10 YEARS LATER

LOGLINES

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY JULY – AUGUST 2013
DIRECTOR

from the

More than 10 years have passed 

since the beginning of the agency’s 

support to Operation Iraqi 

Freedom, and the lessons learned from 

that mission influence our work around 

the world every day.

This issue of Loglines focuses on 

the 10th anniversary of Operation 

Iraqi Freedom and the many ways DLA 

supported the war effort and follow-on 

diplomatic mission in Iraq. 

From DLA Land and Maritime’s 

support to fielding the Mine Resistant 

Ambush Protected vehicle to how DLA’s 

relationship with U.S. Central Command 

grew and adapted to meet the needs 

of today’s warfighters, DLA’s shift to 

forward-located customer support 

evolved during OIF.

By positioning DLA specialists on 

the ground with customers in a war 

Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek, USN

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

zone for the first time, agency leaders 

consciously changed the way operations 

were supported.

DLA service members and civilians 

who deployed not only helped U.S. 

forces’ supply personnel navigate the 

DLA system, but also were instrumental 

in setting up logistics policy for Iraqi 

forces rebuilding their military. 

Since the military mission ended in 

Iraq, the State Department has worked to 

established its own methods of support 

to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; DLA 

has helped with operational logistics 

planning and acquisition and financial 

management. 

First and foremost, we seek to 

understand the needs of our customers 

when it comes to supporting warfighters, 

and our support during OIF is just one 

more example of that commitment. 

We couldn’t have done it without 

each and every team member giving 

it their all. Thank you for what you 

did then, and thank you for working 

with me every day to continue that 

outstanding level of support to our 

warfighters wherever they may be. 

Headquarters, Defense Logistics Agency Office of Public Affairs 8725 John J. Kingman Road Suite 2545 Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221 703-767-6200 E-mail: loglines@dla.mil

DLA Director

Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek

DLA Vice Director

Ted Case 

Chief of Staff

Renee L. Roman

Director, Public Affairs

Douglas Ide

Deputy Director, Public Affairs

Jack Hooper

Loglines is the authorized publication for the Defense Logistics Agency’s workforce of federal civilians, active-duty 

military and Joint Reserve Force augmentees at agency activities worldwide and industry customers of DLA. Contents 

of this publication are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, the Department of 

Defense or the Defense Logistics Agency. 

LOGLINES

Official Flagship Publication of the Defense Logistics Agency

Managing Editor: Kathleen T. Rhem

Editor: Jacob Boyer

Layout/Design: Paul Henry Crank

Writers: Beth Reece

Sara Moore

Amanda Neumann

Loglines is prepared electronically, using desktop publishing applications; no commercial typesetting costs are 

involved. Photos not credited are courtesy of agency sources. Submissions and correspondence may be sent to 

the address below:

LOGLINES STAFF
CONTENTS

Loglines l July - August 2013 1

LogPoints 25

A Conversation with ... 26

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

10 YEARS LATER

July - August 2013

2

9

20

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

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www.twitter.com/

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www.youtube.com/

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DLA on the Web

22

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

Support: 10 Years in the Making 2

Supporting U.S. forces through nearly a decade of 

operations in Iraq transformed many aspects of the 

way DLA does business.

Fuel for Iraqis 9

In addition to providing fuel for U.S. and coalition 

warfighters, DLA Energy specialists worked to help 

restore Iraq’s oil industry.

Force Protection 14

DLA’s support to Mine Resistant Ambush Protected 

vehicles, credited with saving lives on Iraqi battlefields, 

began before the first vehicle was delivered to warfighters.

Supply Chains Come to Life 20

DLA Troop Support and DLA Disposition Services saw 

the extent of the agency’s supply chains on the ground 

in Iraq.

Supporting the State Department 22

DLA’s presence in Iraq continues as it assists the State 

Deparment with vital supply and disposition issues.

Your Personnel Guides 28

DLA’s customer account managers make sure supervisors 

and staff throughout the agency have the information they 

need to handle personnel issues.
2 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

SUPPORT

Story by Sara Moore

en years, tens of billions of 

dollars’ worth of supplies and 

equipment, precedent-breaking 

business relationships and 

practices, and a mission forever 

changed and improved: Operation Iraqi 

Freedom was an epic military operation 

by any measure. And for the Defense 

Logistics Agency, it was game changing.

In February 2000, when war was 

on few Americans’ minds, DLA sent a 

liaison officer to work with U.S. Central 

Command on logistics planning. For 

T

10 YEARS IN THE MAKING
Loglines l July - August 2013 3

more than a year, Bill Bennett worked 

alongside USCENTCOM logistics 

planners, helping craft plans for potential 

military engagements, like the defense 

of Kuwait, providing input on the 

capabilities DLA could bring to such 

operations. After the terrorist attacks 

of 9/11, those plans took on a new life, 

and Bennett found himself in a new 

role: the representative responsible 

for coordinating very real support to 

warfighters as the U.S. prepared to 

go into Afghanistan and later Iraq. 

William Wheatley, the DLA Central 

chief of operations who was chief of the 

USCENTCOM logistics readiness center 

from 2001 to 2005, said he remembers 

the heady first days of the Iraq conflict 

as logisticians quickly transitioned to 

wartime operations and Bennett became 

a one-man hub for DLA support.

“It was very fast-paced. The logistics 

folks had to transition very quickly,” 

Wheatley said of the initial phases of OIF. 

“There were not enough folks to do all the 

jobs, so those who were here ended up 

working extremely long hours doing double 

and triple taskings, the work of two or three 

people. Mr. Bennett himself, for DLA, was 

doing the work of an entire team, basically 

the equivalent of DLA Europe and DLA 

Pacific all wrapped up in one guy.”

Bennett, who is now the deputy 

Air Force Photo by Tech

Sgt

Stephen Faulisi

Army paratroopers prepare to board a C-17 

Globemaster III before parachuting into 

northern Iraq in early 2003. Even before 

combat operations began, DLA personnel 

worked closely with U.S. Central Command 

to ensure warfighters would have what they 

needed to fight.
4 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

commander of DLA Central, said he 

remembers the beginning of OIF as 

being exhausting, but also exciting as his 

mission greatly expanded and he began to 

see DLA’s capabilities in action.

“It was at that point that I gained 

an understanding of how broad DLA’s 

capabilities really were,” said Bennett, 

who spent years in Army logistics 

before joining DLA. “We talk about our 

supply chains and we talk about the 

services that we traditionally offer, but 

it was at that point that I really gained 

a true appreciation for our ability to do 

more than just the traditional supply, 

distribution and disposal missions that 

we talk about.” 

With operations moving fast, it wasn’t 

long before DLA leaders recognized the 

need for more support to USCENTCOM’s 

missions and began augmenting Bennett 

with military and civilian employees 

from the Joint Logistics Operations 

Center, military officers from the DLA 

Joint Reserve Force, and even DLA 

liaison officers from other combatant 

commands, like U.S. Southern Command. 

Also at that time, agency leaders decided 

to send the first DLA support team, which 

at the time was called a DLA contingency 

support team, to the USCENTCOM area 

of operations. 

This first team went into Kuwait 

staffed with DLA specialists who worked 

closely with military customers to 

speed the delivery of critical supplies 

to warfighters on the front lines. DLA 

eventually moved an element of the 

Kuwait support team to Uzbekistan and 

later positioned another support team in 

Baghdad at Camp Victory. This idea of 

positioning DLA specialists on the ground 

with customers in a war zone would 

end up being one of the most important 

lessons learned from Operation Iraqi 

Freedom, changing the way DLA thought 

about its operations. 

