Keeping the Coast Guard

ALWAYS READY

LOGLINES

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MARCH – APRIL 2013

Special Pullout in This Issue

Director’s Guidance 2013
DIRECTOR

from the

E

very day DLA employees are engaged 

with our partners and customers in 

government, industry, the combatant 

commands and the military services 

to ensure we provide the best logistics 

support possible to America’s Warfighters.

In 2006, we began a partnership with 

the U.S. Coast Guard that will continue 

to grow in the years to come. While 

the Coast Guard does not fall under the 

Department of Defense, these brave men 

and women are still Warfighters, and 

they need and deserve the same level of 

customer service and support we provide 

the other military services.

Since its birth in 1790, the Coast 

Guard has grown and its mission has 

expanded significantly. The service began 

as a fleet of 10 vessels charged with 

enforcing the government’s tariff and 

trade laws at sea, and then assumed the 

Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek, USN

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

U.S. Life-Saving Service mission more 

than a century later. Today, the Coast 

Guard has 42,000 men and women on 

active duty, along with reservists and 

civil servants, who conduct 11 missions 

ranging from drug interdiction to search 

and rescue. This calls for a range of supply 

and logistics support requirements — 

some common to all the military services, 

others unique to the Coast Guard’s various 

platforms and missions.

DLA is helping to meet those 

requirements. We currently provide 

fuel and some of the consumable items 

the service needs to operate. Going 

forward, DLA and the Coast Guard 

will look for ways to strengthen our 

partnership to find areas where DLA can 

extend our logistics capabilities to help 

the Coast Guard achieve its cost savings 

and efficiency goals. No one knows 

logistics like DLA, so it makes sense for 

us to take on the logistics challenges and 

allow the Coast Guard to focus on its 

core mission areas. 

At DLA, 2013 is the year of execution, 

when innovative ideas become significant 

actions we execute in big ways. Like the 

Coast Guard, DLA has evolved, and with 

every new mission or undertaking, this 

agency’s workforce has become more 

agile and effective. 

The Coast Guard’s motto is “Semper 

Paratus,” or “Always Ready.” We will 

continue to do our part to ensure they 

stay that way. 

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

Lally Laksbergs

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 March - April 2013 1

Expanding Partnership 2

The Defense Logistics Agency has been supplying the Coast 

Guard with items since a 2006 interagency agreement and 

looks to treat it like any other military service.

Sustaining the Mission 8

Coast Guardsmen need a variety of items to accomplish their 

multiple missions, including food, uniforms, equipment and 

medicine. DLA Troop Support helps ensure they have them.

By Land and By Sea 12

DLA Land and Maritime supplies the Coast Guard with the 

parts it needs to keep its boats, cutters and ground vehicles 

operational.

On the Flight Deck 15

DLA Aviation provides repair parts for the Coast Guard’s 

MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters, which are similar to other 

military services’ airframes.

Fueling Enforcement 16

A variety of methods are employed to keep fuel in the Coast 

Guard’s cutters, aircraft and ground vehicles. DLA Energy 

uses its buying clout to get the service the best prices.

Above and Beyond 22

The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission 

brought many new missions to DLA, among them personnel 

management for other Defense Department organizations.

Agents for Change 24

The DLA Logistics Management Standards Office works 

to ensure data interoperability between the Defense 

Department’s multiple logistics computer systems.

Honoring Valor 26

Ribbon for the Medal of Honor is produced at a single 

company to ensure quality control and security for the 

nation’s highest award for battlefield valor.

A Conversation with ... 18

LogPoints 21

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

ALWAYS READY

March - April 2013

2

8

22

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

www.facebook.com/

dla.mil

www.twitter.com/

dlamil www.dla.mil

www.youtube.com/

dodlogisticsagency

DLA on the Web

Special Pullout

DLA Director Navy Vice 

Adm. Mark Harnitchek’s 

2013 Director’s Guidance 

details his “Big Ideas” to 

save the agency money.

Keeping the Coast Guard

 Front Cover

 — Photo by Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Tom Sperduto
2 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

Expanding 

Partnership

Story by Sara Moore
Loglines l March - April 2013 3

presence on land, at sea and in the air, it 

isn’t only the sky that’s the limit. 

DLA’s relationship with the Coast 

Guard dates back to 2006, when the 

service signed an agreement with DLA 

Energy for energy procurement support, 

said Barbara Shaffer, the customer 

account manager for the Coast Guard in 

DLA Logistics Operations. That particular 

agreement is still in place, and in fiscal 

2012, the Coast Guard purchased about 

$211 million in fuel from DLA Energy. 

Since 2006, DLA and the Coast 

Guard have established several other 

agreements, Shaffer said, including 

performance-based agreements for both 

engineering and cataloguing support and 

a January 2011 interagency agreement 

that established a formal relationship 

between the two entities and set the stage 

for expanding support in the future. DLA 

DLA is happy to oblige an existing customer 

and expand its support base. 

DLA is a recognized expert in 

logistics, and both sides agree that 

the possibilities for expanding agency 

support to the Coast Guard are 

numerous. And with a Coast Guard 

etween drug interdiction, coastal 

security, search-and-rescue 

missions, marine environmental 

protection, migrant interdiction 

and responses to natural 

disasters, the Coast Guard is as busy as 

the four Defense Department military 

services, though it isn’t often in the 

spotlight. With so many varied missions, 

the Coast Guard is looking to increase its 

effectiveness by partnering with the Defense 

Logistics Agency for logistics support, and 

etween drug interdiction, coastal 

security, search-and-rescue 

missions, marine environmental 

protection, migrant interdiction 

and responses to natural 

disasters, the Coast Guard is as busy as 

B

Coast Guard and emergency medical personnel 

transfer a survivor of a shing vessel accident from 

a rescue helicopter to an ambulance in Portage Bay, 

Alaska. The Coast Guard performs many critical 

missions, and logistics support from DLA helps the 

service stay ready and responsive. 

— Photo by Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 2nd Class Charly Hengen
4 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

and the Coast Guard have been actively 

working toward that expansion and now 

have a draft version of an overarching 

performance-based agreement that 

would cover such metrics as material 

availability, perfect order fulfillment and 

logistics responses. 

