ENERGY SOURCE NERGY SOURCE

Defense Logistics Agency Energy efense Logistics Agency Energy

October 2013 ctober 2013

COAL • ROCKET FUEL • HELIUM

UNIQUE

COMMODITIES
One year after my first introduction to you, e year after my first introduction to you, 

and I couldn’t be more thrilled with DLA nd I couldn’t be more thrilled with DLA 

Energy and how it has received a non-fuelie, nergy and how it has received a non-fuelie, 

former end user as a commander and transformed ormer end user as a commander and transformed 

me into your advocate to DLA, the services and the e into your advocate to DLA, the services and the 

Defense Department as a whole. efense Department as a whole.

Going into my next year, the senior leaders and I oing into my next year, the senior leaders and I 

are looking forward to continuing to build on the re looking forward to continuing to build on the 

foundation of absolute success and support to the oundation of absolute success and support to the 

warfighter we’re known for. We are deliberately arfighter we’re known for. We are deliberately 

developing our civilian workforce to give them eveloping our civilian workforce to give them 

opportunities to go out into the field and become pportunities to go out into the field and become 

the next regional deputy commanders and LNOs, he next regional deputy commanders and LNOs, 

and bring them back after their tours to capitalize nd bring them back after their tours to capitalize 

on their expertise. We’re also looking forward to n their expertise. We’re also looking forward to 

seeing our Energy Convergence and audit readiness eeing our Energy Convergence and audit readiness 

efforts move from the planning and rollout stages to fforts move from the planning and rollout stages to 

fruition in the next several years. ruition in the next several years.

Shifting gears to the theme of this edition of the hifting gears to the theme of this edition of the 

magazine, we can’t say enough good things about the agazine, we can’t say enough good things about the 

unsung heroes of DLA Energy. These are the folks nsung heroes of DLA Energy. These are the folks 

who put in the long hours either behind the scenes to ho put in the long hours either behind the scenes to 

make sure we meet the services’ specifications or on ake sure we meet the services’ specifications or on 

the ground in the regions making big things happen he ground in the regions making big things happen 

side by side with our customers doing reviews and ide by side with our customers doing reviews and 

facilitating support. acilitating support.

2 www.energy.dla.mil

Front cover graphic by: Jonathan Stack

Back cover: Idella Fletcher

Commander

Air Force Brig. Gen. Giovanni Tuck

Deputy Commander

Mike Scott

Chief of Staff

Army Col. Peter Crean

Public Affairs Offi cer

Irene Smith

Editor

Jonathan Stack

Writing Staff

Terry Shawn

Susan Lowe

Christopher Goulait

Layout/Design

Jonathan Stack

Address correspondence to:

ATTN: DLA Energy-DCA

8725 John J. Kingman Rd.

Suite 4950

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6222

Commercial: 703-767-4108

Address email to:

EnergySourceMagazine@dla.mil

Energy Source is an offi cial publication distributed by and for the Defense Logistics 

Agency Energy and fuel-oriented clientele. Contents of this publication are not 

necessarily the offi cial views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, Department 

of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency or Defense Logistics Agency Energy. 

Energy Source is prepared by desktop publishing applications. 

Photos not credited are courtesy of DLA Energy sources.

from the commander

Energy Source

lications.

.

Brig. Gen. Giovanni K. Tuck, USAF

Defense Logistics Agency Energy

We highlight the amazing work our chemists, quality e highlight the amazing work our chemists, quality 

assurance representatives, liaison officers and ssurance representatives, liaison officers and 

contract officer representatives do in this magazine, ontract officer representatives do in this magazine, 

but those are really just the tip of the iceberg ut those are really just the tip of the iceberg 

when talking about our teams who do unbelievable hen talking about our teams who do unbelievable 

things, but aren’t always in the limelight. Our Direct hings, but aren’t always in the limelight. Our Direct 

Delivery folks can put a contract in place in a foreign elivery folks can put a contract in place in a foreign 

country in a snap and our Installation Energy and ountry in a snap and our Installation Energy and 

Aerospace Energy units are experts with many our erospace Energy units are experts with many our 

non-petroleum products, just to name a few more. on-petroleum products, just to name a few more.

Sometimes things don’t get noticed until they go ometimes things don’t get noticed until they go 

wrong, and I think that speaks a lot about why our rong, and I think that speaks a lot about why our 

unsung heroes are “unsung,” since they can always nsung heroes are “unsung,” since they can always 

be counted on to do what’s needed. And for all of e counted on to do what’s needed. And for all of 

DLA Energy, you represent 5 percent of DLA’s entire LA Energy, you represent 5 percent of DLA’s entire 

workforce, but generate nearly half of the agency’s orkforce, but generate nearly half of the agency’s 

budget. Appreciate that statistic, because that makes udget. Appreciate that statistic, because that makes 

everyone on the DLA Energy team a hero. veryone on the DLA Energy team a hero.

DLA Energy Command Air Force Brig. Gen. Giovanni Tuck 

addresses a business unit about the potential sequestration 

impact to the workforce. Photo by Christopher Goulait
Energy Source nergy Source l October 2013 ctober 2013 3

CONTENTS 4 Aerospace

10 Coal 0 Coal

14 Waste to Energy 4 Waste to Energy

20 Wood Pellets 0 Wood Pellets

22 Petroleum Training

24 Petroleum Repository 4 Petroleum Repository

26 Fuel for Iraqis

31 One Face 1 One Face

A

Unique Commodities nique Commodities

P l

Energy

We Are DLA e Are DLA

A Marine safety wires a fuel control dust cover on a CH-53E Super Stallion 

helicopter’s engine. The dust cover protects both alpha and beta cables required 

to control the speed and power distributed throughout the aircraft allowing it to 

maneuver. Photo by Lance Cpl. Robert R. Carrasco
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support

4 www.energy.dla.mil

When it comes to handling unique commodities 

for Defense Logistics Agency Energy, it is hard 

to fi nd a more effi cient, all-encompassing operation than that of DLA Energy Aerospace Energy in San 

Antonio.

Does your requirement list include JP-10 missile propellant for Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles? Or hydrazine to 

mix with dinitrogen tetroxide for use as a bi-propellant to 

steer a satellite in space? Need 25,000 cubic feet of helium 

gas to lift an Army reconnaissance/

surveillance aerostat delivered to a 

remote location in Afghanistan? Or 

perhaps a delivery of 2,500 gallons of dinitrogen tetroxide 

and monomethylhydrazine to propel, maneuver and dock 

your space craft in the zero gravity of space?

For these products and more, DLA Energy’s Aerospace 

Energy business unit is the one-stop procurement business unit.

“From going to war to going to outer space, DLA 

Energy’s Aerospace Energy does 

it all,” said DLA 

By Terry Shawn
Energy Source l October 2013 5

Energy Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Giovanni Tuck.

With a customer list that includes the Department of 

Defense, NASA, the Department of Energy, all the services 

and local, state and foreign governments, DLA Energy 

Aerospace Energy is unique in that no one procures the 

same commodities – all of which are considered hazardous materials – for the federal government, the warfi ghter, 

commercial entities and universities.

“Helium used to support the U.S. Army’s Operation Enduring Freedom aerostat program, providing forward operating locations with ‘eye in the sky’ watch capability, is all 

contracted by our DLA Energy Aerospace Energy team,” 

Tuck said. 