“As our mission expanded, we began to 

see why being co-located with the customer 

was so vital to improve DLA branding with 

the warfighters and the civilian contractors 

that were over there,” said Jeffrey Gamber, 

who as a Marine lieutenant colonel was 

This idea of positioning DLA specialists on the ground with customers in a war zone would end up 

being one of the most important lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom, changing the way 

DLA thought about its operations.

Military Sealift Command ships unload cargo 

for Operation Iraqi Freedom in the port of Ash 

Shuaybah, Kuwait. DLA quickly transitioned 

to wartime operations as Operation Iraqi 

Freedom kicked off.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric L

Beauregard
Loglines l July - August 2013 5

one of the first commanders of the DLA 

support team in Baghdad. “Instead of 

waiting for an answer when [people in 

the continental U.S.] woke up, we were 

able to work issues and get answers to the 

customers. We established a very, very 

positive reputation.”

Gamber, who now works as a weapons 

system support manager in DLA Land 

and Maritime, said that the proximity of 

his team to the Multinational Force Iraq 

headquarters – they shared office space 

with the MNF-I deputy chief of staff for 

resource and sustainment – allowed him 

and his specialists to keep their fingers on 

the pulse of operations and provide quick, 

effective logistics support. He had a direct 

link back to leaders at each of DLA’s field 

activities, allowing the team to respond 

quickly to requests for things like food, 

water and uniforms and to provide timely 

updates to the military leaders about the 

status of supplies, he said. 

“When you’re out there on the 

forward tip of the spear supporting 

the warfighter, you get treated special 

because you’re working issues 24/7, 

and any requirements that need to be 

resolved are worked very quickly with 

a high priority from leadership and 

managers that are working back here 

in the continental U.S.,” he said. “They 

just provide superior support to the 

warfighters, and that’s our primary goal; 

that’s what we’re here for.”

Key to the success of these support 

teams was not only having DLA personnel 

on the ground with warfighters, but also 

adapting the makeup of the teams to 

adjust to changing missions as the conflict 

continued, Bennett said. When U.S. forces 

first entered Iraq, DLA understandably 

was focused on troops’ primary needs, like 

food, water and shelter, so the DLA support 

team was well augmented with personnel 

from DLA Troop Support, he said. In fact, 

moving subsistence supplies was such a 

high priority that the commander of the 

support team would personally drive to 

the port with a handheld radio frequency 

identification reader to identify which 

containers held these supplies so their 

transfer could be expedited. 

As the conflict continued, however, 

DLA began to rely more heavily on the 

prime vendor program for subsistence 

support, he said. Another evolution 

of the support teams occurred as the 

teams’ commanders decided to further 

improve their support by positioning 

supply experts directly with military units. 

These experts provided highly specialized 

support based on each unit’s needs, 

such as DLA Distribution experts who 

helped the Iraqi military set up its own 

distribution depot. At the peak of the Iraq 

conflict, DLA personnel were embedded 

with military customers at more than 40 

locations around the country, Bennett 

said. Back in the United States, DLA 

leaders had been continuously expanding 

the support personnel for USCENTCOM 

until, in August 2004, DLA Central was 

established as a permanent command, 

cementing the agency’s integration with 

its customers in that area of responsibility. 

“When you know your customer 

better, you invest your support more 

Airmen gather for a Thanksgiving meal in 

Southwest Asia. DLA Troop Support supplied 

meals to thousands of troops throughout Iraq 

through the prime vendor program, marking 

the program’s first use for food in a war zone.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Barney
6 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

appropriately than if you are operating from 7,000 miles away and are just 

guessing,” Bennett said. “The co-location 

improves our ability to anticipate and 

meet the warfighters’ requirements. 

We’re investing in the right stuff. We’re 

investing in the stuff the warfighter 

needs, not the stuff we think or thought 

the warfighter might need, and it saves 

everybody money all around.”

A prime example of adapting support 

based on the customers’ needs was the 

DLA Disposition Services mission in OIF. 

Traditionally, DLA Disposition Services 

had operated in the rear of conflicts, 

requiring troops to transport material 

back to a site for disposal or reutilization, 

Bennett said. During OIF, military 

leaders began asking DLA for forward 

disposition sites in an effort to keep troops 

transporting material off dangerous 

roads, he said. Through negotiation and 

discussion, DLA agreed to establish four 

DLA Disposition Services sites, known 

at the time as defense reutilization and 

marketing offices, throughout Iraq. 

Gamber, whose time as the DLA 

support team commander lasted from July 

2005 to April 2006, was instrumental in 

establishing the last two DLA Disposition 

Services sites in Iraq. Being a disposition 

expert himself, he knew the importance 

of getting these sites established as 

weapons and equipment piled up for 

demilitarization, disposal or retrograde. 

A big part of his job was educating 

customers about the proper use of DLA 

Disposition Services sites, he noted.

“We had to make sure all the military 

services were clear on the DRMO role, on 

what really did hit a DRMO site and how 

we could streamline the speed of getting 

equipment back for disposal or back 

through Kuwait for retrograde back to the 

U.S.,” he said. 

Iraq was not only the first place where 

DLA positioned disposition support on the 

front lines, but it was also the birthplace 

of the expeditionary disposal remediation 

teams, which today play a huge role in U.S. 

operations in Afghanistan, Bennett said. 

These locations often accumulated 

a lot of excess material, and through 

dialogue with military customers, DLA 

began sending disposition experts to 

these sites to assist in the removal and 

processing of the material. That travelling 

forward support has become the norm 

in Afghanistan, where EDRTs routinely 

travel the country to forward operating 

Iraq was not only the first place where DLA positioned disposition 

support on the front lines, but it was also the birthplace of the 

expeditionary disposal remediation teams, which today play a huge role 

in U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

Airmen move a pallet of supplies in Southwest 

Asia. DLA support teams coordinated the 

movement of many classes of supply during 

Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Air Force Staff Sgt

Darnell T

Cannady
Loglines l July - August 2013 7

bases, where they conduct demilitarization 

or disposal on the spot, he said. 

“After our experience in Iraq, we 

knew [the troops] were going to need the 

same level of support, so rather than wait 

for it, we have been working to get ahead 

of it in expanding the EDRT program 

in Afghanistan to avoid unnecessary 

transportation, keep Soldiers off the road 

and avoid expending resources to move 

scrap material around the battlefield 

when we could just as easily sell it off ... 

right there,” he said. 

This shift to forward-located 

customer support was the predominant 

theme for the evolution of DLA’s 

operations during OIF. Another area 

where that shift was demonstrated clearly 

was subsistence. Before OIF began, DLA 

Troop Support had moved operational 

rations into Kuwait in preparation for 

troops’ immediate needs, said Rich 

Faso, director of customer operations in 

DLA Troop Support Subsistence. Even 

with supplies pre-positioned, the early 

days of the conflict were chaotic, with 

large numbers of troops moving into the 

country and larger numbers of meals 

moving to feed those troops, Faso said. 

At the same time, commanders on the 

ground began asking for dining facility 

support, knowing that operational rations 

were not sufficient for a longer conflict. 

DLA had already established prime 

vendor subsistence operations in the entire 

U.S. and several overseas locations and 

had a prime vendor solicitation in place for 

Iraq in March 2003, he said. That contract 

was awarded in June 2003, and the vendor 

began setting up dining facilities that same 

year. While the prime vendor program 

itself wasn’t unique, the program in Iraq 

was the first to make deliveries into a war 

zone, Faso said, adding that DLA Troop 

Support staff learned many lessons about 

wartime operations.

“With this type of contract, we were 

setting precedent every step of the way,” 

he said, noting that the requirements for 

military security to move supplies or to 

have vendor personnel positioned in Iraq 

to manage the trucks moving in convoys 

were all new. 

