stock numbers, product 

creation, printing and distribution. 

“Both NGA and DLA received accolades from CENTCOM for the timelines 

and the efficiency in which the maps were 

produced and delivered,” he said. 

A Soldier checks the oil in a UH-60 Black

Hawk helicopter. DLA Aviation supports more

than 1,300 major systems and manages 1.3

million aviation repair parts and supply items.

A Navy Sailor studies an area map

to prepare for a vertical replenishment of a ship in the Pacific Ocean.

DLA Aviation manages geospatial

intelligence products, which include

maps, charts and publications.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Josh Huebner

Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Shapiro
Loglines l July - August 2011 35

UNIFORMS

Story by Beth Reece

Photos by Air Force Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III

rieving loved ones sometimes leave messages on a playroom 

chalkboard at the Air Force facility where fallen warfighters await 

transfer to their final resting place. “Son, we love you and will miss 

you always,” wrote one parent. “I miss you, Daddy,” wrote a child.

“It really hit me, reading those words. It was heart wrenching, but also reminded me how important our mission really is,” said Gary 

Colello, director of customer operations for DLA Troops Support’s Clothing 

and Textiles Division. 

Colello and five other DLA Troop Support employees provide uniforms, 

rank insignia and other military decorations for every service member 

whose remains are processed for burial at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs 

for the Fallen

Loglines l July - August 2011 35

Air Force Staff Sgt. Charles Bell, a mortuary technician at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs

Operations Center at Dover Air Force Base, Del., walks through rows of military service

dress uniforms that are stored there for every rank and size. The uniforms are provided

by DLA Troop Support.

G
36 www.dla.mil

Operations Center at Dover Air Force 

Base, Del. The facility is the only Defense 

Department mortuary that conducts dignified transfers of fallen service members.

Soon after remains arrive at Dover, 

mortuary technicians measure the body 

for the dress uniform the service member will be buried in. Jamarys Diaz, a 

customer account specialist at DLA Troop 

Support, ensures Dover has at least one 

dozen dress uniforms for men and half a 

dozen for women in the most used sizes 

for each service branch on hand. 

“In terms of coats, they tend to keep 

regular sizes and do in-house alterations 

when needed. But we stock enough sizes 

here that we can easily meet the request 

for uniforms outside of that range,” Diaz 

said, adding that DLA Troop Support 

usually requires 24 hours to a few days to 

Army Spc. Xavier Gonzalez snips a thread

off a uniform shirt at the uniform shop of the

Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center.

Gonzalez prepares uniforms for fallen Soldiers’

remains.

Army Spc. Noel Rivera, a mortuary affairs

specialist, inventories U.S. Army unit badges

from a wall of military uniform items DLA Troop

Support keeps fully stocked with every U.S. Air

Force, Army, Marine, Navy and Coast Guard

badge, patch, ribbon or decoration.

36 www.dla.mil

pg35-37 Mortuary Spt.indd 36 6/16/11 3
Loglines l July - August 2011 37

turn around special uniform requests. 

Diaz received such a request in March, 

when Army Staff Sgt. Miguel Deynes 

called asking for Army green trousers 

in sizes 48, 50 and 52. Unique sizes like 

these are sometimes needed to fit on a 

deceased service member’s body, which 

can be swollen or disfigured, she said. 

To accommodate the urgency, Diaz 

alerted pattern makers before the electronic order arrived and contacted the 

vendor to see if the company could meet 

the deadline. When the order arrived, she 

hand carried it down the hall to pattern 

makers and the buyer. The patterns were 

ready to be delivered to the vendor for 

manufacturing that day.

“When we have a request like that, it’s 

a heck of an effort on our vendors’ part, 

too. It costs money for them to hold down 

production lines, and yet they produce 

whatever we need in the small window of 

opportunity,” Colello said. 

Providing the right size is important 

because mortuary affairs specialists will 

spend hours doing minor alterations, 

sewing on patches, clipping loose strings 

and pressing the uniform, he added. 

“If the fallen Soldier is 6 feet tall and 

weighs 170 pounds, it would look out of 

proportion to use a coat that fits somebody much larger,” he said. “However 

that Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine 

looks in that uniform, their families will 

remember them that way for the rest of 

their lives.”

Dover officials check with the military’s National Personnel Records Center 

to determine what awards fallen service 

members are entitled to, then follow up 

with unit leaders to see if there were any 

posthumous promotions or battlefield 

awards not included. 

“We want to make sure that if an 

individual has earned a Purple Heart or 

Bronze Star, it gets put on their uniform,” 

Colello said. “The staff at Dover depends 

on us to supply these decorations.”

The five DLA employees who handle 

the Dover mortuary affairs account 

visited the facility in March to strengthen 

their rapport with the staff and check the 

effectiveness of their support.

“I visited the facility two years ago 

as an intern, but this second trip made a 

world of difference in how I view my job,” 

Diaz said. “Seeing the level of detail they 

take makes me want to continue providing them with the best service I can.”

The visit led to subsequent help from 

DLA’s master tailors as the Dover staff 

determined new equipment needs for 

in-house tailoring.

“We’re very fortunate that we have 

master tailors who’ve been around for a 

very long time designing military clothing, so we sent two of them down to help 

figure out the staff’s needs and see what 

type of machinery would be the best fit 

for them,” Colello said. 

Colello’s team and Dover officials 

share mutual respect and admiration for 

the work they do to honor fallen service 

members. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy 

Toro, noncommissioned officer in charge 

of Dover’s uniform section, said in a 

recent letter to DLA Troop Support that 

the agency’s help makes it possible for 

his team to prepare flawless uniforms for 

fallen comrades.

“Thanks for being there for us and for 

making our job a lot easier,” he wrote. “We 

consider the DLA staff part of our team for 

the dedication and high level of importance they place on our requirements.”

Colello said that letter illustrates the 

importance of his team’s task. “That’s our 

job,” he said. “We’ll do everything we can to 

help honor any service member who gives the 

ultimate sacrifice for their country.”

DLA Troop Support and mortuary affairs

specialists at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs

Operations Center work closely to ensure

dress uniforms for fallen service members are

impeccable and include all the military decorations an individual is entitled to.

Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Knebler, Marine

liaison for the uniforms section, hangs Marine

service dress uniforms into inventory. DLA Troop

Support ensures the Dover Air Force Base, Del.,

mortuary facility has at least one dozen dress

uniforms for men and half a dozen for women

in the most-used sizes for each service branch.

“We consider the DLA staff part of our team for the dedication

and high level of importance they place on our requirements.”

— Army Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy Toro

Loglines l July - August 2011 37

pg35-37 Mortuary Spt.indd 37 6/16/11 3
I AM

My name is:

Navy Chief Petty Officer Robert A. “Chip” Tunstall III

I am:

The detachment commander for DLA Disposition Services at

Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.

Describe your job in a sentence:

I oversee and manage an expeditionary disposal remediation

team, which removes battle-damaged equipment from the battlefield in support of Marine Corps and Army units.

How long have you worked for DLA?

Since January 2011. I am a mobilized reservist.

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA?

It’s an exciting organization that meets the needs of our

warfighters.

What is your best memory of working for DLA?

Being able to support warfighters by helping them

remove scrap and battle-damaged military hardware from

the warfront, thereby reducing the need for convoys to

accomplish that same task.

How do you make a difference to warfighters?

By supporting them with the help of local national contractors, we reduce the need for convoys to remove those

items, which lets them concentrate on taking the fight to the

enemy.

Robert A. Tunstall III