DLA already manages consumable 

items — those that won’t be replaced, like 

uniforms and food — that are common to 

the other military services, for the Coast 

Guard, Shaffer said. And because the 

agency is working with the Coast Guard 

to expand that support to service-unique 

items, this agreement is important in 

setting support standards.

“Whether it’s the common items that 

we currently sell to them or unique items 

that they decide they want us to be the 

item manager for, the [performancebased agreement] says that we’ll provide 

them with a certain material availability 

and an agreed-upon rate of perfect order 

fulfillment, and the logistics response 

time,” she said.

Based on interest from the Coast 

Guard, DLA has already begun managing 

some service-unique consumable items 

for the service. On Nov. 1, DLA assumed 

responsibility for all the unique items 

on the Coast Guard’s 87-foot coastal 

patrol boats, the most numerous vessel 

in its fleet. The agency worked closely 

with the Coast Guard to identify the 

unique items needed for these boats that 

meet DLA’s stockage criteria, Shaffer 

said. Ultimately, about 150 items were 

Crew members aboard the USCG Cutter 

Hollyhock load oil spill recovery gear in the 

vessel’s cargo hold while moored at Coast 

Guard Station St. Ignace, Mich. DLA hopes to 

expand its support to the Coast Guard to cover 

more of the service’s unique items. 

 Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 1st Class Matthew Schoeld
Loglines l March - April 2013 5

Coast Guardsmen attached to the USCG 

Cutter Northland maneuver during the interdiction of 3,500 pounds of cocaine from a vessel 

in the Caribbean Sea. DLA is expanding its 

support to the Coast Guard so the service can 

free up its assets for critical missions like this. 

transferred to DLA’s management, 

joining the 330 common items the 

agency already managed for that 

specific boat. DLA and the Coast Guard 

are now working on the next platform, 

which will be the 110-foot coastal patrol 

boat, she said. The service will likely 

work with DLA on transferring item 

management for other platforms in the 

future, she said. 

“[The Coast Guard wants] to lean 

forward and leverage DLA’s capabilities 

wherever it makes sense and wherever 

they can achieve efficiencies by doing so,” 

Shaffer said. 

On the Coast Guard’s side, a major 

motivation for expanding its partnership 

with DLA is the modernization of its fleet 

and logistics procedures, said Dennis 

Crimiel, deputy chief of the Office of 

Logistics at Coast Guard Headquarters. 

The service is in the process of updating 

its information technology platforms and 

inventory procedures. As this process 

goes forward, the service is looking for 

opportunities to increase efficiency, he said. 

“When you look at the Coast Guard, 

its 42,000 servicemen and civilians and 

reservists, we’re a small entity compared 

to the other services,” Crimiel said. “We 

recognize that there are some functions 

that are not our core competencies, like 

managing warehouses and buying parts. 

... So what we want to do, whether it’s with 

DLA or any other interagency partner, 

if there’s a way that we can leverage a 

capability that’s a core capability and a 

core function of that agency or service, 

we’re more than willing to take a look at 

doing that.”

The Coast Guard may be small, but 

DLA’s goal is to bring it up to the same 

level of support as the other military 

services, where the agency responds 

to whatever needs the service has and 

uses its broad industrial base to fulfill 

logistics requirements, said David 

Kless, national account manager for 

international and federal programs in 

DLA Logistics Operations. When it comes 

to purchasing and managing consumable 

items, he said, the Coast Guard will 

save a lot of time and money by using 

DLA’s capabilities. Because of its similar 

missions to the other services, many of 

the supply sources the Coast Guard uses 

are the same sources DLA uses, but DLA 

often gets a better price because of the 

established relationships it has and the 

amount of materials it purchases, he said.

“By leveraging DLA’s buying power 

and leveraging the economies of scale, 

the Coast Guard would be able to get 

the material they need at a more costeffective price,” he noted. 

In addition to managing consumables, 

DLA and the Coast Guard are looking at 

many other areas of expanding support, 

like warehousing, cataloguing, training, 

hazardous material management and 

procurement of items repaired at depot 

level to increase their life cycles. 

Coast Guard logistics leaders came to 

DLA Headquarters Nov. 30 for a DLACoast Guard executive-level review, in 

Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Defense Logistics Agency Logistics Information Service

Streamlining Support Services

A performance-based agreement signed in May 2012 allows the Defense Logistics Agency 

Logistics Information Service to provide provisioning and cataloging support to the Coast Guard. 

One way to streamline support involves DLA Logistics Information Service’s assistance in 

screening for existing national stock numbers, identifying possible item substitutes and logistics 

data discrepancies, as well as providing naming and classification information.

DLA Logistics Information Service support to the Coast Guard in fiscal 2013:

•	 100 hours of cataloging for fast response cutters.

•	 A new military interdepartmental purchase request allowing transfer

 of funds for specific work to support small response boats 

 under the existing performance-based agreement.

•	 Assignment of 63 new Coast Guard-managed NSNs for the fast response cutters.
6 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

which representatives discussed these and 

other possible avenues for DLA support to 

the Coast Guard. Leaders from both sides 

agreed that the time is ripe for expanded 

DLA support to the Coast Guard, especially 

as federal agencies look for ways to trim 

budgets and increase efficiency.

“In the current climate that we’re in 

with budget constraints, we have a real 

obligation to look and see how we might be 

able to be more efficient and more effective 

as entities of the federal government and 

work together better,” Rear Adm. Ronald 

Rabago, the Coast Guard’s assistant 

commandant for engineering and logistics, 

said at the review. Rabago noted that over 

the years, he has seen the benefit of doing 

business with DLA grow as the agency’s 

operations have become more efficient and 

encompassed more areas. 

Rabago pointed out that the flexibility 

of working with DLA instead of working 

with commercial vendors has helped the 

Coast Guard immensely. He cited the 

example of the response to Hurricane 

Sandy, when residents along the East 

Coast urgently needed fuel. Working with 

DLA, the Coast Guard was able to meet 

those requirements through one-time 

buys and other means, he said, whereas 

working with a commercial vendor would 

have restricted the options. 

Coast Guard leaders have taken an 

interest in how DLA has expanded its 

partnerships with the other services, 

especially after the 2005 Base Realignment 

and Closure legislation that transferred 

many new responsibilities to the agency, 

Crimiel said. Those leaders have watched 

as DLA took over depot maintenance 

functions and warehousing for the services, 

for instance, and have seen opportunities 

to leverage those capabilities and reduce 

costs, he said. 