“Our aerospace workforce also provides outstanding support to NASA and the U.S. Air Force by procuring liquid 

rocket and missile fuel as well as propellants to support 

space, based launch assets,” the DLA Energy commander 

added. 
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support nique Commodities

6 www.energy.dla.mil

Getting into space

As authorized by the Commercial Space Launch Act, 

signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, DLA 

Energy supports commercial space launches, such as those 

conducted by private industry’s Space X, Orbital Science 

and United Launch Alliance. These companies are 

supported with products like high purity hydrazine for the thrusters of the Atlas V, Delta II and 

IV, Antares and Falcon 9 rockets; components to 

maneuver and dock a rocket’s payload in space and 

liquid helium and gaseous nitrogen for ground support.

“Every U.S. satellite in orbit today is carrying fuel provided 

by DLA Energy,” said DLA Energy Aerospace Customer 

Facing Chief Ken Grams. 

The business unit provides products such as dinitrogen 

tetroxide, monomethylhydrazine, monopropellant hydrazine, high purity hydrazine and even xenon, which is used 

to enable satellites to alter or correct their course in space.

“The mission here is an exciting one. [Recently], the 

United Launch Alliance put a rocket in space that carried 

a payload for the National Reconnaissance Offi ce that 

launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., with 

DLA Energy Aerospace Energy-procured fuel,” said DLA 

Energy Aerospace Energy Supplier Division Chief Doug 

Smith. 

“The work done here is important, exciting, and supports 

the national defense,” Smith said. 

The San Antonio-based business unit also provides propellants for the new Wallops Island, Va., launch facility, 

the launch range supporting the Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket, and as authorized by the Commercial Space 

Launch Act, and procures components for Purdue University’s testing program for potential new thrusters.

And they deliver

“Transportation management is a huge part of what we 

do,” DLA Energy Aerospace Energy Logistics Management 

Specialist Charlene Smoot said.

Regular deliveries are not practical because of the hazardous nature of the commodities and their use, especially for 

An aerostat technician connects cables to the bottom of an aerostat in Afghanistan. The DLA Energy Aerospace Energy team contracts helium to be used to support the U.S. Army’s Operation Enduring Freedom aerostat program.

Photo by Army Sgt. Brent Powell
Energy Source l October 2013 7

space launches and special programs. The commodities 

require a variety of specialized transport and handling 

requirements. 

DLA Energy Aerospace Energy’s transportation management specialists must ensure carriers have the right 

certifi cations, licenses and background checks. They must 

also ensure carriers are properly equipped for and follow 

special transportation requirements for the products and 

programs they are supporting. Equipment and requirements could include satellite tracking, escorts and dual 

drivers so the hazmat vehicle does not have to make stops 

along the route, Smoot said.

The business unit’s delivery capabilities were put to the 

test as they sought to support the warfi ghter and helium 

programs in the Middle East, where no resource for the 

component was readily available.

Helium: Keeping the eye in the sky

DLA Energy Aerospace Energy began supplying the U.S. 

Central Command’s area of responsibility with bulk helium in 2003 when the fi rst aerostats deployed in support 

of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

The Army and Navy use DLA Energy-procured helium 

for a number of programs that use lighter-than-air aerostats. These aerostats, which are similar to the commercial 

blimps seen every football season over stadiums around 

the country, are used in forward operating bases for battle 

intelligence gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance and 

communications purposes.

However, there was no natural source for helium in Iraq or 

Afghanistan.

The need for bulk helium for the aerostats used by the 

Army’s Persistent Ground Surveillance System forced DLA 

Energy Aerospace Energy transportation specialists to create and reinvent the helium supply chain in Afghanistan. 

The fi rst deployable liquid-to-gas helium conversion 

facility inside Afghanistan was established in October 

2010. This one-of-a-kind transfi ll station was designed to 

decrease the dependency of airlifted gaseous helium.

The San Antonio team continued, however, to explore 

ways to deliver this component to the warfi ghter in the 

Middle East. 

August 2012 marked the fi rst time two large bulk containers of the liquid helium product were airlifted at the same 

time into the region. 

After offl oading, the containers traveled to DLA Energy’s 

helium defense fuel support point, where the liquid was 

Sailors prepare to load a Tomahawk land attack missile 

onto the USS Michigan. DLA Energy Aerospace Energy 

personnel procure JP-10 missile propellant for Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles. Photo by Navy Seaman Apprentice Samuel Souvannason
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support nique Commodities

converted into gaseous helium for use by the Army’s intelligence, surveillance reconnaissance aerostat program.

Once the containers of liquid helium were on the ground 

and after re-introducing a liquid nitrogen cooling blanket 

into the container to surround the liquid helium, the 

product becomes more stable and can be stored for 

a month or more as the liquid product is converted 

to a gaseous state, explained Dan Lerma, DLA 

Energy Aerospace Energy Customer Support 

branch.

The product received with this delivery 

produced more than a million cubic feet of 

gaseous helium.

“It got us out of an immediate bind, but 

for a long term sustainment, that was 

not the way to go,” Lerma said. 

Lerma said she viewed it as a short 

term solution, but was not cost effective for the amount of product they 

8 www.energy.dla.mil

Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris, U.S. 4th Fleet commander, observes the Raven Aerostar team 

launch a TIF-25K Aerostat for use during Operation Martillo counter-transnational organized 

crime operations. DLA Energy procured-helium is used in aerostats. The services use aerostats 

for battle intelligence gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications purposes. Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Ashley Hyatt
were expecting.

Not all helium programs supported by 

DLA Energy Aerospace Energy are as 

challenging as helium operations in 

Afghanistan, but they are not immune 

to challenges such as the worldwide 

shortage of helium.

Regarding the helium shortage, which 

according to the Bureau of Land 

Management’s website will continue 

through 2013, Gram said, “It’s been a 

challenge, but we’ve been able to work 

around it.” 

Other special programs requiring 

helium from DLA Energy’s Aerospace Energy business unit 

include research and development 

programs conducted by the military 

services.

The Department of Homeland Security uses aerostats for border surveillance, drug interdiction and TV and 

radio signal reception and transmission which are kept aloft by DLA 

Energy-procured helium.

At the Army Research Labs in Aberdeen, Md., DLA Energy provides 

helium for the lab’s research with the 

cold spray process to repair damaged 

aluminum helicopter masts with the 

use of a commercial, fi eld portable 

cold spray system capable of 

restoring dimensions of 

corroded or badly worn 

components, resulting 

in repairs that would 

be considered fl ight 

worthy. 

Along with support to space and 

weather programs, the San 

Antonio-based 

business unit 

provides helium 

for a number of 

Air Force projects 

including laser 

effect research, 

which tests the high energy laser devices; plasma spray plating and repair 

for aircraft engine parts and helium 

plant support to enable the Air Force 

to test equipment for leaks before 

sending it into space.

“This small team in San Antonio, Texas, is responsible for global operations 

and we couldn’t be more proud of 

Sharon Murphy [former DLA Energy 

Aerospace Energy Supplier Division 

chief], Doug Smith and Ken Grams 

and all of Aerospace Energy for carving a niche and making themselves 

indispensable to the warfi ghter and 

other federal governmental agencies,” 

Tuck said.

DLA Energy’s Aerospace Energy leads 

the way in procuring requirements for 

various Department of Defense, federal and private industry customers 

and their assorted missions that may 

range from research and development, rocket and missile propulsion, 

navigation, missile defense, surveillance/reconnaissance, maintenance 

and life support, Grams said. 

“And when the requirement calls for 

the safe delivery of these hazardous 

products, Aerospace Energy will get 

these exotic and often rare materials to their destinations as promised 

to help ensure mission success,” he 

added.

Energy Source nergy Source lOctober 2013 October 2013 9
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support

By Christopher Goulait

Coal’s large role in energy generation may not make 

it a unique product, but a contracting process 

tailored to match a customer with the exact type of 

coal they need sets it apart from business as usual at the 

Defense Logistics Agency Energy.