Also new was operating at such a 

frenetic pace in a foreign country with 

different customs and capabilities, Faso 

said. Port congestion became an issue 

because Kuwait’s port was not accustomed 

to dealing with such large quantities of 

material. Also, the various Muslim holidays 

changed the tempo of operations and 

required sensitivity on the part of military 

and contractor personnel. Availability of 

refrigerated trucks and dealing with diverse 

delivery points were also issues that had to 

be overcome, he noted. 

Despite the learning curve, DLA 

enjoyed great success with the prime 

vendor program in Iraq, Faso said. The 

vendors themselves were extremely 

willing and capable, taking on all the 

challenges of the environment, and DLA 

was able to greatly expand offerings at 

dining facilities, he said. It didn’t take 

long before the OIF dining facilities 

gained a reputation for serving an array 

of quality food, including holiday meal 

spreads that could put the best family 

Marines toss boxes of Meals, Ready-to-Eat 

from a humvee during an operation in Ramadi, 

Iraq. DLA Troop Support Subsistence issued 

more than 9.5 million cases of field rations 

during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Marine Lance Cpl. Benjamin J. Flores
8 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

celebration to shame. Over the course of 

10 years of U.S. involvement in Iraq, DLA 

Troop Support did $13.8 billion worth 

of business in subsistence, issuing more 

than 9.5 million cases of operational 

rations and supporting dining facilities 

throughout the country. 

“We raised the expectation of our 

customers based on our success in Iraq,” 

he said, noting that lessons learned in 

Iraq have been applied to operations in 

Afghanistan and other areas around the 

world that pose a challenge. 

“Learning about the safety and 

security and abiding by the rules of the 

country that we are operating in certainly 

led to successful ventures and will lead 

to successful ventures in the future, 

wherever we happen to go,” he added. 

“Unfortunately, we tend to go to places 

that we haven’t been to before, and it’s a 

whole new learning process, but at least 

you can expect to have challenges, based 

on the challenges you’ve had before, 

and some of them will be consistent and 

others will be new challenges.”

During OIF, DLA adapted its 

operations countless other ways to 

accommodate warfighters’ needs and 

meet the challenges of a sustained 

wartime pace, Bennett said. Early in 

the conflict, the agency changed the 

way it packed and shipped pallets of 

material to take the burden of sorting 

and distributing material in theater off 

warfighters, he said. DLA’s practice had 

been to pack and ship containers as 

quickly as possible, but after receiving 

feedback from military customers 

complaining about wading through 

knee-deep sand to sort through material, 

leaders decided to adopt a “pure pallet” 

initiative that meant each unit got only 

the material belonging to it, he said. 

Other lessons in distribution included 

pre-positioning equipment to be ready 

for warfighters, as DLA did with several 

hundred containers of construction 

and barrier equipment prior to the 

start of OIF, and setting up distribution 

facilities in theater to speed deliveries. 

Bennett said he remembers working with 

USCENTCOM and military personnel 

on the planning for this first forward 

distribution depot, which was ultimately 

placed in Kuwait and served as a hub for 

supplies and equipment in high demand 

or expensive to transport at short notice. 

Because there was no suitable location 

for the depot on any U.S. base in the 

Middle East, DLA decided to, in another 

first, establish a commercially owned and 

operated distribution depot in a combat 

theater, he said. That depot eventually 

became the consolidation point as well, 

freeing up Army personnel who in the 

past ran the theater consolidation and 

shipping point. 

“All the lessons learned boiled down 

to more forward support and placing 

the forward support personnel where 

they could be most effective,” Bennett 

said. “We continued to forward position 

people where, in partnership with the 

warfighter, we recognized that we would 

be a combat multiplier. The customers’ 

organizational structure wasn’t static, and 

so our organizational structure wasn’t 

static either.”

The partnership between DLA 

personnel and warfighters was one of 

the most visible lessons for those on the 

ground in Iraq, said Army Lt. Col. Ernest 

Maldonado, an operations officer in DLA 

Central who deployed to Baghdad as part 

of the DLA support team in 2006. The 

team of about 22 people at the time was 

busy supporting the surge of U.S. forces 

into Iraq, he said, but he remembers the 

strong collaboration between civilian 

and military personnel as being key to 

overcoming challenges. 

“We could actually leverage all our 

capabilities for a common goal,” he said. 

“I found that that was instrumental in 

overcoming a lot of the challenges.”

That collaboration became the 

norm, not just among the support 

team members, but between DLA and 

USCENTCOM, Maldonado noted. 

Before OIF, DLA had to be invited to 

USCENTCOM meetings, he said, but now 

the agency is an integral member of the 

planning process and truly has “a seat at 

the table.” 

DLA’s relationship with USCENTCOM 

was always strong, but the challenges 

of OIF expanded it greatly and created 

collaboration, said Wheatley, the DLA 

Central chief of operations. Throughout 

OIF, the two organizations faced 

many challenges, he said, but DLA’s 

success helped to inspire confidence in 

USCENTCOM and other military leaders, 

leading to what is now a close partnership. 

Wheatley said his decision to join 

DLA after his time in USCENTCOM was 

attributed directly to the agency’s success 

during OIF, which he witnessed personally. 

He said he remembers watching DLA 

expand across the battlefield and adapt to 

meet customers’ needs, such as improving 

the fuel delivery system so military 

customers went from measuring their fuel 

supplies in hours to measuring them in 

days, weeks, and now, months. 

“DLA did an amazing job, and that’s 

one of the reasons I came to DLA; I was 

so impressed with their abilities when I 

was in USCENTCOM that I wanted to be 

part of the team,” Wheatley said. “They’re 

great logisticians across the board, and 

they provide world-class support that’s 

not seen in any other country or by any 

other organization.” 

Because there was no 

suitable location for the 

depot on any U.S. base in the 

Middle East, DLA decided 

to, in another first, establish 

a commercially owned and 

operated distribution depot in 

a combat theater.
Loglines l July - August 2013 9

Fuel for Iraqis

Story by Amanda Neumann

avy 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 first 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 five 

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 refined 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 officer.

“Pretty much seven days a week, 

N

A Marine stands guard at the K3 Oil Refinery 

near Haditha, Iraq. The refinery, capable of 

processing 16,000 barrels of crude oil per day, 

had been non-operational for three years until 

coalition forces, including DLA fuel specialists, 

and Iraqi government leaders stepped in to 

repair it.

— Photo by Marine Lance Cpl. Paul Torres
10 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

[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.”

Working with the task force on 

refineries and oil fields, Grace and his staff 

had daily meetings with Iraqi government 

fuel leaders around the country.

U.S. soldiers stand guard in front of an oil 

storage container at one of Iraq’s largest 

refineries, the Al Daura Oil Refinery, in southeastern Baghdad. DLA Energy team members 

who deployed to Iraq in 2004 described the 

oil infrastructure they found there as being in 

poor condition.

“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 refineries.”

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 field 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 field. 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 

Scott Flenner
Loglines l July - August 2013 11

there were instances where they 

were dropping mortar rounds off the 

overpass. Or you’d hear gunfire, 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 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 refineries.”

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 

first, 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 

An Iraqi welder works in the desert heat to 

repair a severed oil pipeline in northern Iraq. 

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 coalition’s progress.

were tasked with how to import refined 

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 first 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 conflicts, 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. Once 

we started the contracts, got fuel flowing 

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, current deputy director of 

Army Maj. Juanita Chang
12 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

DLA Energy Americas East, 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 first two teams specifically 

targeted civilian infrastructure, refinery 

production and pipelines in the country. 