“As we look at our shrinking budgets 

down the line, ... if it makes more sense 

for us to leverage the capability of 

someone who really does it well as one of 

their functions, then we’re looking to do 

that,” he said. “It will make more sense 

for us in the future, because we know 

that we’re going to get smaller in terms of 

personnel and infrastructure.”

Currently, DLA supports the Coast 

Guard through all of its supply chains. In 

fiscal 2012, DLA made more than $285 

million of sales to the Coast Guard. More 

than $211 million of that was energy 

procurement, and the rest consisted of 

items across the other supply chains, 

Kless said. Of the non-energy sales, the 

aviation and maritime supply chains 

had the highest dollar value, due mostly 

to the cost of the materials, he said. 

DLA Logistics Information Service also 

provides cataloguing support to the Coast 

Guard, which Crimiel cited as being 

extremely helpful in freeing up resources 

for core missions. 

“We as a service have been able 

to leverage [this partnership] across 

all commodities, including uniforms, 

energy, fuel, clothing and textiles, spare 

parts. I think we’re truly engaged with 

DLA, and I think that as we continue 

to work together more, we’ll find more 

opportunities to explore,” Crimiel said. 

The Coast Guard and DLA are 

actively engaged now in expanding their 

partnership, Kless said, and as they work 

on one area of support, conversations 

naturally lead to other areas to explore. 

The Coast Guard is now becoming 

interested in DLA’s new initiatives and 

how it can be brought into the fold as a 

full partner with the agency, he said.

“In the past, as we’ve developed 

Coast Guardsmen with the USCG Cutter Northland unload 3,500 pounds of cocaine seized in 

the Caribbean Sea. The Coast Guard has unique missions, like drug interdiction, but many of the 

same needs as the other services, making it a logical partner with the Defense Logistics Agency. 

Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 2nd Class Nick Ameen

“We have a real obligation to 

look and see how we might 

be able to be more efcient 

and more effective as entities 

of the federal government 

and work together better.”

— Coast Guard Rear Adm.

Ronald Rabago
Loglines 

l March - April 2013

7

or looked at new initiatives, we’ve 

looked across the four services. Well, 

now we’re looking across the five 

services,” Kless said. “The Coast Guard 

is helping participate in the requirements 

development. So instead of coming in 

after requirements have been developed 

and the solution’s in place, they’re helping 

shape and determine the requirements, 

which is more of a partnership.”

This expanded partnership benefits 

the Coast Guard by freeing up resources 

for core missions and increasing logistics 

efficiency, but it also benefits DLA 

by expanding the agency’s customer 

base, Kless said. In many ways, DLA’s 

support to the Coast Guard can be seen 

as a model for future support to other 

federal agencies outside of the Defense 

Department, which is an expansion 

the agency is interested in making, he 

said. The Coast Guard looks much like 

a traditional military service, but the 

same concept used to support it could 

be applied to other federal agencies that 

have much different missions, he noted. 

“We’re using the same concept and 

approach of any logistics capability 

DLA currently has. We could apply that 

capability to other federal agencies to 

meet their logistics needs,” he said. 

“That’s what this team is doing across 

the board, going out to non-traditional 

customers – federal agencies and state 

and local agencies – and expanding 

DLA’s customer base. ... As our 

traditional customer base is drawing 

down and we anticipate reduced business 

with our traditional customers, one of the 

director’s initiatives is go out and expand 

the customer base.” 

A Coast Guardsman takes fried chicken out 

of a fry basket in the galley aboard USCG 

Cutter Dallas. DLA supports many of the 

Coast Guard’s vessels with its prime vendor 

subsistence contracts. 

Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley
8 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

Sustaining the Mis

Story by Sara Moore

espite their many different 

missions, all the military services 

need the same basic things – like 

food, uniforms and equipment 

– to survive. The Coast Guard is 

no different, and that’s why it works with 

Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support 

to keep its members mission-ready. 

DLA Troop Support provides items 

to the Coast Guard from all its supply 

chains and supports a wide range of 

installations, vessels and missions. In 

fiscal 2012, the Coast Guard purchased 

$37.7 million worth of material from the 

subsistence, medical, clothing and textiles, 

industrial hardware, and construction and 

equipment supply chains. 

DLA Troop Support has been working 

with the Coast Guard for several years, 

with the relationship expanding over 

time, said Nancy Smisko, customer 

support liaison for Navy and non-Defense 

Department customers in the DLA Troop 

Support Customer Operations Directorate. 

The 2011 interagency agreement between 

DLA and the Coast Guard solidified 

DLA’s relationship with the Coast Guard 

and helped pave the way for additional 

espite their many different 

missions, all the military services 

need the same basic things – like 

food, uniforms and equipment 

– to survive. The Coast Guard is 

no different, and that’s why it works with 

D opportunities with the Coast Guard. 

For example, DLA Troop Support’s 

construction and equipment supply 

chain worked with the Coast Guard’s 

deployment operations group to supply 

commercial items needed for special 

operations, she said. DLA Troop 

Support also provides many different 

items, and the service is working to 

identify more areas of support, she said. 

“We treat all customers the same, and 

we give outstanding support,” Smisko said. 

“If DLA leaders identify some more areas 

of business where they feel we can support 

the Coast Guard, then we can work with 

those individuals and brief them on the 

product lines we can support.” 

The construction and equipment 

supply chain is ripe for expansion, 

said Ed McCauley, supervisor of the 

Operating Forces Support Branch 

Customer Operations Directorate. The 

supply chain supports the Coast Guard 

with several items, he said, but its business with the Coast Guard accounts for 

only a fraction of its sales, $8.48 million out of $2.8 billion in fiscal 2012. 

Most of the sales DLA Troop Support 

Construction and Equipment makes 

to the Coast Guard fall within the two 

areas McCauley has authority over: fire 

and emergency services equipment 

and special operational equipment. 

These areas include items the 

Coast Guard needs to perform 

search-and-rescue missions and 

specialty missions like operational 

marine lifesaving and diving, he 

said. The two other main areas 
Loglines l March - April 2013 9

sion

A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew lands on an ice 

sheet near Nome, Alaska. DLA Troop Support helps ensure 

Coast Guard boats and cutters have everything they need for 

their various missions. 