Customers’ equipment, locations and requirements, along 

with coal variation depending on its source makes coal 

contracting a matching game heavy on interaction between customers and vendors.

Between nine facilities in the continental U.S. and three in 

Alaska, each location has its own needs, explained Charles 

Tiggs, DLA Energy Installation Energy’s Coal and Consulting Services branch division chief.

“Each customer’s specifi cation for their coal is different, 

which sets coal aside from fuel or natural gas,” Tiggs said. 

“For example, with Malmstrom Air Force Base [Mont.,] 

we euphemistically call their coal ‘gold-plated coal’ because their requirements are so stringent that we get very 

few offers in.”

The Malmstrom base can only accept a very specifi c type 

of coal because of their equipment, but other installations 

are more fl exible in what they can use, he continued.

“Everyone has their own unique specifi cations,” Tiggs 

said. “The age and conditions of the power plants and 

boilers are what really drive the unique specifi cations of 

the coal.”

There can be quite a few specifi cations for any given 

contract, said Joanie Brickhill, DLA Energy Installation 

Energy’s Coal Program lead.

She explained that requirements can include sizing, moisture maximums, ash maximums and minimums, volatile 

matter minimums, sulfur maximums and BTUs, and each 

state’s Environmental Protection Agency offi ce has strict 

sulfur standards that must be met. Mercury and chlorine 

levels are also new requirements, with many locations 

already testing for those levels now.

“The strictness of a requirement in terms of specifi cations 

is going to affect the level of competition we get,” Brickhill 

said. “The stricter the requirements, the fewer offers are 

received.”

“It’s not a straightforward and neat process,” Tiggs added. 

“The reason I say that is some customers want their coal 

washed. Some customers we have to apply freeze conditioning to minimize coal dust. Sometimes we have to go 

through three different conveyances just to get the coal to 

its destination.”

“While it may not sound like it’s a lot to go from barge to 

rail to truck, if you have force majeure conditions like a 

river freezing in the winter, it’s hard for the customer to 

get their coal,” he said. “If we don’t pre-plan, we would 

have some major problems with our customers being able 

to complete their missions.”

Coal’s properties make that planning an intensive process between DLA Energy, the customer and the vendor, 

Brickhill said.

“In a coal mine, coal is in different seams under the 

ground,” she said. “One seam could be different than 

another that is miles away. For example, coal mines out in 

Colorado often have lower sulfur, higher BTU content, but 

here closer to Appalachia, we have higher sulfur.”

“Coal is its own little animal,” Tiggs added. “There’s no 

one source we’re going to use and buy to meet all of our 

customers’ needs. Sometimes it may require blending coal 

from several different mines to meet customer requirements, and that’s labor intensive and expensive. Coal also 

tends to break down if it’s out on the ground too long or in 

transit.”

When variations in the coal or changes in transit 

result in a customer receiving a different 

product than requested, DLA Energy 

can work with the customer and the 

vendor to help.

Sometimes a customer will report 

they received a coal 

shipment where 

the fi nes, or 

coal dust, 

were 

10 www.energy.dla.mil
Energy Source l October 2013 11
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support nique Commodities

A stockpile of coal maintained by the base power plant at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. In the event of coal delivery 

disruption, such as a natural disaster or a mine strike, the power plant maintains a stockpile of coal. Photo by Air 

Force Airman 1st Class Rachel Walters

too high, or the moisture content 

was off, Brickhill said. DLA Energy 

can work with the customer and the 

vendor to negotiate a price reduction 

for that shipment and ensure the customer doesn’t pay full contract price 

for that lower-quality coal.

Negotiations between customers and 

suppliers aren’t just limited to offspecifi cation deliveries.

12 www.energy.dla.mil ww.energy.dla.mil
“Coal is also a fairly customer interface-intensive program 

because of issues arising from shipments, equipment, 

quantity or quality adjustments or warmer or cooler than 

expected temperatures,” Tiggs said. “A warmer than expected winter can result in the customer needing sometimes as much as a third less coal, so we have to try and 

re-negotiate. The customer interface between us and the 

customers is extremely heavy then.”

Unpredictable seasons are 

an example of why DLA Energy tries to strike a balance 

between defi nite quantity 

and requirements-based 

structures in contracts, 

Brickhill said.

Tiggs said some contracts 

previously required that 

80, 90 or 100 percent of the 

contracted amount of coal 

be guaranteed to be used, 

which is ideal for vendors. 

Customers, however, want 

the fl exibility to use anywhere from 0 to 100 percent. 

“We’ve had to reduce some of those defi nite quantity 

percentages down to something that was equitable and fair 

to both parties,” Tiggs said. “We have some people who 

would say they do have a 100 percent requirement, but 

others are lower depending on what they feel their particular needs are.”

DLA Energy’s involvement with coal continues past the 

contracting process when it comes to amounts of coal customers have and use.

“Because of transportation and supply challenges that 

we have, we carefully monitor each customer’s stock on 

a monthly basis,” Brickhill said. “Each month, we want 

to know how much they’re burning, how much they have 

stockpiled and what their burnout dates are. We monitor 

that so we can stay ahead of the curve and make sure these 

customers have adequate 

supply and that we’re never 

caught off guard with an 

emergency buy.”

“We don’t wait for them to 

come to us to tell us when 

their stockpile is low; we 

monitor their usage through 

the duration of the contract,” Tiggs said. 

That kind of cradle-to-grave 

service comes with each 

coal contract DLA Energy 

awards, Tiggs said.

While there is some give and take between coal and natural gas contracts to best meet facilities’ energy heating and 

generation needs, Tiggs said coal is still the most abundantly used utility source in the U.S. and will continue to 

be a part of DLA Energy’s energy support portfolio.

Brickhill agreed, and said with the changing requirements, 

the program is still evolving. Clean coal initiatives are driving customers to make sure they’re burning a cleaner coal, 

and DLA Energy will continue to support their needs in 

the future.

“Coal is its own little animal. 

There’s no one source saying this 

is what we’re going to use and buy 

to meet all of our customers’ needs. 

Sometimes it may require blending 

coal from several different mines to 

meet customer requirements.”

Charles Tiggs DLA Energy Installation Energy’s Coal and Consulting Services Branch Division Chief

Energy Source nergy Source lOctober 2013 October 2013 13

Graphic by Christopher Goulait
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support nique Commodities

14 www.energy.dla.mil ww.energy.dla.mil
Waste to fuel aste to fuel

By Amanda Neumann, DLA Public Affairs

Military forward operating bases generate large 

amounts of solid waste, 

including everything from kitchen scraps to packaging. A new research and development project is 

helping Defense Logistics Agency 

Energy turn that waste into 

fuel. The mobile 

wasteto-liquid-fuel project, developed in conjunction with the 

Community Power Corporation, has produced a prototype 

system that can extract 40 gallons of fuel from a ton of dry 

waste. 

“We wanted to develop a mobile system that could be applied to FOBs overseas to take advantage of any type of 

carbonaceous waste, such as paper, plastic, cardboard and 

wood, they regularly generate,” said Lindsey Hicks, DLA 

Energy chemist and strategic energy program manager. “It’s 

not only a waste management system for them, but it also 

produces enough usable fuel to supplement DLA Energy’s 

deliveries to those FOBs, easing some of the burden of getting fuel to those locations.”

The project is one of several the agency procured 

using funds from the 2009 American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 

Hicks said.