Then deputy commander of Defense 

Energy Support Center Iraq, Luzey and 

his team were tasked specifically 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 

refined 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.”

When it came to supporting key 

infrastructure, the lack of technology 

and large size of the country made things 

difficult, 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 in dealing 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 & Africa 

“Do you have your infrastructure to be able to produce electricity or have refined products 

for the vehicles that are there? We didn’t want to be in the business of supporting the 

population, ... but we had to stand them up.” — Bo Luzey

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.

Bo Luzey
Loglines l July - August 2013 13

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 finished. By the end, 

the three teams had imported more than 

$588 million in refined fuel imports and 

enabled the flow 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 fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2013, DLA 

Energy provided 3.2 billion gallons 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 timeframe.”

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 officer, 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

I

n 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 Office. 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],” said Bo Luzey, deputy director 

of DLA Energy Americas East. “The helium 

was procured out of DLA Energy’s Aerospace 

Energy office. They worked relentlessly in 

bringing those aerostats and the helium for 

those aerostats, plus the helium containers and 

shipping containers, to Iraq.”
14 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

Force Protection

Story by Amanda Neumann

A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected 

vehicle makes its way up an incline at Iraq’s 

Contingency Operating Base Speicher 

in Tikrit. DLA supported MRAPs, vital to 

saving lives on Iraqi battlefields, before the 

first one was delivered to warfighters there. 

— Photo by Army Spc. Jessica Haney
Loglines l July - August 2013 15

or warfighters on the battlefield, 

protection against improvised 

explosive devices is crucial. For 

many, being safely transported in 

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected 

vehicles can mean the difference between 

life and death. By reducing the effects of 

blasts, MRAPs, heavily armored vehicles 

that protect service members from IEDs 

F

December

•	 Marine Corps involvement in the

MRAP program begins

•	 Initially, DoD estimates buying only

1,463 total MRAPs

•	 Weapon system designator

codes established, national stock

numbers coded to identified

MRAP systems

January

•	 DLA’s involvement begins with the

procurement of 40 NSNs for early

MRAP variants

•	 Only one weapon system

support manager

•	 4,196 MRAP NSNs

February

•	 DLA Enterprise List Management

used to manage all MRAP NSNs

April

•	 First MRAP vehicles fielded in Iraq

July

•	 DLA forms first weapon system

program management office for

MRAPs

August

•	 Hybrid support logistics

adopted as DLA’s strategy for

MRAPs, combining contractor

logistics support with DLA’s

wholesale support

November

•	 6,500 NSNs assigned to MRAP

December

•	 First weapon system MRAP

integrated supplier team

established, including more

than 50 MRAP-exclusive supply

buyers, planners, product

specialists and contractors

2006

2007

THE

MRAP

PROGAM

and small-arms fire, reduce deaths and 

traumatic injuries.

MRAPs come in 126 variations, 

each featuring unique communication 

systems, enhanced armor and 

independent suspension systems. With 

six original equipment manufacturers, 

the U.S. government procured the first 

MRAPs in 2006. A TIMELINE
16 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

Since the program’s inception in 

response to increased IED threats in 

Iraq, MRAPs are credited with saving 

thousands of lives. MRAPs were rapidly 

pushed to units in Iraq and Afghanistan 

after an Office of the Secretary of Defense 

order in 2007. The U.S. government was 

initially going to buy 1,463 MRAPs, but by 

July 2008, the military had accepted its 

10,000th MRAP. The Defense Logistics 

Agency was in charge of buying spare parts 

for those vehicles, said Sherry Wellmer, 

chief of DLA Land and Maritime’s MRAP 

integrated supplier team.

“DLA went from managing a hundred 

or so parts to managing over 30,000,” 

Wellmer said. “We had to ensure we 

were buying enough of the right parts 

to initially acquire stock and then keep 

it in the pipeline at all times. This kept 

readiness rates up and allowed our 

customers in the field to get the parts 

they needed. Having a dedicated team 

that focused solely on MRAP parts was 

integral to the program’s success.”

Collaboration between the original 

equipment manufacturers and DLA 

contributed to the program’s success, 

Wellmer said.

“The fact that we were able to 

accomplish as much as we did was 

a major feat,” she said. “At the time, 

MRAP was the No. 1 priority in the 

DoD, so it had high visibility. We 

overcame a lot of obstacles to get the 

spare parts to keep them going. Once 

we got through most of the obstacles, 

we had some of the companies, 

like Navistar, maintain resident 

representatives here at our agency so 

Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael Heckman

A Soldier climbs into his Mine Resistant 

Ambush Protected vehicle before departing 

on a convoy route clearing mission near Tikrit, 

Iraq. DLA manages more than 30,000 items for 

the MRAP fleet.

“At the time, MRAP was the No. 1 priority in the DoD, so it had high visibility. 

We overcame a lot of obstacles to get the spare parts to keep them going.”

— Sherry Wellmer
Loglines l July - August 2013 17

we could go to them for questions or 

help resolve issues.”

DLA Land and Maritime’s Brent 

Watson served on a tour with General 

Dynamics Land Systems Canada as a 

liaison officer in 2009. Watson, currently 

a DLA MRAP weapon system support 

manager, knows the damage IEDs can 

do firsthand. 

“I was in the Army in combat 

operations in Afghanistan prior to 

MRAPs,” he said. “I was in nine IED 

direct-fire ambushes, and I got pretty 

lucky. I know people who didn’t. Having 

gone through an IED, I can’t explain 

how much I hate them. There’s nothing 

you can do; there’s no enemy to fight, 

no way to respond, no way to react. [In 

the military], you spend a lot of time 

traveling terrain, and you know IEDs 

are there. It’s a completely different 

experience than being shot at. That 

motivated me to be a part of the program 

to improve the survivability for Soldiers. 

... It’s not only their survivability that has 

improved; their ability to execute their 

mission has improved.”

With various improvements over the 

years, including underbelly improvement 

kits, independent suspensions and 

survivability upgrades, MRAPs have 

constantly evolved, allowing the vehicles 

to survive larger explosions, Watson said.

“Pretty much every MRAP has 

gone through a major upgrade,” he 

said. “There are very few MRAPs in 

Afghanistan now that look like any of the 

MRAPs that were rolling around in Iraq, 

where we initiated the program. Visually 

they look the same, but parts-wise, 

configuration-wise, they’re different.”

In 2007, when more than 30,000 

troops were sent to Iraq as part of the 

“surge,” the DLA support team there – a 

deployed team of subject matter experts 

from across the agency – soon realized 

a more specialized team would need to 

be embedded with military maintenance 

units to help troubleshoot and expedite 

part requests for MRAP-specific issues.

Army Maj. Myles Caggins

A Soldier mans an M-240B machine gun 

mounted on a Mine Resistant Ambush 

Protected vehicle at Contingency Operating 

Base Adder, near Nasiriyah, Iraq. MRAPs are 

credited with saving thousands of lives in 

Afghanistan and Iraq.

•	 Second weapon system

manager added to support route

clearance vehicles

•	 MRAP rollover trainers

implemented in continental

United States

February

•	 First vehicles fielded in

Afghanistan

May

•	 First MRAP expedient armor

vehicles fielded in Iraq

July

•	 U.S. government accepts

10,000th MRAP

December

•	 MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle released

•	 Removal of obsolete parts begins

•	 Third MRAP weapon system

manager added

January

•	 1,000th MRAP vehicle fielded in

Afghanistan

•	 U.S. government accepts

15,000th MRAP

February

•	 DLA merges support for MRAPs

and route clearance vehicles into

one program office

August

•	 More than 10,000 national stock

numbers coded to the MRAP

October

•	 First five-member MRAP surge

team formed, sent to Afghanistan

November

•	 Five analysts hired to augment

DLA MRAP program office

March

•	 Second surge team sent to

Afghanistan to replace first

July

•	 20,000-plus NSNs coded to

MRAP

•	 Review of obsolete parts continues

2008

2010

THE MRAP PROGAM

A TIMELINE

2009
18 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

“The DST worked MRAP requirements before,” Watson said. “But it was 

just overwhelming when the military 

surged. The challenges we faced from 

a part standpoint really required a 

specialized and dedicated presence 

because of the vehicles they sent there.”