— Photo by Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 2nd Class Eric J. Chandler
10 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

the supply chain does business with 

the Coast Guard in are metals and 

maintenance, repair and operation prime 

vendor contracts. While DLA Troop 

Support Construction and Equipment 

does some business with the Coast Guard 

in other areas like building materials, 

commercial hardware, and lumber, 

McCauley said he thinks the service could 

tap many more resources DLA Troop 

Support has to offer. 

“The Coast Guard is involved 

in several different things, not only 

protection of the coastline, which 

is enormous, but drug interdiction 

and emergency rescues, and support 

after hurricanes and major disasters,” 

McCauley said. “So they really perform 

a critical mission. Now obviously, their 

budget is not going to be as high as 

the Army, Navy or Air Force, but they 

certainly order and need the kinds of 

supplies that we can supply in DLA, and 

particularly in C&E.”

McCauley said he sees room for 

expansion in many areas in construction 

and equipment, including building 

and maintenance materials for onshore 

facilities, heavy equipment procurement, 

and even special operational equipment. 

By partnering more with DLA in these 

areas, he said, the Coast Guard could take 

advantage of the agency’s contracting 

expertise and established relationships 

with prime vendors. DLA has very low 

cost-recovery rates, fast turnaround times 

and access to state-of-the-art equipment, 

he said. 

The benefits DLA brings apply not 

only to the construction and equipment 

supply chain, but also to the other DLA 

Troop Support supply chains, such as 

clothing and textiles, which supplies 

some essential items to the Coast Guard. 

DLA Troop Support is the main 

supplier of uniforms and clothing for 

the Coast Guard, said Gary Colello, 

director of customer operations for DLA 

Troop Support Clothing and Textiles. 

DLA’s support is focused on two main 

hubs: U.S. Coast Guard Training Center 

Cape May, N.J., and the U.S. Coast 

Guard Uniform Distribution Center in 

Woodbine, N.J. At the training center, 

DLA provides every piece of clothing that 

goes into new recruits’ initial clothing 

issue bags, and the uniform distribution 

center buys all its clothing from DLA to 

support Coast Guard members around 

the world, Colello said. 

Because the Coast Guard is a small 

service and its uniforms are different from 

the other military services, DLA Troop 

Support isn’t able to buy the same large 

quantities of uniforms as it does for the 

other services, Colello said. This presents 

a challenge, he said, but one that is easily 

overcome due to the close relationship 

DLA has with its vendors and with the 

Coast Guard. Indeed, the first-time fill 

rate, which is DLA Troop Support’s 

measure of effectiveness in recruit training 

centers, has been 100 percent for the past 

five years for the Coast Guard. 

“The size of the service and the fact 

that 95 percent of our sales go to those two 

locations allow us to maintain that close 

and intimate relationship with them,” 

Colello said. “Because of the Coast Guard’s 

size and low number of customers, we’re 

literally on a first-name basis with them.”

One of the ways DLA Troop Support 

maintains a close relationship with 

the Coast Guard is through in-person 

coordination with customer account 

specialists. Patti Neill, a customer 

account specialist in DLA Troop Support 

Clothing and Textiles, has been working 

with the Coast Guard since 2006 and 

spends countless hours communicating 

with the Coast Guard’s program 

managers and logisticians. She also 

travels to the uniform distribution center 

once a week to work on site with Coast 

Guard staff on their uniform needs. 

“They are quite a challenge to outfit 

Coast Guardsmen review a fuel oil transfer 

system in an engine room aboard a Coast 

Guard vessel. DLA provides uniforms and food 

for the service.

Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 1st Class NyxoLyno Cangemi
Loglines l March - April 2013 11

because they are a smaller service,” Neill 

said. “But they have service members 

executing an important mission and they 

need our support to do it.”

Colello said he sees potential for 

expanded clothing and textile support to 

the Coast Guard, especially in the area 

of equipment, where the Coast Guard 

has unique needs. By partnering with 

DLA, the Coast Guard will be able to 

ensure the equipment it purchases is 

the highest quality and meets stringent 

standards. The service will also enjoy 

the cost savings that come with DLA’s 

partnerships with vendors. Along with 

these big-picture benefits comes the 

flexibility and quality customer service 

that come from having an established 

relationship with an agency, Colello said. 

He cited an example of a dress 

uniform coat the Coast Guard has used for 

many years. The coat was very intricately 

designed and sewn, so the Coast Guard 

was having trouble finding 

vendors to supply it, he said. 

In response, one of DLA 

Troop Support’s master 

tailors worked closely with the 

Coast Guard and redesigned 

the entire coat to make it 

less expensive and easier to 

manufacture.

“It’s those little things that 

we can do when we reach out 

to customers that are a little 

bit above and beyond what 

we typically think of DLA,” he said. “This 

is a small service, and it’s a very intimate 

relationship that we have built with them.”

In the area of subsistence, DLA’s 

established relationship with the Coast 

Guard allows for flexibility in supporting 

different vessels and installations 

according to their needs, Smisko said. 

To facilitate that relationship, a Coast 

Guard representative works with the 

DLA Troop Support subsistence supply 

chain, coordinating the service’s needs 

with the agency. Having this flexibility in 

subsistence support is important because 

Coast Guard vessels range in size, and 

some can support fullservice kitchens while 

others can only bring 

only enough food for 

each mission, she said. 

When it comes to 

on-shore dining facilities, 

she said, the level of 

support provided also 

varies depending on 

the size of the facility 

and how many service 

members it supports. Of 

the Coast Guard’s 370 

dining facilities, about 

50 use DLA’s subsistence 

prime vendor program, 

so there is room for 

expansion, she said. 

The areas of medical support and 

vessel maintenance are also ready for 

expansion, as the Coast Guard has many 

of the same needs as the other services, 

she said. 

As DLA Troop Support works to expand 

its support to the Coast Guard, leaders 

are learning valuable lessons about that 

service and the unique needs it presents, 

Smisko said. Each service performs its 

logistics support differently, with some 

centralized, others decentralized, some 

supporting continuous deployments or 

classified locations, and so on. Working 

with the Coast Guard allows DLA to expand 

its expertise and find new ways to support 

customers, she said.