 A front loader deposits trash into the compactor unit at a solid waste transfer station in 

Kirkuk, Iraq, in November 2009. A new waste management prototype aims at helping reduce waste at forward operating bases by turning it into liquid fuel, easing the burden of 

DLA Energy’s fuel deliveries. Photo by Michael Scheck

Energy Source nergy Source lOctober 2013 October 2013 15
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support nique Commodities

16 www.energy.dla.mil

“Originally the project was a cooperative effort ... for the Army, but the 

project fell through,” he said. “Once 

we had ARRA funds, we applied 

them to the new effort and put out a 

competitive statement of work for a 

bid. CPC won, and we had a contract 

signed in September 2010. Although 

the CPC waste-to-fuel study was our 

only project developed in-house that 

was covered by ARRA funding, there 

were four procurement contracts for 

fuels derived from algae oil that were 

also funded through ARRA.”

Although the waste-to-liquid-fuel 

process is unique, the quest to explore alternative waste management 

options is not a new one, said Jeanne 

Binder, strategic energy analyst and 

former research and development 

program manager in DLA Energy.

“CPC had done previous work with 

the Army converting waste to synthetic gas and to energy, like electricity, but this DLA Energy project was 

specifi cally [designed] to take that 

technology and modify it so that we 

could produce a fuel we can use in 

the battlefi eld environment,” she 

said. “To be able to go from doing 

a simple waste-to-energy [conversion] to making a fuel wasn’t simple, 

but it was feasible. To do that, they 

built additional modules for the fuel 

conversion.”

In developing the prototype, which 

can produce about 25 gallons of fuel 

per day, DLA Energy and CPC had to 

consider several factors, such as size 

and mobility.

“The method CPC uses is the most 

viable way to do it,” Hicks said. “Although the process is open technology, the confi guration CPC uses is 

proprietary, so we had to look at the 

overall cost of development and the 

type of materials we could work with, 

like if it could handle many types of 

material or only one or two. Plus the 

size of the module being developed: 

Could it be handled by base personnel or did it require technical experTh

e Wa

s

te

-to

-L

i

q

u

i

d-Fu

e

l Pro

c

ess The Waste-to-Liquid-Fuel Process

Different types 

of waste material are properly dried and 

compressed 

into small pellets (briquettes) 

before being 

passed to the 

biomass gas production module. 

Briquettes are 

heated to 700-

900 degrees 

Celsius, converting them 

to a synthetic 

gas of carbon 

monoxide and 

hydrogen.

Waste Processing aste Processing

Biomass Gas Production iomass Gas Production

LiquiMax iquiMax

LiquiMax Support iquiMax Support

Through the use 

of the FischerTropsch process, 

the synthetic gas 

is converted into 

liquid hydrocarbon fuel that can 

be processed into 

gasoline, diesel or 

jet fuel.

After being 

cooled and 

distilled in the 

fi nal module, 

the resulting 

liquid fuel is 

complete in a 

usable state.
Energy Source l October 2013 17

“CPC had done previous work with the Army converting 

waste to synthetic gas and to energy, like electricity, but this 

DLA Energy project was specifically [designed] to take that 

technology and modify it so that we could produce a fuel we 

can use in the battlefield environment. ”

Jeanne Binder

Strategic Energy Analyst and Former Research and Development Program Manager

Fuel extracted from a new mobile waste-to-liquid-fuel prototype will run generators like this one at forward operation 

bases worldwide. The prototype is a smaller scale of other alternative fuel initiatives that use municipal solid waste 

generated by local and state governments. Photo by Kingsbury Browne

tise to handle it?”

Housed at CPC’s Littleton, Colo., 

facility, the prototype consists of four 

modular containers. The fi rst, the 

waste processing module, is known as 

the drier. It ensures the waste, such as 

wood chips, walnut shells or cardboard boxes, is dried properly, then 

sends it to a compressor where it’s 

compressed into small pellets called 

briquettes.

“Even though the materials [in the 

demo] wouldn’t be particularly what 

you would fi nd overseas, the main issue is the ability to pelletize different 

types of waste materials into a form 

that can be handled by the system,” 

Hicks said. “You don’t want to use 

too much food waste, because when 

you have too much water involved, 

the oxygen in the water interferes too 

much during the conversion. But this 

basically simulates what you would be 

doing overseas once you would apply 

this system.”

After they are pelletized, the briquettes 

are passed to the second module, 

the biomass gas production module. 

There, at operating temperatures 

of 700 to 900 degrees Celsius, the 

briquettes are converted to a synthetic 

gas made up of carbon monoxide and 

hydrogen. In a regular waste-to-energy 

project, that gas would go directly into 

generators to produce energy. Instead, 

the gas goes onto the next module, 

called “LiquiMax.” This module uses 

the Fischer–Tropsch process, a set of 

chemical reactions, to turn the gas into 
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support nique Commodities

18 www.energy.dla.mil

a liquid fuel.

“Basically we’re heating the material without combustion 

in the presence of controlled oxygen under pressure,” said 

Jose Maniwang, engineer and strategic energy program 

manager in DLA Energy. “The carbon and the hydrogen 

separate out, and you’re producing two gasses: carbon 

monoxide, which is carbon and oxygen, and straight 

hydrogen gas. This mixture of gas can be used as a fuel 

or can be processed under the Fischer–Tropsch system 

to produce a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, which is what we’re 

doing. Depending on how you mix those [gases] together, 

you can come up with the proper fuels you need, whether 

it be gasoline, diesel or jet fuel.”

The last step, the LiquiMax support module, contains a 

compressor and liquid fuel distillation subsystem that 

cools the liquid fuel, making it usable.

“We’re not producing a whole lot of fuel, not the large 

amounts to fl y planes or to operate convoys of vehicles, 

because this is a mobile system,” Hicks said. “You want it 

at a scale where you can get it in and out in a fairly rapid 

pace, so it’s producing relatively small volumes. This is 

basically a smaller scale of other alternative fuel initiatives 

that use municipal solid waste generated by local and state 

governments. In fact, the fuel produced will mostly be 

used just for generator operations, but it beats trucking in 

the additional fuel.” 

During CPC’s six-month demonstration phase, the module 

was tested for its ability to produce small amounts of fuel 

from three types of waste, with hopes that the fuels produced could meet the commercial specifi cations of the fuels 

they are meant to replace, Hicks said. 

“The results were positive; everything passed,” he said. 

“They were able to produce samples of commercial [aviation] fuel and commercial diesel fuel. Those samples were 

tested by our contractor lab in San Antonio, and we’ve sent 

the [results] to CPC for their review and input. Now we’re 

just waiting on CPC to develop their fi nal report.”

As for now, any plans for the program to move from an 

R&D project into a program of record, with further production and deployment, depends on the military services, 

which will be able to access the report through the Defense 

Technical Information Center, Binder said. 

“DLA doesn’t have the ability to create a program of record 

for this equipment; the services have that ability,” she said. 

“With a lot of our research that involves systems, we share 

the data from our research with the military services and 

then they decide whether they want to pick it up and move 

forward with it or not. We’re a facilitator for them in a 

way.”

FORT DRUM

By Amanda Neumann

To further support the advancement of the 

Army’s renewable energy goals, DLA Energy 

issued a competitive request for proposal for 

biomass power to be delivered to Fort Drum, 

N.Y., home of the 10th Mountain Division. 

Under a long-term power purchase agreement, 

the RFP included a requirement for the design, 

installation, test, commission, operation and 

maintenance of an on-site or contiguous biomass generation facility that can deliver at least 

100,000 megawatt hours of electric energy annually. As an alternative to the on-site biomass 

power requirement, the RFP also included a 

request for the 10-year supply and transmission of electricity generated from other renewable energy facilities. DLA Energy is currently 

reviewing and evaluating proposals. 
Energy Source l October 2013 19

With the major developments of biodiesel and ethanol in 

recent years, DLA Energy is no stranger to the procurement 

of alternative fuels, Binder said.