With constant configuration changes 

and upgrades to the MRAP’s multiple 

designs, customers in theater didn’t have 

access to current technical manuals. That 

often meant trying to help customers 

find the right MRAP part to get a vehicle 

up and running, which was a logistical 

challenge for the new DLA MRAP Support 

Team, Watson said.

With representatives from every 

supply chain, as well as the DLA Logistics 

Information Service and DLA Distribution, 

DLA’s MRAP program soon became an allencompassing, collaborative program, said 

Jeff Gamber, the weapons system support 

manager who deployed with the first DLA 

MRAP Surge Team to Afghanistan.

“No weapons system has ever attained 

a DLA enterprise support structure like 

MRAP had. We had dedicated subjectmatter experts from each [primary-level 

field activity],” he said. “The value of 

this organized effort permitted instant 

resolution to critical warfighter needs. If 

there were any issues that arose within, 

say, the DLA Disposition Services disposal 

lane, instead of having to find out who 

could help, we could go through one point 

of contact and fast-track leadership buy-in 

to energize rapid support.”

With a dedicated MRAP warehouse 

at the DLA Distribution center in Kuwait, 

Gamber and the DLA MRAP Support 

Team worked with other DLA activities to 

stage parts at forward locations to support 

the MRAP fleets in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Soldiers install armor-mounting brackets to 

a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle 

at Joint Security Station Loyalty in eastern 

Baghdad. In order to meet the rapid demand 

for MRAP parts, the Defense Logistics Agency 

implemented a hybrid support methodology, 

combining DLA’s wholesale support with 

contractor logistics support to build an 

inventory of stock parts. 

Army Staff Sgt. James Selesnick
Loglines l July - August 2013 19

November

•	 RPG net parts for M-ATVs

purchased

December

•	 Fourth weapon system

manager hired

July

•	 7,078 obsolete national stock

numbers removed

•	 $2 billion worth of parts shipped

by DLA to support MRAPs

August

•	 Fifth surge team

•	 Husky and Buffalo MRAP variants

achieve program of record

October

•	 26,316-plus MRAP NSNs

•	 43,000 DLA NSNs coded to

or associated with both MRAP

and RCV

•	 MRAP sales exceed $100 million

for three months straight

June

•	 MRAP Stock Optimization

Team established to maintain

industrial readiness between

the joint program office, multiple

DLA organizations, the military

services and manufacturers

August

•	 Seventh surge team heads to

Afghanistan

May

•	 46,785 total NSNs coded to

MRAP and RCV

•	 6,752 M-ATVs, plus 296 in the

enduring fleet

•	 To date, more than $3.2 billion

in sales

September

•	 Final MRAP surge team

scheduled to leave for

Afghanistan

•	 MRAP Joint Program Office,

headed by Marine Corps

Systems Command, scheduled

to close; switch to service-led

MRAP programs

With special buying authorities in place, 

Gamber and the team had multiple 

avenues to get critical stock. 

“If we didn’t have the DLA part on 

the shelf, our acquisition workforce could 

use special emergency procurement 

authority to procure parts from original 

equipment manufacturers,” he said. “If 

they had available inventory, many times 

they would ship within days to support 

the dead-lined MRAP in the field awaiting 

the part. On top of that, we knew if the 

part was ordered once for a dead-lined 

MRAP, it would be ordered again. To 

reduce customer wait time, we established 

a process for every MRAP emergency buy 

to be forward stocked in Kuwait.”

With inventory levels peaking, DLA 

and the MRAP Joint Program Office in 

Kandahar, Afghanistan, created a hybrid 

support strategy for wholesale parts that 

proved to be perfect for the vehicles, 

Gamber said.

“When you field a brand-new vehicle, 

2011

2012

2013

THE MRAP PROGAM

A TIMELINE

the gaining unit normally receives a push 

package with the parts that the program 

office predicts will break or eventually 

require replacement,” he said. “This 

initial issue of parts permits the supply 

chain to mature until retail and wholesale 

accounts adjust to the new demands. 

In most cases, every part listed in JPO 

MRAP push packages was also purchased 

by DLA in conjunction with vehicle 

fielding. We both had the capability 

to push parts to meet that customer’s 

requirements, and whatever one was 

faster was the one we chose.”

Gamber said he believes DLA 

employees’ dedication directly contributed 

to the success of the MRAP program.

“We were able to expedite any 

requirements for part orders back to the 

DLA supply chains,” he said. “And there 

was a lot of passion in our DLA workforce 

to make sure we got those parts. Due to 

that, we were able to meet any challenge 

and provide the right DLA support.” 

An MRAP that was the last U.S. Army vehicle to leave Iraq is cleaned before customs inspection at 

Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, in December 2011. DLA’s support to the vehicles continues in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Photo
20 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

Supply Chains Come to Life

Story by Amanda Neumann

uring David James’ deployment to Iraq in 2005, 

rarely a day went by when someone wasn’t trying 

to reach him for assistance. As a customer support 

representative at Camp Taji, 20 miles north of 

Baghdad, James was an expeditor for Defense 

Logistics Agency Troop Support’s supply chains. He was 

primarily responsible for repair parts, including the ones that 

fixed air conditioners, a necessity in the searing Iraq heat.

“It’s about 110 degrees almost every day during the 

summertime,” he said. “On a warm day, it would jump up to 115. 

The air conditioning parts were really hard to keep up with.”

Finding the parts warfighters needed became a daily 

concern for James, even when they were not at his forward 

operating base.

“A lot of it was face-to-face meetings with key customers,” 

he said. “Sometimes people would just walk into the office. 

But in some cases, I never met the customers. They might be 

on a remote location, but they would send emails or call and 

say, ‘Hey I’m at a different FOB, and I don’t have a customer 

service representative here. Can you help me?’ It gave me 

an opportunity to look at the whole supply chain from the 

perspective of the customer. The material they were ordering 

was things they needed to get vehicles working. So I saw the 

big picture and the impact that DLA has on really everything 

the military does.”

For James, chasing and locating equipment became a 

time-consuming process.

“At that time, we were in transition, so it was hard when 

you’d have to research the status of the requisition,” he said. 

D

Members of a mobile redistribution team at Camp Victory sort 

through equipment returned from forward operating bases 

throughout Iraq as part of the United States’ 2009 drawdown from 

Iraq. DLA personnel worked on the effort from the highest levels 

of command to forward operating bases throughout the country.

— Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Edwin L. Wriston
Loglines l July - August 2013 21

Navy officers serve Christmas dinner to the 

crew aboard the amphibious assault ship 

USS Boxer in the Persian Gulf in 2006. DLA 

Troop Support provided meals to warfighters 

involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom both on 

the ground and at sea. 

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James F. Bartels

“Some items were in [the Enterprise 

Business System, DLA’s tracking 

software], and some weren’t. So we still 

had item managers, and you’d have to 

track down who was responsible for the 

item, then see if you could contact the 

item manager or the procurement contract 

specialist and see what kind of due-in you 

had on the material.”

Part of his job also included educating 

Army supply personnel, because he was 

co-located with an Army logistics support 

element, James said.