“One of the many challenges for DLA 

in working with our customers is to understand the different services’ organizational 

constructs and keeping abreast of the 

latest developments within each service,” 

she said. “The Coast Guard is a unique 

instrument of maritime safety, security 

and environmental stewardship, and our 

goal is to provide the same outstanding 

support we give to all customers.” 

Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Scott 

Manfre heats meringue during a competition at 

Fort Lee, Va. DLA Troop Support Subsistence 

supports about 50 Coast Guard dining facilities 

through its prime vendor program.

A Coast Guard crew member hands over a 

crate of supplies including food and water 

to a shing vessel’s crew during a tow. DLA 

Troop Support provides food for the service’s 

multiple classes of ships.

Army Spc. Daneille Hendrix

Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard
12 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

By Land

and By Sea

Story by Amanda Neumann

he Coast Guard is accustomed 

to maintaining its independence 

while patrolling the waterways 

of the United States and beyond. 

And the recent transfer of the 

management of some of its inventory of 

both common and unique items to the 

Defense Logistics Agency will help the 

service free up more space and manpower.

The Coast Guard falls under the 

Department of Homeland Security, but 

DLA treats it like any other branch of the 

military, said Dan Neidert, DLA Land 

and Maritime customer relationship 

management cell chief for the Coast Guard.

“Although their number of 

requisitions is substantially smaller 

than the other services, there’s no real 

difference in the way we support them,” 

he said. “They submit requisitions 

through their supply system, and it comes 

into our system. If the stock they’re 

ordering is available, we’ll ship it right out 

to them. It’s the same as any other service. 

Providing our customers their needed 

parts expeditiously is mission essential.” 

A requisition, an order for a part or 

group of parts, can come to DLA either 

he Coast Guard is accustomed 

to maintaining its independence 

while patrolling the waterways 

of the United States and beyond. 

And the recent transfer of the T

management of some of its inventory of 

directly from a ship or from Coast Guard 

logistics centers.

“Usually one requisition is for a 

specific part, but there are ways they can 

order multiple parts,” Neidert said. “Our 

monthly average number of Coast Guard 

requisitions is 16,123. That’s how many 

orders come to us just from the Coast 

Guard each month.”

DLA makes it a priority to get 

inventory out to customers quickly.

“Let’s say they’re working on a ship, 

which obviously they do quite a bit, and 

they need spark plugs for it,” Neidert 

said. “They’ll put in an order through 

their supply people and they’ll drop an 

electronic requisition into the system, 

which comes through our system. It gets 

sent out to one of our depots to ship it out 

to them. If everything is flowing correctly, 

the turnaround time takes half a day from 

when the requisition hits our system and 

goes to the depot, sometimes even as 

quickly as two or three hours.”

Coast Guardsmen drain coolant from a ship’s 

diesel generators. DLA has taken over requisition orders on both common and unique items 

from the Coast Guard, including items needed 

for emergency repairs. 

Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 2nd Class Etta Smith
Loglines l March - April 2013 13
14 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

Although most product 

requisitions are filled quickly, 

if a requested product isn’t 

in stock, the requisition then 

goes on back order until 

replenishment stock is received.

“Our monthly material 

availability for the Coast Guard 

is 95.13 percent,” Neidert 

said. “That’s the percentage of 

requisitions that are shipped 

without going on back order. 

That’s important because it 

shows how many orders we 

fill right away without having 

any hesitation. Over 95 percent 

got processed without a delay 

because it was in the warehouse 

when they ordered it.”

With fiscal 2012 sales to the 

Coast Guard of $82 million, up from 

$73.9 million in fiscal 2011, Neidert said 

he expects inventory sales to continue 

to increase, mainly due to the service’s 

aging fleet.

“It’s hard to pinpoint a popular item 

that’s ordered,” he said. “Hardware 

support is most of it, which includes nuts, 

bolts, valves, sheet metal and [gaskets]. 

One of the challenges with supporting 

the Coast Guard is that some of their 

equipment and platforms are older, so it 

can be difficult to buy their parts.”

Based in Columbus, Ohio, DLA Land 

and Maritime has three customer account 

specialists who provide dedicated support 

solely to the Coast Guard.

“The customers come to us whenever there is a problem with an order,” 

Neidert said. “With over 16,000 

requisitions every month, there’s bound 

to be some problems here and there. We 

typically answer about 300 inquiries 

monthly, what we call supply assist 

requests. When there’s some sort of 

problem, it could be anything. It could 

be that they got a part they didn’t get 

billed for or it could be a part that they 

need right away but we don’t have on 

the shelf.”

For Neidert and his team, it’s all 

about customer service. 

“Depending on what type of SAR the 

Coast Guard sends us, the [customer 

account specialists] will contact the 

procurement side of supplier operations 

to try to expedite the pre-award side of 

procurement,” he said. “If it’s on contract, 

they’ll contact the post-award part of 

procurement to see if deliveries can be 

made faster than the contractual date. 

If the contract is beyond its contractual 

date, they’ll go back to the contractor to 

find out when they can actually deliver.”

The account specialists, who usually 

receive their orders from Coast Guard 

logistics centers, serve as the primary 

entry points into DLA, said Joe Meyer, 

acting industrial division chief at DLA 

Land and Maritime.

Although the logistics centers usually 

send requisitions, Coast Guard ships can 

also order directly, Neidert said. 

“It works pretty much the same as the 

logistics centers,” he said. 

Neidert said Coast Guard ships 

generally order to keep their shelves full. 

Each ship has specific requirements for 

how many of a given part it needs to have 

on hand, and when supplies run below 

those levels, they order more. 

“When something breaks and they 

don’t have it, it can become urgent,” he 

said. “With things like a broken valve, 

they weren’t planning on that, so they will 

call direct and order it.”

“They’re providing the status of the 

order,” Meyer said. “It depends on what 

the customer is asking; sometimes it 

can be a billing question or a quality 

question. It could be, ‘Hey, this product 

is back ordered but we need this 

shipment to be expedited.’ It can be a 

whole array of things. For any one of 

their orders, they can call one CAS and 

the CAS is going to navigate all areas of 

DLA to give them their answer. They’re 

dedicated to specific customers.” 