“DLA Energy has been procuring alternative fuels for 

quite a while for the military services to meet their Energy 

Policy Act of 2005 goals, which started the big push to buy 

the alternative fuels we have,” she said. “But [earlier fuels] 

required a different type of infrastructure to handle them, 

and only certain engines can burn them. These next generation fuels, the advanced ‘drop-in’ replacement biofuels 

and alternative fuels, can be burned without any modifi cations. They’re used in blends with petroleum, and the end 

user doesn’t notice a difference. Eventually, once these fuels 

are certifi ed and able to be produced in suffi cient quantities, they have the potential to become competitive with 

petroleum.”

With promising results and a need to explore alternative “greener” fuels, DLA Energy plans to support several 

initiatives aimed at fi nding the best fi t for the military 

services, Binder said.

“A lot of different services are looking into alternative energy using waste, algae, alcohol to jet, etc.,” she said. “There 

are a lot of different ways, especially depending on the type 

and nature of the feedstock, to do that. Although biomass 

fuels are not new, they’ve been evolving. I think you’ll 

see these advanced alternative fuels become increasingly 

available over the next fi ve, 10, 20 years. Most, but not all, 

emit less greenhouse gasses, so they’re environmentally 

friendlier. They’ll never 100 percent replace petroleum, 

but some of their sources, like crops, are more sustainable, 

renewable and well managed. For me, working with R&D 

projects, it’s an eye opener. It’s amazing technology.” 

A new mobile waste-to-liquid-fuel system turns unusable waste materials, such as pallets, carboard and plastic, into 

fuel for forward operating bases. Developed by DLA Energy and the Community Power Corporation, the system was 

procured using stimulus funding. Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Sharon Singer
Unique Commodities Warfighter Support

I

n a departure from traditional 

energy procurement, Defense Logistics Agency Energy Installation 

Energy broke new ground last year 

when employees awarded the fi rst ever 

contract for wood pellets to the Coast 

Guard. 

The DLA Energy Installation Energy 

team awarded a one-year contract for 

1,000 tons of premium wood pellets to 

supply the Coast Guard at Air Station 

Sitka, Alaska, to be used in base facility heating systems in July 2012. 

Wood pellet fuel is a renewable, 

clean-burning biomass product 

made of renewable substances – 

generally recycled wood waste. 

The fuel is used in a variety of 

settings and applications, such 

as home heating appliances 

and large scale boilers in 

commercial operations.

“This is the fi rst contract 

a new energy commodity new energy commodity

By Irene Smith

20 www.energy.dla.mil ww.energy.dla.mil
for biomass fuel that DLA has ever awarded,” said Charlie 

Tiggs, DLA Energy Installation Energy Coal and Service 

Contracts division chief. “Initially, we did a lot of research 

into biomass, which is a combination of scrubs, leaves and 

twigs. We had to understand the industry, sources and 

specifi cations of wood pellets in regards to current boiler 

systems and current retooling for equipment changes. 

Once we understood the overall program, we then had to 

develop a suitable acquisition strategy.”

The switch from heating oil to wood pellets is the result of 

cost saving measures instituted by the Coast Guard.

Located on a remote island accessible only by boat or 

plane, Air Station Sitka is surrounded by mountainous terrain, unpredictable severe weather and vast distances between fuel caches and landing sites. The Coast Guard civil 

engineering unit in Juneau, Alaska, discovered through 

research that wood pellets offer a substantial cost savings 

over oil heat. 

“While the effort is relatively small scale for DLA Energy, the [Coast Guard] projects a 28 percent savings or 

$128 thousand a year based on our negotiated contract 

rate,” said DLA Energy Installation Energy Director Pam 

Griffi th. “[DLA Energy]Installation Energy exercised the 

option year [Aug. 21] under its small business contract 

with Alaska Pellet Supply for [Coast Guard] Sitka’s next 

wood pellet shipment scheduled for delivery in November 

2013.”

The pellets are sourced from British Columbia, Canada, 

where they are packaged and loaded into water tight shipping containers, delivered by barge to coastal Alaska communities, then loaded into delivery trucks for fi nal destinaEnergy Source nergy Source lOctober 2013 October 2013 21

tion to the customer’s storage silos.

Plans are underway for the Coast Guard to install similar 

installations in Ketchikan and Kodiak, Alaska.

The biomass procurement with the Coast Guard has been 

very successful and has led to other projects, Tiggs said. 

“As a result of our success with the Coast Guard, a second 

pilot program has been initiated with the General Services 

Administration who is looking at using biomass to heat 

the federal service building and courthouse in Ketchum, 

Alaska,” Tiggs said. “We established the requirements and 

have made the contract award for GSA.”

Wood pellets represent a unique market for DLA Energy, 

said Joan Brickhill, DLA Energy Installation Energy team 

lead and acquisition specialist. 

“When we fi rst started procuring wood pellets, the cost 

was $338 per delivered ton,” Brickhill said. “We researched the requirements in concert with the DLA Energy 

quality assurance representative and went out to fi nd the 

vendors and sources to satisfy the Coast Guard’s requirements. We were able to identify a premium product that 

was a higher quality than a traditional biomass product 

and we were also able to utilize a small business vendor to 

procure the pellets. A ton of wood pellets now costs about 

$200 per ton.” 

Wood pellets are produced by taking wood waste byproducts and refi ning them into pencil-size pellets that are uniform in size, shape, moisture, density and energy content. 

“I am enthusiastic about expanding thr DLA Energy customer base,” Brickhill said. “A new commodity is exciting 

and it’s a challenge to buy new products. It is exciting to be 

on the forefront of a new endeavor like this.”
Defense Logistics Agency Energy personnel and 

other members of the joint bulk petroleum community who are interested in enhancing their joint 

petroleum training may now participate in a newly reinvigorated training initiative.

“The Bulk Petroleum Component Steering Group comprised of senior leaders within DLA Energy, the Joint 

Staff, the military services, and the combatant commands, 

sanctioned a new joint training initiative,” said Doug 

Thomas, program manager for DLA Energy’s Executive 

Agent offi ce. “The CSG initiative is designed to ensure the 

continuation of the highly-skilled petroleum workforce in 

the future.” 

“Most personnel coming into the petroleum community come through the broader logistics career fi elds and 

are trained in the petroleum career fi eld,” Thomas said. 

“Training opportunities are available for enlisted personnel and offi cers, federal government employees and 

contract support personnel.” 

Training opportunities are not limited to petroleum offi cers, he added.

“Anyone interested in broadening their professional skill 

sets is encouraged to take advantage of every training 

opportunity available, and that includes petroleum offi cer 

training,” Thomas said. 

The Joint Staff Director for Logistics Air Force Lt. Gen. 

Brooks Bash highlighted the importance of maintaining 

a highly competent offi cer cadre in the Defense DepartBy Susan Lowe ment petroleum and energy positions in an April 24, 2012, 

memo to the combatant commanders, the military services 

and DLA Energy.

“As senior logistics leaders, we must all work to develop 

joint logisticians to meet the Joint Force petroleum capability our nation will need in 2020,” Bash wrote. “Recent 

experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan emphasize the need 

for skilled logisticians to manage the $20 billion DoD 

annual petroleum business outlined in the 2012 Joint 

Petroleum Strategic Plan.”

Bash recommended fuels offi cers take the DLA Energy 

Overview course, the Joint Petroleum Training course and 

attend the Joint Petroleum Seminar.

“Professional military education commensurate to his/her 

rank and Joint PME Phase II should be completed prior 

to assignment as a joint petroleum offi ce chief or DLA Energy regional command operations offi cer,” Bash added.

The DLA Energy Overview course is held regularly at DLA 

Energy headquarters located at Fort Belvoir, Va. 