 “Besides chasing parts, I was also 

helping the Army supply personnel 

navigate the DLA system, whether it was 

using some of the Web tools that we use or 

who to talk to about certain issues,” he said.

Less than a year and a half after 

his first six-month deployment was up, 

James deployed there again. He said he 

noticed several differences in supplychain requests.

James’ 2007 deployment came 

shortly before the troop surge in Iraq, 

so requests centered on ballistic glass 

for up-armored Humvees and building 

materials, he explained.

Getting supplies into the country 

was one thing, but Marine Lt. Col. 

Kyle McCarthy’s job was to get things 

out. While assigned to DLA, McCarthy 

deployed to Iraq from 2008 to 2009, 

where he worked with the Multinational 

Force-Iraq staff on logistics policy for 

forces throughout the country.

“We were starting to think about the 

drawdown and the retrograde out of Iraq, 

so we were looking at the different FOBs 

that were out there,” he said. 

If military units returning to the 

United States didn’t want to keep specific 

equipment, McCarthy got the signatures 

needed to authorize its transfer it to the 

Iraqi government.

“As we were moving out of those 

FOBs, Iraqi units were starting to take 

them over,” he said. 

In many cases, barriers, latrines 

and shower units stayed in place. With 

financial stewardship at the forefront of 

his mind, McCarthy made sure transfers 

moved quickly.

“Drawing down has a lot of moving 

pieces and a lot of equipment,” he said, 

adding that most of these moves were 

made on specific deadlines. 

“We just had to make sure we got the 

paperwork done before the closure so we 

could present it to that base commander 

who had authority to turn it over,” 

McCarthy said.

McCarthy, currently a DLA Troop 

Support Construction and Equipment 

supervisory customer relations specialist, 

said being deployed allowed him to see 

the supply chain come to life.

“Everything that those forwarddeployed people have comes through 

DLA and especially Troop Support,” he 

said. “The food [mission] is huge; you’re 

feeding a lot of people. The uniforms and 

protective equipment, they all come from 

people in the same building as me, just 

on the other end of the hall. If you got 

hurt, the medical facilities are supplied 

through Troop Support as well. It’s all 

about supporting that warfighter.”

Between 2006 and 2012, DLA 

Troop Support deployed more than 40 

employees to Iraq. 

Kim Angeny, currently a tailored 

vendor logistics specialist with DLA 

Troop Support Medical, deployed in 2010 

as an administrator for DLA Support 

Team-Iraq. She said being away from 

home for months was tough, but seeing 

the service members she supported made 

it all worthwhile.

“There was one [dining facility] we 

would go to for lunch that was close to the 

outside line,” she said. “And you would see 

the guys you knew were outside the wire. 

They would come in with the sunglass 

marks on their forehead and the dirt and 

dust on their uniforms. Although I was 

indirectly supporting them, just knowing 

that I’m doing what I can to support them 

and try to keep them safe ... makes it all 

worth it.”

Cathie Sexton, a supervisory logistics 

systems analyst from DLA Troop Support 

Subsistence, is a 33-year DLA employee 

who deployed to Iraq four times from 

2007 to 2012, first to Camp Victory and 

later to the U.S. Embassy.

She said her experience in Iraq 

proved invaluable when she returned to 

work stateside.

“I think it was one of the best 

experiences of my life because we make 

decisions back here and we don’t really 

know how they’re operating on the 

ground,” she said. “But when you have 

that boots-on-the-ground experience, I 

can come back here to meetings, and if 

they say, ‘We’ll just do this,’ I can say, 

‘No, you can’t, because this is how they 

operate downrange.’ We make decisions 

here that affect their operations as well. 

So when you have more experience, the 

better it is for everyone.” 
22 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

Supporting the 

State Department

Story by Beth Reece

Photos courtesy U.S. State Department

ore than a year has passed 

since U.S. troops left Iraq, but 

the Defense Logistics Agency 

continues to provide food, 

fuel and disposal services for 

the State Department officials who are 

representing the United States in Iraq. 

M DLA began planning in the fall of 2010 

to ensure logistics support would be in 

place for the State Department when it 

assumed responsibility for U.S. operations 

in Iraq Dec. 31, 2011. Since then, DLA 

employees have helped State Department 

officials establish their own support 

contract and provided assistance with 

operational logistics planning, as well as 

acquisition and financial management.

“It takes time to write contracts and 

go through the whole bidding process, 

plus there are certain regulations and 

procedures that government agencies 

have to follow,” said Lynne Allen, who 

worked alongside State Department 

officials at the American Embassy 

compound in Bagdad from November 

2012 to May 2013. “DLA agreed to 

continue providing basic life support 

to the State Department as long as they 

needed us.”

DLA used existing contracts to 

provide food to 13 dining facilities 

and fuel to 11 bulk fuel sites that were 

transferred from U.S. Forces-Iraq to the 

State Department. This gave the State 

Department officials time to arrange their 

own logistics support using resources 

available locally. Representatives from 

DLA Troop Support, DLA Energy and 

DLA Disposition Services were also 

initially stationed in Baghdad to help 

the State Department with commodityspecific issues, from determining the 

Lynne Allen, former DLA liaison to the U.S. State 

Department in Baghdad, poses for a photo 

with (left to right) State Department Foreign 

Service Officer Ted Plosser, John Harville of the 

Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center and Kevin 

Sparks of DLA Disposition Services.
Loglines l July - August 2013 23

State Department officials stationed abroad typically live and 

work in stable environments integrated with the local economy. 

Iraq continues to transition to “normalization,” and this period 

of stabilization takes patience and time. 

right amount of food and fuel needed to 

planning delivery times and locations. 

State Department officials stationed 

abroad typically live and work in stable 

environments integrated with the local 

economy. Iraq continues to transition 

to “normalization” and this period of 

stabilization takes patience and time, 

Allen explained. 

“The State Department learned 

how complex DLA support can be, how 

thorough and knowledgeable we are in 

providing that support,” she added. “The 

State Department is using experience 

with DLA support as a baseline to award 

a basic life support contract that will 

replace DLA support. The incoming 

contractor will be responsible for the 

same services currently provided by 

DLA; the main difference is the incoming 

contractor will draw upon local Iraqi 

or regional resources instead of U.S. 

government resources.”

Anita Luich is DLA’s current liaison 

in Iraq and is serving her second 

deployment to the embassy in Baghdad, 

having worked there from June through 

December 2012.

She said having a DLA liaison 

with the State Department during the 

transition is crucial.

“Working closely with the State 

Department will be critical as the 

[contractor] ramps up their supplies 

and services while DLA ramps down 

our support. Being the sole DLA 

[liaison officer] in Iraq, I’m constantly 

communicating with primary-level field 

activity representatives back in the states 

to ensure seamless support,” she said. 

As the State Department begins 

working with its own contractor, it has 

also reduced its footprint in Iraq by 67 

percent, an effort that DLA Disposition 

Services has already been heavily 

involved in, Allen said. 

State Department officials rely on help 

from DLA’s property disposal specialists to 

determine what types of equipment need 

demilitarization and how to dispose of 

unnecessary property.
24 www.dla.mil

Iraq: 10 Years Later

“When the military services pulled 

out in December 2011, they left a lot of 

equipment behind for future use. Now 

the push is on closing the military bases 

they used and returning that land to 

the government of Iraq, which means 

retrograding or disposing of equipment or 

giving it to the Iraqi government,” she said.

Property disposal specialists have 

helped State Department officials 

understand what types of equipment 

need “demilitarization,” a process that 

removes specific capabilities from 

military equipment.