Navy Chief Petty Ofcer Bill Mesta

The Coast Guard medium endurance-class 

cutter USCG Seneca gets underway from Naval 

Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after taking 

on fuel and stores. In scal 2012, the Defense 

Logistics Agency sold more than 58.6 million 

gallons of fuel to the U.S. Coast Guard.
| 1

Director’s

GuiDance

2013
2 |

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

 Fiscal Year 2013 Director’s Guidance 

At the Defense Logistics agency, 2013 is the year of Big idea 

execution. In 2012, we identified strategic focus areas to achieve 

significant savings. In 2013, our ideas become actions that lay the 

groundwork for FY14 savings. 

By focusing on excellence in our daily operations and driving additional 

transformational change, we are driving warfighters’ success. We are 

building our future on a rock solid foundation of past accomplishments and 

getting out in front of warfighter and fiscal challenges. 

This Director’s Guidance is our road map to significantly improve support 

to the warfighter and dramatically reduce cost. And as we face an uncertain 

future fraught with significant fiscal and strategic challenges, we must 

remain resolute and lead the way in innovation and transformation. 

DLA’s highly skilled, diverse and agile workforce is the keystone to our 

success. I’m counting on you to continue to do a superb job and make a 

difference each and every day. We must meet or exceed our basic business 

performance and pursue our strategies to meet the future. Every DLA 

employee has a role and responsibility to implement this guidance. Acting 

together, with enthusiasm, optimism and focus, we WILL achieve great 

things. Seize the opportunity; don’t wait; and make things happen. What you 

do makes a difference! 

Mark Harnitchek

Vice Admiral, SC, USN

Director, DLA

2 |

“Significantly improve performance

while dramatically reducing cost “ 
There are several emergent themes for 

DLA in 2013:

Afghanistan: Win the current fight and pivot to 

retrograde and transition: 

Our approach is to utilize a regional approach 

through partnering with maximum early disposal, 

retrograde and lines of communication usage.

Contingencies and Humanitarian Assistance & 

Disaster Relief Support: 

Our approach is to get ahead of requirements 

and have the right material based forward 

with contingency contracts in place to provide 

immediate support. Remember that responsiveness 

is the coin of the realm, so act with a sense of 

urgency. Our fellow citizens are counting on you.

Industrial & Platform Support: 

Get ahead of logistics support for F-35, Littoral 

Combat Ship and Inventory Management and 

Stock Positioning at Fleet Readiness Centers, 

while supporting Strategic Network Optimization, 

Peak Policy and Next Generation forecasting and 

inventory reductions.

2013 Director’s Guidance

| 3
4 |

“Significantly improve performance

while dramatically reducing cost “ 

DECREASE DIRECT MATERIAL COSTS: 

“Be smart buyers of the right stuff” 

Reduce material costs to achieve $10 

billion in overall savings in five years

Strategies to reduce total direct 

material costs: 

• Reverse auctions

• “Should Cost” analysis

• Commercial-type contract terms

• Substantial industry partnerships

• Performance Based Logistics and 

Prime Vendor contracts

• Procurement systems and process 

improvements

• strategic sourcing 

Our 2013 priorities to significantly improve performance while dramatically reducing cost are:

• Decrease Direct Material Costs

• Decrease Operating Costs

• Reduce Inventory

• Improve Customer Service

• Achieve Audit Readiness 
| 5

2013 Director’s Guidance

DECREASE OPERATING COSTS: 

“Improve process and productivity”

Reduce operating costs to achieve $10 billion 

in overall savings in five years

Strategies to decrease operating costs: 

• Consolidate and co-locate infrastructure

• Achieve BRAC “Day 3” efficiencies

• Optimize the global distribution network

• Enhance retail industrial support 

• Incorporate process improvements

REDUCE INVENTORY: 

“Clean out the attic and keep it clean”

Right size both War Reserves and 

operational inventory 

Strategies to reduce inventory:

• Review and adjust strategic requirements 

• Right size inventories

• Leverage commercial supply chains 

without redundancy

• Enhance EMALL

• Improve planning and forecast accuracy
6 |

“Significantly improve performance

while dramatically reducing cost “ 

IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE: 

“Delight our customers”

Improve customer service and measure 

performance by customer standards

Strategies to improve customer service:

• Expand and strengthen customer/supplier 

collaboration ... everyone in the enterprise 

should be talking to your suppliers.

• Excellence in inventory management: Buy 

enough, buy on time and execute the contract.

• Talk to your Service and COCOM 

customers ... fix what’s not right or 

doesn’t work.

ACHIEVE AUDIT READINESS: 

“Prove it”

Demonstrate our commitment to transparency 

and accountability.

Strategies to achieve Audit Readiness:

• Culture of judiciousness ... this is an 

All Hands effort

• Identify and drive improvement opportunities. 

• Expand Audit Readiness beyond process 

integrity to process excellence 
| 7

2013 Director’s Guidance
8 |

www.dla.mil www.facebook.com/dla.mil

DIRECTOR’S 2013 PRINCIPLES

We are living in historic times ... doing things we’ve 

never done before ... make some history yourself.

Push for smart things to do ... don’t wait for the 

requirement ... or for folks to ask.

No one knows this stuff better than us ... act like it.

I trust you ... prioritize, do it your own way but get it 

done or ensure it gets done.

This is your time ... do big things and make it better. 

If not you, who? If not now, when?

Relationships are key ... build them and use them.

Take care of one another.

Keep promises.
Loglines l March - April 2013 15

Jayhawk rescue helicopters taxi down the 

runway at Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, 

Alaska, in preparation for a formation ight. 

In addition to managing the Coast Guard’s 

inventory items, DLA provides support 

including fuel and spare parts.

On the Flight Deck

Story by Amanda Neumann

efense Logistics Agency Aviation 

supports the Coast Guard with 

spare parts for the service’s 

helicopters and cargo planes. 

The organization primarily 

supports the Coast Guard’s MH-60 

Jayhawk helicopter, said Craig Eaton, 

weapon system program manager in 

Richmond, Va. 

“Right now, the Coast Guard is 

transferring from the HH-60J helicopters 

to the MH-60T models,” Eaton said. “It’s 

the same basic airframe the H-60 always 

has been, just with upgraded radars and 

avionics and systems. The new Coast 

Guard T model has a different system so 

they can better perform their homeland 

security mission.”