The Joint Petroleum Training Course is a free online petroleum training course developed in modules to familiarize individuals with joint petroleum planning, controlling, executing and operating. The course can be found at 

http://jko.jten.mil. 

The Joint Petroleum Seminar is held once a year at DLA 

Energy headquarters. 

The purpose of the petroleum seminar is to gather joint 

petroleum offi cers throughout the DoD, both incoming 

and incumbent, and expose them to several days of high 

level briefi ngs, discussions and exerReinvigorated Petro einvigorated Petro

22 www.energy.dla.mil
cises with the intent of 

further expanding their 

professional petroleum 

knowledge, Thomas said. 

“Since the DLA Energy Overview and the Joint Petroleum 

Seminar are held in the Washington, D.C., area, this presents a great opportunity for Washington, D.C., assigned 

personnel to attend with minimal to no 

expense,” he added. 

These career-broadening opportunities are important, 

Thomas continued. 

“Training, and a commitment to training, is absolutely 

critical since DLA Energy, both by Joint Staff doctrine and 

Offi ce of the Secretary of Defense policy, has the Executive 

Agent responsibility to manage the bulk petroleum supply 

chain from source of supply through acceptance of the 

product or service by the customer,” he said. 

Echoing that same commitment to training, DLA Energy 

Deputy Commander Mike Scott recently stated in a blog, 

“As I have said in the past, I am hugely supportive of all 

the training programs DLA offers, and I know Brig. Gen. 

Tuck feels the same way. These programs are the foundation for our future leaders; I know they were for me. And 

more importantly, by completing a training program and 

being the best YOU that you can be, you’ll be able to better 

support the warfi ghter, which after all, is why we’re here 

doing what we do every day.”

In addition to the three career-broadening opportunities 

highlighted above, additional training can be found at the 

following link: https://www.hr.dla.mil/resources.

roleum Training eum Training

Energy Source l October 2013 23
The Defense Logistics Agency Energy provided the 

joint petroleum community a new tool in June that 

makes use of lessons learned.

Using the Department of Defense Joint Lessons Learned 

Information System, which is the automated solution 

implementing the intentions of the chairman of the Joint 

Chiefs of Staff, DLA Energy designed and implemented the 

Class IIIB Joint Lessons Community of Practice.

The new repository is for community members to post and 

review petroleum, oil and lubricants lessons learned from 

a joint petroleum perspective. 

There are four primary categories for each of the military services, the joint community and DLA Energy. The 

four categories include contingencies, humanitarian 

assistance/disaster relief, after action reports and major 

exercises.

“The repository is a very user-friendly platform that gives 

us the ability to share knowledge gained from individual 

experiences anywhere across the globe so the entire [petroleum] community may benefi t from all joint petroleum 

lessons learned,” said Doug Thomas, Executive Agent 

program manager. 

The repository resides on the DLA Offi ce of Operations 

Research and Resource Analysis JLLIS site.

“Military, government and contractor personnel can log on 

to [the website]. New users will have to create an account 

in order to access COP #859, which is the joint petroleum 

COP,” Thomas said. 

“Basically, anyone in the DoD who wants to share petroleum or energy-related lessons learned with the rest of 

the joint petroleum community is authorized to use the 

repository,” Thomas added. “It’s very easy to use.”

While the JLLIS repository has been around for several 

years, the COP #859 is relatively new.

The JLLIS started back in the late 1980s and early 90s 

and was previously called JULLS; joint uniform lessons 

learned system. At that time, it was a classifi ed application run by the Joint Staff for all lessons learned including 

operations, logistics, training and world events.

“The petroleum repository is a refi ned system and rather 

useful tool,” said Tom Ashman, contractor support for the 

Executive Agent offi ce.

“It’s important to make sure only petroleum-related lessons are posted in it so assessments can be made easily,” 

Ashman said. “And Doug [Thomas] does exactly that; he 

scrubs the database and ensures it stays relevant to the 

petroleum community.”

“We have always known we should be able to learn from 

past wars, disasters, exercises and experiences,” Ashman 

added. “That’s the beauty of this repository; it acts as a 

central gathering place for all that information.”

The entire JLLIS database is searchable, but the Class IIIB 

Joint Lessons COP is only searchable on the non-classifi ed 

side at this time.

“It’s possible to fi nd any energy, petroleum or Class III 

posting and pull it into the petroleum COP,” Ashman 

said. “It’s robust and the petroleum community will fi nd it 

most useful if they are proactive and consistently add new 

information.”

“We are just beginning to get the word out to the joint 

petroleum community,” Thomas said. 

The original idea for this COP stemmed from a planning 

shortfall identifi ed by DLA Energy’s Director of Customer 

Operations Air Force Col. Steve Kephart.

“Col. Kephart told us he wanted to fi nd a better way to 

document, store and pull-up petroleum lessons learned,” 

said Guno Kletter, Executive Agent program manager. 

“That’s when Doug [Thomas] started working on his idea 

for a central repository; a place the petroleum community 

can really use to share ideas.”

Kletter’s and Thomas’ job includes fi nding ways to improve effi ciency to the Class IIIB supply chain and improve 

support to the warfi ghter.

DoD policy states that the DoD Executive Agent for bulk 

petroleum is responsible for supply chain management of 

the commodity. 

“Our offi ce is responsible for all bulk petroleum supply 

Petroleum R

By Susan Lowe

etroleum Re

24 www.energy.dla.mil
Repository epository

chain management from source of supply to the point of 

customer acceptance, with an emphasis on improving effi ciency,” Kletter said. “So the repository really helps us do 

our job.”

Thomas and Kletter said the repository has already proven 

to be very valuable. 

“The added value of this COP is it provides an easy to use 

‘one-stop shopping’ repository for all joint petroleum lessons learned,” Thomas said. “If I want to know how the 

Army, for example, handled a particular exercise or situation, I can go to the repository for answers.”

One example of how the repository has helped involves a 

change to DLA Energy I-8, which is a temporary instruction that outlines how to process cash sales to Disaster 

Relief Agencies. 

“While the repository is a work in progress, this change to 

our procedure came about as a result of lessons learned 

gathered from our Haiti support and Operation Tomodachi,” Kletter said.

Currently, the joint petroleum community is using the 

repository for three ongoing efforts.

“The community is focusing on preparation for the next 

hurricane season; capturing experiences related to a collapsible fuel tank study and documenting lessons learned 

for a lab consolidation study,” Thomas said.

Participation in the program is voluntary, but Thomas 

said his team envisions all members of the joint petroleum 

community will want to “get on board” and participate 

fully in the effort.

“The ultimate goal is to improve communication and information exchange across DoD when developing courses 

of action for contingency support,” Thomas said.

“We, as a joint petroleum community, do not want to be 

doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past,” Thomas said. 

“If we all document and post how we handled petroleum 

related events, we can all learn from each other.”

The main focus now is to continuously make people aware 

of its existence and ensure that the lessons learned are 

captured, he added.

Energy Source l October 2013 25
26 www.energy.dla.mil

We Are DLA e Are DLA

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Grace arrived at Baghdad International Airport Jan. 13, 2004, with 

the start of war in Iraq less than a year in the 

past. Sleeping in a truck overnight, he waited for a 

morning convoy to Baghdad’s Green Zone, the center 

of coalition military and civilian efforts in the country. 

Grace was one of the fi rst to deploy to Iraq from DLA 

Energy, which was then known as the Defense Energy 

Support Center. 

Working alongside Task Force Restore Iraqi Oil, a U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers effort, Grace and his fi ve 

DLA Energy teammates were there to help support the 

Coalition Provisional Authority with its humanitarian 

mission to restore Iraqi oil.