“We’ve helped them understand what 

to demil and how, and they’ve asked 

us everything from who is qualified to 

[destroy] military equipment to what size 

things should be cut down to,” Allen said. 

Across Iraq, material identified for 

disposal is loaded in containers for truck 

movement to DLA Disposition Services’ 

5-acre disposition site, where a small 

group of DLA employees processes scrap 

material and demilitarizes equipment, 

Allen said.

“Using and sharing DLA’s experience 

and skills in disposal operations has 

enabled the State Department to stay on 

schedule and meet its reductions targets,” 

Allen said.

DLA Disposition Services will 

assist the new contractor until things 

are running efficiently, Luich said. The 

agency will also turn over to the State 

Department such material as plasma 

cutters and industrial shredders deemed 

necessary for the new contractor to meet 

mission requirements. 

Serving as DLA’s senior liaison in 

Baghdad was a tremendous learning 

experience, Allen said, adding that it was 

all the more rewarding to have support 

from the rest of DLA. 

“I may have been the sole DLA 

liaison officer at the embassy compound, 

however it was a total team DLA effort, 

and I appreciate all support I received 

during my deployment,” Allen said.

“I have a better understanding of 

what our warfighters go through in terms 

of the isolation and the camaraderie 

they build and the sacrifices they have 

to make,” she said. “You often hear 

that deploying is a once-in-a-lifetime 

experience [for civilian employees], and 

it really is.” 

Property disposal specialists have helped State Department officials understand 

what types of equipment need “demilitarization,” a process that removes specific 

capabilities from military equipment.

DLA Disposition Services’ Tony Nino destroys 

equipment so it can’t be used against U.S. 

forces.
LogPoints DLA Public Affairs

by the numbers

“You’re doing a great job. If I was about to take a ... pay cut, I’m not sure I’d be 

the high-output organization that you all are, so thanks for bucking up and really 

shouldering this enormous burden with a lot of class.”

DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek, speaking during his May 21 Director’s Call with the workforce

about the 11 days of furloughs DoD civilians will start the week of July 8

“I don’t pay much attention to the fact war brought it here, 

I just care about the quality.”

Parwiz Khojazada, an Afghan steel mill chief executive, on the 

prospect of buying scrap metal from the U.S. military as it 

demilitarizes equipment during the drawdown in Afghanistan 

(Source: Yahoo! News)

“We have a huge issue. And the main thing I want everybody 

to understand is that [sexual assault] is not just a passing 

issue. For whatever reason, this is one that we’ve had for a 

very long time, and we have not been able to defeat it.”

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, speaking to a gathering 

of senior Army leaders about sexual assault in the armed forces 

(Source: Chicago Tribune)

“The fact is our force in Afghanistan is shrinking fast, and 

all the creature comforts and services deployed militarymembers have grown accustomed to over the past decade 

are going to be reduced. When serving, we are challenged 

to endure different things, to face different challenges, 

over time. But we’re an odd bunch, we Marines — 

probably no surprise that we’ll complain more about 

losing the sandwich bar on the way out than we did about 

getting shot at on the way in.”

Marine Lt. Col. Cliff Gilmore, a public affairs officer at Camp 

Leatherneck, Afghanistan, on the loss of some hot meals

as the drawdown there continues 

(Source: NBC News)

quotables

13 MILLION GALLONS

Amount of fuel shipped each month to 

U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq in 2006, 

enough to drive a 2006 Toyota Prius 

more than 500 million miles. 

(Source: Environmental Protection Agency) 

120,000 POUNDS

Weight of a propeller shaft that was 

destroyed and disposed of by DLA 

Disposition Services in Guam in May, 

equal to the weight of about 24 million 

drywall screws.

$10 MILLION

Money saved by DLA Aviation’s 

Matthew Johns through an effort to 

reduce duplicate orders for 26 items 

associated with the F108 engine used 

to power large aircraft.

2007

The year the first Mine Resistant 

Ambush Protected vehicle was 

delivered to warfighters in Iraq.

Loglines l July - August 2013 25
A Conversation with . . .

26 www.dla.mil

What was your role in providing 

logistics support during the war 

in Iraq?

I spent five years developing 

logistics in the U.S. Central Command 

area of responsibility, to include being 

the CENTCOM director of logistics 

and commander of the 1st Theater 

Support Command. I also oversaw 

the monumental effort to draw down 

millions of pieces of equipment during 

the end of the war in Iraq and worked 

with DLA Disposition Services as it 

removed hazardous material and scrap 

from Iraq. It was a great collaborative 

effort, and I was impressed with DLA’s 

monster capability.

What was the biggest logistical 

challenge before the start of 

operations in Iraq?

There was a rapid buildup of 

forces at the start of the war, so we 

had to work fast and hard to build 

a supply base in Kuwait. Sustaining 

a force in that type of environment, 

where there’s insurgent violence and 

political instability, is challenging 

enough, but the high-priority nature 

of sustainment for warfighters in Iraq 

also caused the material pipeline to 

get clogged early in the war. 

One of the things we had issues 

with right at the start was tank pads; 

these pads reduce shock and noise, 

as well as damage to road surface. 

They melted rapidly as we drove tanks 

from Kuwait to Iraq in 120 degree 

temperatures, and the amount we 

were asking to resupply was about 

five times more than anticipated. For 

this and several other items, we had 

to find manufacturers that could set 

up additional production lines. DLA 

and Army Materiel Command worked 

closely with manufacturers to ramp 

up production of repair parts that 

hadn’t been made in a while.

DLA’s Logistics Operations Director Shares Lessons He Learned During His Five Years Supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

Based on your knowledge of military logistics in general and DLA 

operations specifically, what are 

some of the toughest and most 

important lessons learned in Iraq?

One of the biggest things we 

learned is that we need to have a close 

relationship with warfighters and share 

a role in the early stages of logistics 

planning. For example, when a commander says, “We’re going through 

this city,” we need to be able to say, 

“Sir, there’s a bridge in that city and 

Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dowd, DLA Logistics Operations director, and Air Force Col. Seann 

Cahill, incident response commander, participate in a briefing on DLA’s response to two simulated 

hurricanes bearing down on Florida as part of Exercise Ardent Sentry in May.

Teodora Mocanu

Army Maj. Gen. Kenne 
DLA Public Affairs

Loglines l July - August 2013 27

e th Dowd

if that bridge is taken out, it’s going to 

stop all of your logistical support.” And 

because we’re fighting with more of 

a joint flavor, we need to know more 

about what each service does and how 

they operate. Providing logistics from 

a joint perspective also helps us better 

manage costs in the long run.

The drawdown of millions of 

pieces of equipment was also a 

monumental task. Both the services 

and DLA realized how critical it was to 

have a strong DLA Disposition Services 

presence on the ground staffed with 

DLA experts who have training and 

experience in property disposal. 

What are some of the most 

significant changes DLA made 

because of those lessons?

We’re doing a better job planning 

logistics support and retrograde. 

Years ago, we tried to synchronize 

efforts from DLA Headquarters at Fort 

Belvoir, Va., but now we’re physically 

sitting in those logistics meetings in 

country to make sure we’re synced 

with what the warfighter needs. In 

addition to putting senior officers on 

the battlefield alongside warfighters, 

we have national account managers 

for each service and to represent the 

federal agencies. We’re able to better 

discuss challenges and brainstorm 

solutions. Most importantly, 

warfighters don’t have to call around 

looking for their logistics person 

because in most cases, they’re now part 

of the operational planning teams.