Servicing a fleet of 42 MH-60 

helicopters, DLA Aviation processed more 

than 450 requisition orders in December 

2012 alone, Eaton said.

“Because they are one of the armed 

services, we provide any support they need. 

We treat them as any other service, though 

their mission is not as broad” he said. “They 

are considerably smaller than the other 

military branches, so we have to adjust.”

To better support the unique needs of 

the Coast Guard, keeping communication 

open between the agencies is a must, 

Eaton said, adding that it’s particularly 

important for good communication with 

the Coast Guard’s primary logistical 

support personnel in Elizabeth City, N.C.

“We have a monthly phone call 

with the Coast Guard logistics leads in 

Elizabeth City,” he said. “We go over 

issues of concern for supply support and 

parts they’re interested in for their entire 

fleet of about 42 airframes. In addition to 

the MH-60s, they also fly the C-130s and 

other types of aircraft based on what their 

mission involves.”

With an increased interest from the 

Coast Guard in the past few months, 

Eaton has started adding discussion of line 

items beyond the normal maintenance 

materials, such as hoses used to repair and 

maintain aircraft, to the monthly call.

“I’ve seen a slight increase in the last 

six months in working collaboratively,” he 

said. “They’re essentially self-sufficient, and 

they rarely reached out for outside support 

besides requisitions. We’ve usually been 

able to work them in with other services 

that fly the same airplanes. With the level 

of interest increasing, we’re now talking 

about getting special interest items on our 

workable spreadsheet.”

Each part can mean the difference 

in an aircraft’s critical usage and can 

contribute to the Coast Guard’s overall 

ability to operate, Eaton said.

“Let’s say, for example, Elizabeth City 

has 10 aircraft assigned and they have 

two down needing parts,” he said. “Now 

they’re at 80 percent mission capable, 

and those two become critical. That’s 

unacceptable. It’s important they start 

putting in those critical requisitions for 

what they require and we fill them as fast 

as we can.”

efense Logistics Agency Aviation 

supports the Coast Guard with 

spare parts for the service’s 

helicopters and cargo planes. 

The organization primarily 

supports the Coast Guard’s MH-60 

D

— Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area
16 www.dla.mil

United States Coast Guard

Story by Amanda Neumann

ach day, more than 35,000 

active-duty members of the Coast 

Guard provide a federal law 

enforcement presence over the 

entire U.S.-exclusive economic 

zone, covering nearly 3.4 million square 

miles of ocean, and it relies on fuel from 

Defense Logistics Agency Energy to 

accomplish this vast mission. 

Kathryn Fantasia, director of DLA 

Energy’s direct delivery fuels, explained 

the organization provides fuel to the 

Coast Guard through its Posts, Camps 

and Stations Program, which provides 

diesel, heating oil and gasoline to fixed 

facilities such as Coast Guard stations. 

“Right now, we have 50 contracts,” 

she said. “The numbers can change if 

a contract expires. As they expire, we 

award new contracts, so those numbers 

do vary over the purchase program. But 

each contract is usually three years long.”

With 225 items under PC&S contracts, 

each specific to a location and a type of 

fuel, DLA Energy provides the Coast 

Guard more than 27.7 million gallons 

of fuel overall. Many stations request 

different types of fuel, which vary due to 

where it is being delivered, Fantasia said.

“For example, under the Posts, 

Camps and Stations Program, the CG 

requires ground fuels delivered. Ground 

fuels are commercially available fuels, 

like gasoline and diesel,” Fantasia said. 

“Depending on the delivery location, the 

types of diesel can vary due to seasonal 

temperature variations.”

DLA Energy also provides the Coast 

Guard with significant quantities of 

military-specification fuels, said Bruce 

Blank, deputy director of Supplier 

Operations-Acquisition. 

“We supply the Coast Guard with 

a variety of military-specification fuels 

under our bulk programs as well,” he 

said. “F-76 is a ship’s propulsion fuel that 

the Navy also uses. We buy that in large 

quantities, store it and distribute it out 

to our customers because it is a unique 

product. JP5 is used for shipboard use on 

carriers. It has a high flash point so it’s a 

safer fuel. JP8 is the land-based jet fuel 

that the Air Force and the other services 

use. It’s much like commercial jet fuel, 

but it has some slightly different refined 

aspects to it and additives.”

In 2012, DLA Energy sold more than 

24 million gallons of fuel to the Coast 

Guard under the Bulk Fuels Program, the 

majority being fuels used on vessels and 

aircraft, Blank said. Another initiative, 

Fueling

Enforcement

In 2012, DLA Energy sold more than 24 million gallons of 

fuel to the Coast Guard through the Bulk Fuels Program.

ach day, more than 35,000 

active-duty members of the Coast 

Guard provide a federal law 

enforcement presence over the 

entire U.S.-exclusive economic 

zone, covering nearly 3.4 million square 

E
Loglines l March - April 2013 17

DLA Energy’s Ships’ Bunkers Program, 

consists of 23 contracts spanning six 

countries. The program allows Coast 

Guard vessels to purchase fuels at 

authorized ports for contract prices and 

provided more than 38.8 million gallons 

of fuel to the Coast Guard in fiscal 2012.

“We contract at different ports around 

the world and put specific quantities of 

fuel on contract,” Fantasia said. “The Coast 

Guard is an authorized customer so if they 

have a vessel that needs commercial-grade 

fuel, they would go to that port, utilize our 

contract and purchase fuel at our contract 

price. That’s typically marine gas oil, which 

is the commercial equivalent to F-76.”

Another similar program is the IntoPlane Program, Fantasia said.

“We have contracts at commercial 

airports around the world, and the 

Aviation Into-plane Reimbursement 

card is an ordering mechanism for pilots 

to refuel at those airports,” she said. 

“The aircraft can land, they can use the 

card with our contractor and they can 

purchase jet fuel for their aircraft at 

commercial airports. They can also use 

it where we have merchant agreements 

with non-contract locations to do what 

we call a local purchase of jet fuel. It’s like 

a normal credit card.”

Through a combination of both 

contract and non-contract purchases, 

the Coast Guard purchased more than 

7.8 million gallons of fuel in fiscal 2012 

though the Into-Plane Program.

“The difference between the two is in 

the contract’s pricing,” Fantasia said. “If 

DLA Energy solicits an award to contract 

at an airport, it’s cheaper. Non-contract 

is when we don’t have a contract and it’s 

considered a local purchase.”