“We went over there to assume a mission that had 

been done by a contractor to bring in refi ned product 

for the people of Iraq so they could get their livelihood 

back and get into some sort of routine while they were 

trying to get their production up and running,” he said. 

“So we were bringing in [a combination of] gasoline, 

diesel, [propane] for cooking, and kerosene to help 

them get their infrastructure back up.”

Shortly after arriving, Grace was named Combined 

Joint Task Force 7’s humanitarian assistance fuels offi cer.

“Pretty much seven days a week, [I’d update] where 

fuel was coming and where it was going and what the 

Iraqis were doing in addition to what we were doing,” 

he said. “We were importing on average 4-6 million 

gallons of fuel a day for the people of Iraq. We were 

tracking anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 trucks on 

the road at any given time between trucks that were 

coming in full, already downloading and those that 

were retrograding out. It was a range based upon the 

product and availability.”

Fuel for Iraqis uel for Iraqis

By Amanda Neumann, DLA Public Affairs

A Marine stands guard at the K3 Oil Refinery near Haditha, 

Iraq, July 18, 2008. The refinery, capable of processing 16,000 

barrels of crude oil per day, had been non-operational for 

three years until coalition forces and Iraqi government leaders 

stepped in to repair it. Photo by Marine Cpl. Paul Torres
Energy Source l October 2013 27

s

Working with the task force on refi neries and oil fi elds, 

Grace and his staff had daily meetings with Iraqi government fuel leaders around the country.

“Five or six days a week, we were on convoys going to the 

Iraqi ministries [outside the perimeter],” he said. “We had 

a routine. Once a week we’d go to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, 

and the other days of the week we’d go to the Iraqi Petroleum Pipeline Company, the Iraqi Petroleum Distribution 

Company and the Iraqi supply. Basically they had directorates that did trucks, pipelines and the refi neries.”

Although he knew Iraq’s fuel situation well from extensive 

studying, Grace, currently director of plans and operations 

for DLA Energy, was still surprised at what he saw on the 

ground. 

“Their infrastructure was in very poor condition, very 

bad shape,” he said. “And you would think that, and you 

understand it conceptually, but you don’t have a reference 

point [until you see it]. We went to a storage depot on 

their pipeline area and walked around. It was an understatement to say it was in poor condition or to say it was 

leaking. I have pictures where I’m standing beside a big 

hole dug in the middle of this fi eld and it’s full. In the U.S., 

you would think that was probably groundwater seeping up. It’s not; it’s fuel that has penetrated the ground 

so much that it literally pools in the fi eld. A lot of times, 

words did not do justice to the challenges they have over 

there.”

With daily threats to their security, leaving the secure 

and safe Green Zone for meetings was considered deadly, 

Grace said.

“You had to understand that when you went to a meeting, you were going out into the badlands,” he said. “You 

drive everywhere fast, because this was back in the days 

before we had up-armored Humvees. You’d alternate 

under tunnels or overpasses because there were instances 

where they were dropping mortar rounds off the overpass. 

Or you’d hear gunfi re, and you weren’t exactly sure if they 

were aiming at you or not.”

During this time, Iraq’s infrastructure was taking a lot 

of hits. With insurgency on the rise, pipelines were often 

blown up, disabling the Iraqi civilian population even 

more, Grace said.

“The insurgents were blowing up pipelines to stop us, but 

Hundreds of fuel trucks wait to cross the border into Iraq at Habur Gate, Turkey in 2004. The Defense Energy Support Center, now known as DLA Energy, frequently dealt with severe import issues while assisting with the U.S. military’s mission to restore Iraqi oil. Photo by Bo Luzey
28 www.energy.dla.mil

We Are DLA e Are DLA

it didn’t impact us; it only impacted 

their own people,” he said. “In the 

early days, we were not getting any 

fuel from the Iraqi pipelines, and we 

were getting no product from the 

Iraqi refi neries.”

With a mission to get in and out of 

unsafe areas quickly, Grace and the 

team soon realized how much of a 

challenge that was.

“You had to be aware how you dealt 

with [Iraqis] because this is their 

country,” he said. “There was a process. No matter how much of a hurry 

you were in, you were going to have 

to have tea fi rst, then pleasantries and 

discussions, and maybe, if the discussions were impassioned, then you’d 

have tea before you left. You had a 

lot of people that had axes to grind 

because these were people that were 

not some of the favored ones during 

the Saddam [Hussein] regime. Once 

you got back, you’d update your reports on what they told you would be 

moved on the pipeline or trucks.”

With days starting at 6 a.m. and 

routinely ending at 10 p.m., the team 

faced several obstacles, most notably 

cultural mindsets.

“You had to work with the Iraqis to 

change their thought process on how 

they did things,” he said. “It was very 

unilateral. They had a process, but 

there was rigidity to it where it was 

cumbersome. The other problem was 

they were so used to being a state oil 

marketing organization whose whole 

purpose in life used to be to export 

crude oil out of the country. But then 

they were tasked with how to import 

refi ned products, so we had to take 

on board their training and education 

process and provide them with insight 

on how we do business, acquisition 

and inventory management.”

A few months after Grace’s arrival, the 

fi rst DLA support team stood up at 

Camp Victory, next to Baghdad’s airport. The specialized team, composed 

of staff from all across DLA, provides 

logistical support to confl icts, natural 

disasters, emergencies, mobilizations 

and other contingency operations 

around the world.

After four months, Grace and his 

team transitioned out and a second 

round of DLA Energy employees came 

to Iraq, helping to continue the task 

force mission.

“We ended up doing Task Force [Restore Iraqi Oil] for nine months,” he 

said. “In the early stages, we were to 

establish contracts and work with the 

Iraqis on the acquisition process. We 

started the contracts, got fuel fl owing 

and we started reporting it, then we 

transitioned over to the second [DLA 

Energy] team. Our two follow-on 

teams, who each did three months, 

continued with the operational side of 

it to continue with mission execution. 

We had to get funding for DLA Energy 

to execute the mission. We secured 

over a billion dollars’ worth of funding, but we did it a lot cheaper and 

we returned somewhere around $450 

million. We didn’t do it for as long as 

we originally thought, mainly because 

it was a tremendous success.”

Bo Luzey, former deputy director of 

DLA Energy Americas at Houston, 

was part of the third DLA Energy 

team to assist in the transition over 

to the Iraqis during Task Force RIO. 

In late 2004, Luzey was an Air Force 

operations specialist assigned to DLA.

The fi rst two teams specifi cally targeted civilian infrastructure, refi nery production and pipelines in the 

country. Then-deputy commander of 

Defense Energy Support Center Iraq, 

Luzey and his team were tasked specifi cally with getting these areas back 

up and running.

“Those are key notes for society,” he 

said. “Do you have your infrastructure 

to be able to produce electricity or 

have refi ned products for the vehicles 

that are there? We didn’t want to 

be in the business of supporting the 

population – that’s Iraq’s mission and 

that’s on them to do that – but we had 

to stand them up.”

“We ended up doing Task Force [Restore Iraqi Oil] for nine months. We 

started the contracts, got fuel flowing and we started reporting it, then 

we transitioned over to the second [DLA Energy] team ... We secured 

over a billion dollars’ worth of funding, but we did it a lot cheaper and 

we returned somewhere around $450 million ... It was a tremendous 

success.”

Stephen Grace DLA Energy Operations Center and Control Center Division Chief
Energy Source l October 2013 29

When it came to supporting key infrastructure, the lack of technology and 

large size of the country made things 

diffi cult, Luzey said.