We’ve also taken what we learned 

in Iraq in the disposition arena and 

started building that capability early 

on in Afghanistan. And we’ve got 

better, top-of-the-line shredders and 

cutters to tear stuff down. Today, 

we’re actually cutting up significant 

items such as Mine Resistant Ambush 

Protected vehicles on site, where 

before we would have thrown them 

into a container and paid as much as 

$100,000 per vehicle to fly them back 

to the United States. 

Additionally, we’re talking more 

with our industrial partners, such 

as Boeing, UPS and FedEx, to find 

out what their best practices are and 

whether there are better ways to 

supply our warfighters. Tremendous 

opportunities are being created by 

these exchanges, and we’re also discovering cost savings by doing things 

differently in some areas.

Having worked with DLA as 

commander of 1st Theater Support 

Command, what changes did you 

want to make upon your arrival 

at DLA?

I know what it’s like to be a 

Soldier sitting in a foxhole in the 

middle of the night wondering if his 

requirement has made it all the way 

back to DLA or the Army Materiel 

Command. Because of that, I try to 

convey the urgency of the warfighter 

and how the work we do each and 

every day impacts those service 

members on the front line. 

Another thing I set out to do was 

ensure that we’re linked to each of 

the services so that when they have 

an issue, they know who to work with 

to get it fixed. We’re also asking the 

services to tell us what they’d like to 

see us do better and provide feedback 

on additional ways we can help them. 

DLA used to be a very businessoriented organization that focused 

on money and inventory. That’s still 

very important, but now we’re directly 

engaged with customers to find out 

what it is they really need and how we 

can provide it when and where they 

need it. As DLA Director Navy Vice 

Adm. Mark Harnitchek, says, we’ve 

become a big logistics enabler. 

Based on your experience with the 

drawdown in Iraq, what things 

should we repeat or do differently 

with the drawdown in Afghanistan?

The big thing is to take the 

lessons we learned from Iraq and 

push them to Afghanistan. For 

example, making sure we have 

demilitarization gear and property 

disposal yards in the right place. As I 

mentioned before, in Iraq we learned 

how to better manage property and 

scrap at forward operating bases. 

So now in Afghanistan, instead of 

putting a warfighter at risk driving 

scrap to one central location in 

Bagram, we cut it up and dispose of 

it in place if at all possible, using our 

hub-based disposal operations.

We work closely with the Office of 

the Secretary of Defense to get policies 

in place that allow cutting it up in place 

and determining what equipment 

needs to be brought back. Having 

those policies in place early was a huge 

help and a lesson taken from Iraq.

How do you view DLA now that 

you’ve been here for almost one 

year?

DLA is a tremendous organization, and I’m proud to be a part of 

it. The men and women who work 

here are first class. They work hard 

and care about what they do. I 

believe we’ll continue to get more 

missions in the future, because the 

services are realizing how great we 

are at our business. 
28 www.dla.mil

Your Personnel Guides Story by Beth Reece

hameera Carr gives good advice, 

and she isn’t afraid to tell people 

what they don’t want to hear. As 

a labor and employee relations 

specialist serving DLA Aviation, 

she spends most of each workday guiding 

supervisors through issues like telework 

and disciplinary actions. 

“Without her expert advice, we’d 

be in trouble,” DLA Aviation Customer 

Operations Deputy Director Paul Hughes 

said about Carr’s recent help with a leave 

administration matter. 

Carr and 18 other human resources 

specialists are spread across eight DLA 

Aviation sites to help leaders with staffing, 

recruitment, position classification, 

organizational restructures and even the 

implementation of furloughs. Similar teams 

are located at DLA Headquarters and the 

agency’s field activities. Each is headed by 

a customer account manager who oversees 

human resources support at local levels. 

John Bray, customer account manager 

for DLA Troop Support, which has nine 

human resources specialists, calls his 

team a “gateway for information.” As DLA 

Headquarters officials outline details and 

provide guidance on impending employee 

furloughs, for example, Bray and his team 

S interpret that guidance for local use. 

Recent planned furlough notices that 

were canceled the day before they were 

sent out showed the need for this type of 

expertise in organizations. 

 “We had a lot of questions about 

exactly when and how the letter was going 

to be issued, but after we sent the template 

and instructions out to supervisors, many 

of them said we’d made it really easy for 

them,” said Rocky Weaver, customer 

account manager for DLA Aviation.

In addition to an agencywide town 

hall meeting in which DLA Human 

Resources Director Brad Bunn outlined 

the civilian furlough plan, Bray met 

with local supervisors to ensure their 

questions were answered. Customer 

account managers at other DLA 

organizations may have taken different 

steps, he added, but their collective goal 

was to ensure supervisors and employees 

were informed of the latest developments. 

 Managers also need assistance 

in other areas of human resources. 

Weaver’s staff stays busy helping 

leaders with organizational structure 

and position management, especially in 

regards to how offices are staffed. 

“When each new commander comes 

in, they have different thoughts on the 

way business needs to be run, so they 

start posturing the organization the way 

they feel it needs to be set up,” he said. 

Current changes include a new 

planning directorate that will absorb 

employees from two other divisions, plus 

modifications in the staffing structure of 

another directorate. And while hiring has 

been suspended throughout DLA, human 

resources specialists are still working with 

managers in cases where exceptions have 

been made for mission-essential reasons. 

Training has also been curtailed, but 

the rollout of the Enterprise Business 

System’s Inventory Management Stock 

Positioning tool at several Navy sites 

will require employees to be trained. 

Human resources specialists are working 

with DLA Training officials to ensure 

employees still get the necessary training.

Customer account managers and their 

team members, all of whom specialize 

CUSTOMER ACCOUNT MANAGERS
Loglines l July - August 2013 29

in an area such as regulations or labor 

relations, work primarily with directors 

and supervisors, but frequently assist 

employees with benefits and other 

personnel processes. 

“A lot of times people will call me 

first. I may not have the answer they’re 

looking for, but one of my specialists will, 

or we’ll point them in the right direction,” 

Bray said. 

In a single day, Carr may receive 

calls on telework, leave administration, 

overtime, awards, and various policies, 

rules and regulations, she said. In the rare 

moments when her help isn’t being sought, 

she’s busy interpreting the language in the 

organization’s Master Labor Agreement 

or offering refresher labor management 

training for supervisors. 

It’s like being pulled in 15 different 

directions at once, she and Weaver agreed.

“This is the busiest job I’ve ever 

had in my life,” Weaver said. “It can be 

difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment 

because you’re constantly moving on to 

the next project.”

Their efforts don’t go unnoticed by 

their customers, including Steve Thien, 

chief of the DLA Aviation Industrial Plant 

Equipment Services Division. 

“When it comes to HR support, 

few teams can match their reliability 

and caring. The number of personnel 

actions over the last three years in our 

division would be well over 1,000. The 

important point is each of these actions 

affects someone’s life in some way,” 

Thien said. “Bottom line: Rocky and his 

team care.” 
I AM

My name is:

Nathan Zuniga

I am:

A quality assurance specialist with DLA Energy.

Describe your job in a sentence.

I perform quality control and assurance for all types of fuel and 

cryogenics that are purchased for our warfighters.

How long have you worked for DLA?

I have been in DLA Energy 13 months now, but worked with 

DLA Energy on a number of my deployments when I was on active 

duty for 22 years in the Air Force.

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA?

My favorite thing about working for DLA is being part of this 

great team of professionals that provide the essential items the 

warfighter needs to accomplish their mission on a daily basis.

What is your best memory of working here?

My best memory of working for DLA is meeting the 

president when I was doing a secure mission.

How do you make a difference?

I believe that I make a difference by using the skill set 

and experience I acquired during my 22 years of active 

duty military service to provide an insight to our partners 

and suppliers of what the warfighter needs to accomplish 

the mission. 

Nathan Zuniga