“If you haven’t been out of the country, you don’t know how big this place 

is,” he said. “Baghdad itself is like 

looking at the city of Houston; it’s 

that size. Of course, it doesn’t have 

the technological advances that we do. 

But DLA was there because we had 

the expertise in government contracting and setting up the logistics arm.”

With DLA Energy’s expertise with import issues, Luzey and his team often 

had to troubleshoot issues daily.

“We were also tracking all of the 

import routes that we were bringing 

in, thousands of trucks from Turkey, 

Kuwait and Jordan,” he said. “There 

were huge import issues. I went out 

and visited a place in Turkey called 

Habur Gate. There, you had 2 miles’ 

worth of trucks lined up waiting to get 

into and across the border, one right 

after the other. And these guys are living out there in all kinds of conditions 

waiting to be let into the country. DLA 

Energy Europe and Africa played a 

critical role because of some of the 

relationships they had with Turkey 

already. But there were all types of 

issues like that. And those issues 

continued as we stopped this mission 

and went to straight supporting the 

troops.”

Once Luzey and his team were certain 

the Iraqis could meet certain targets, 

their mission was fi nished. By the 

end, the three teams had imported 

more than $588 million in refi ned 

fuel imports and enabled the fl ow of 

more than 401 million gallons into 

Iraq. By 2005, with troops entering 

the country in rapid succession, fuel 

concerns shifted to the troops’ needs.

“In 2004, we had certain targets,” 

Luzey said. “We were trying to ensure 

that the Iraqis took responsibility. We 

had to ensure they had a certain level 

of a number of days of supply on hand 

to support the nation. Once we got 

those numbers, which showed that 

they could sustain them for a period 

of time, then our mission was over. 

Once that happened, the DSTs started 

bringing in more gas and diesel to 

support the actual troops that were 

there.”

From fi scal 2005 to fi scal 2013, DLA 

Energy provided 3.2 billion gallons 

An Iraqi welder works in the desert heat to repair a severed oil pipeline in 

northern Iraq July 10, 2007. During the mission to restore Iraq’s oil infrastructure, insurgency was on the rise and pipelines were often blown up in 

an attempt to delay the U.S. military’s progress. Photo by Army Maj. Juanita 

Chang
30 www.energy.dla.mil

We Are DLA e Are DLA

of fuel to Iraq totaling $8.2 billion in 

net fuel sales, the majority of which, 

2.5 billion gallons, was jet fuel. In 

2006, convoys delivered more than 

13 million gallons of fuel monthly to 

U.S. and coalition forces in western 

Iraq. Also that same year, an initiative 

to bring unleaded fuel into Iraq via 

Jordan reduced the number of convoys that were required to travel from 

southern Iraq into the more dangerous Al Anbar province in the west.

In 2010, once Iraq was no longer a 

combat military operation, the transition from a Defense Department-led 

mission to a State Department mission began.

“Because the scope was so different, 

they were looking for help for that 

transition,” Grace said. “We already 

had access to the supply chains. 

Combat operations had stopped. ... 

It would be the government of Iraq 

working as a normal partner with 

other countries that have embassies. 

It was another step toward some transition to normalcy. We started having 

meetings to discuss the transition in 

early February 2010, and we started 

assuming some of the support for 

their sites in the October time frame.”

In total, more than 35 DLA Energy 

employees deployed to Iraq over 

a nine-year period. Bruce Jones, 

logistics management specialist in 

DLA Energy, was the last of the DST 

civilians to deploy. Arriving in Iraq 

in 2012 as a fuel liaison offi cer, Jones 

was sent to negotiate international 

fuel agreements.

“Our mission was to provide the DOS 

with a supply chain management skill 

set to manage their bulk resupply to 

the embassy and consulates within 

Iraq,” he said. 

Jones, who retired from the Air Force, 

said DLA support teams were essential to DLA’s successful support 

during OIF.

“There were a number of issues we 

worked that had nothing to do with 

supply-chain management, from 

developing requirements for the 

transition to developing requirements for [Foreign Military Sales] 

case support,” he said. “That’s why I 

think the DSTs are a great asset for 

DLA to allow employees who have the 

background and expertise to deploy to 

lend their talents to that mission. We 

have the best training, the best equipment, and we have the best people. 

We may not always agree on a process 

or a way ahead, but at the end of the 

day, we get the job done.” 

Eyes in the Sky

In addition to fuel for the troops, bulk 

helium was needed for reconnaissance missions during the war. 

Aerostat blimps used by the U.S. 

military to monitor and provide 

surveillance for critical areas relied on 

helium supplied from DLA Energy’s 

Aerospace Energy Offi ce. In 2006, 

DLA Energy established a defense fuel 

support point in Iraq for the distribution of bulk helium, reducing product 

delivery from two to three weeks 

down to two to three hours.

“That’s a whole management process, 

separate from fuels, that is related to 

[Operation Iraqi Freedom],” Luzey 

said. “The helium was procured out 

of DLA Energy’s Aerospace Energy 

offi ce. They worked relentlessly in 

bringing those aerostats and the 

helium for those aerostats, plus the 

helium containers and shipping containers, to Iraq.” 

An Iraqi soldier runs to check 

an oil tanker's identification card before letting him 

exit Iraq’s Bayji Oil Refinery 

March 9, 2007. The Defense 

Energy Support Center, now 

known as DLA Energy, was 

importing between 4-6 million 

gallons of fuel daily, and were 

tracking anywhere between 

5,000 and 7,000 trucks, during the 2004 mission to restore 

Iraq’s oil infrastructure. Photo 

by Army Staff Sgt. Joshua 

Ford
Job: My job to 

me isn’t a “job” at 

all. It consists of 

getting to be creative. The designing of visual items 

like posters, marketing brochures, 

promotional items, 

the lay-out of the 

Energy Source magazine and other magazine type items isn’t like 

“work” to me, but challenging and fun.

Energy experience: nergy experience: The DLA Energy experience for me started when we were 

the Defense Fuel Supply Center and from day one the people made the work place 

feel like family. A place where everyone made a difference in supporting our warfighters and country. No matter what job they were there to do, it mattered. Although our name and location has changed since then, the “every job is important” 

has not. I started my civil service career with DLA Energy and I never wanted to 

go anywhere else. Why would I? The people made it the best place ever. I want to 

thank all of you for making that experience one I will cherish forever.

Challenges and rewards of the job: hallenges and rewards of the job: I would have to say one of the most challenging parts of my job was working on our Worldwide Energy Conferences. It was 

hard work, but it was most rewarding. When people would say that the conference 

was a success and they truly got something from it, you knew your hard work paid 

off. Well worth it! 

After 26 years at DLA, your fondest memory: fter 26 years at DLA, your fondest memory: There are so many. Like I 

said before it’s the people who make the difference. When I think of the time here 

I think of them. The picnics, the holiday parties and the conferences. I have made 

some wonderful and dear friends and they will always be one of the many fond 

memories I will carry with me.

Future plans after retirment: uture plans after retirment: I’d like to say “nothing,” but that’s very boring 

and I don’t consider myself a boring person. My husband wants to pack a bag and 

go anywhere after I retire. Why? Because we can. I love it. We will continue going 

on cruises. My oldest son lives in Missouri and I have already warned him that we 

just may drop in on him and his family at any given time. We have nine grandkids 

and I’ll have more time to spend with them. We want to eventually move to the San 

Antonio area, if God is willing and the creek don’t rise, so they say. 

Idella Fletcher

DLA Energy Visual LA Energy Visual 

Information Specialist nformation Specialist

Fort Belvoir, Va. ort Belvoir, Va.

One Face ne Face

Energy Source l October 2013 31

Idella Fletcher

The face of Defense Logistics Agency Energy... he face of Defense Logistics Agency Energy...