By purchasing fuel through programs 

the other military services already use, 

DLA Energy is able to charge the Coast 

Guard the cheaper Defense Department 

prices, Fantasia said.

“We treat the Coast Guard as a 

Defense Department customer in that 

they get the DoD standard price,” she 

said. “Non-DoD customers are charged 

a cost-plus price, which includes a fee. 

A lot of different elements go into our 

standard price, but it mainly includes the 

cost of products and any overhead. Since 

they’re not charged a fee, they can use the 

fuel programs just like any of the other 

services do.” 

A Coast Guard helicopter fuel team refuels 

an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter as it continues 

to run aboard a cutter in the Bering Sea. DLA 

Energy provides a variety of fuels for the 

maritime service.

Coast Guard Petty Ofcer 3rd Class Charly Hengen
A Conversation with . . .

18 www.dla.mil

Describe your role in overseeing 

the sales programs you are 

responsible for.

As the national account 

manager for international and 

federal programs, I work with 

a great group of individuals, 

which makes my job exciting. 

Our team is responsible for 

engaging DLA’s Foreign 

Military Sales customers as 

well as federal, state and local 

government customers. 

We are the focal point 

for each service’s FMS 

program, interfacing with the 

international logistics control 

offices. We support logistics 

requirements for more than 

50 countries by providing 

repair parts and develop and 

implement FMS policy. 

We also engage federal, state 

and local agency customers 

to develop partnerships and 

translate their requirements into 

logistics solutions.

In addition, we provide 

support to all customers 

The Man Responsible for DLA’s International and Federal Programs Talks About the Challenges of

Supplying Customers Outside the Defense Department

through joint customer 

support programs such as the 

DLA Customer Assistance 

Logistics Course, the customer 

website, the DLA Customer 

Assistance Handbook and 

other customer support tools. 

How big a piece of DLA’s business 

are these partners? Is that number 

growing? Why?

Over the past five years, 

our FMS annual sales averaged 

approximately $2.4 billion. 

On the federal side, we are 

expanding current and forming 

new partnerships. While the 

amount of business we do with 

these agencies is relatively 

small compared to Defense 

Department customers, it 

is important to pursue new 

opportunities to expand 

DLA’s business base since we 

anticipate a reduction in sales 

from our traditional customers 

as a result of budgetary 

decisions and drawdown 

efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

We have a strong 

David Kless, DLA’s national account manager for international and federal programs, discusses 

logistics issues with Coast Guard Cmdr. John Branch, director of operational logistics in the Coast 

Guard Ofce of Contingency and Deployable Logistics.

Courtesy Photo

David Kless
DLA Public Affairs

Loglines l March - April 2013 19

DLA Public Affairs

partnership with the Federal 

Emergency Management 

Agency, providing food and 

fuel for disaster relief support. 

The amount of business with 

FEMA fluctuates from year to 

year depending on the magnitude of disaster relief efforts, 

but last year, we provided 

more than $58 million worth 

of disaster relief support.

The Coast Guard is another 

strong partner and represented 

$285 million in sales in fiscal 

2012. We see opportunities over 

the next year to significantly 

expand support to their boats 

and cutters, enabling the Coast 

Guard to focus on their core 

competencies. 

Can you explain how working with 

DLA saves the Coast Guard money 

and how other agencies could 

benefit?

The Coast Guard is a great 

example of where DLA can 

provide real benefit. The Coast 

Guard’s logistics requirements 

are very similar to other 

military services. In many 

cases, the service is procuring 

items from the same vendors, 

competing with DLA. Because 

of the volume of commodities 

that DLA acquires, we are able 

to negotiate significantly lower 

material acquisition prices, and 

customers benefit by paying 

a lower cost for items. This 

approach is applicable to any 

federal agency. 

Besides the support DLA provides 

for the Coast Guard, what are some 

of the ways the agency supports 

other federal agencies?

The Department of 

Homeland Security is 

interested in identifying and 

leveraging DLA distribution 

and warehousing capabilities. 

Currently, DHS is looking 

to consolidate multiple 

warehouses across the country. 

We are working with them to 

develop options to strategically 

position material using existing 

DLA infrastructure. 

We recently met with 

officials from the Department 

of Health and Human Services 

regarding opportunities to 

support their medical caches. 

Currently, HHS is responsible 

for procuring material to 

support these caches. A lot 

of these are the same items 

that DLA already provides 

through prime vendors, and 

HHS is looking to leverage 

DLA’s buying power to reduce 

its costs. 

What types of supplies do we 

provide for international partners?

We provide a wide variety 

of supplies to our Foreign 

Military Sales customers 

through all nine of our supply 

chains, with the majority of 

sales through our energy, 

aviation, land and maritime, 

industrial hardware, and 

construction and equipment 

supply chains. We continue to 

collaborate with the military 

services and coalition partners 

to identify new opportunities 

for logistics support. 

“While the amount of business we do with these agencies is relatively 

small compared to Defense Department customers, it is important to 

pursue new opportunities to expand DLA’s business base.”
A Conversation with . . .

20 www.dla.mil

What role does your office play in 

disaster relief and humanitarian 

assistance?

FEMA is the lead agency 

in U.S. disaster response, and 

we have developed a strong 

logistics partnership with 

FEMA. We provide food and 

fuel and are looking to expand 

support to FEMA and other 

federal agencies like the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers 

and the American Red Cross 

to reduce response times for 

rapid deployment of resources. 

Hurricane Sandy is an 

example where DLA provided 

additional logistics support 

to include power restoration, 

pumping and debris removal. 

What are some of the unique 

challenges in dealing with partners 

outside the Defense Department?

One unique challenge is 

getting agencies to see DLA as 

a global logistics provider, not 

a capability limited to DoD. In 

the current fiscal environment, 

it is critical to look beyond 

independent logistics 

solutions and leverage existing 

capabilities that achieve the 

best value for all. 

Another challenge is the 

ability of non-DoD customers 

to access our logistics 

systems. The 1122 Program is 

a congressionally mandated 

program authorizing state 

What does the future look like for 

DLA’s international and federal 

programs?

The future looks very 

bright; each customer 

engagement brings 

new opportunities. The 

partnerships grow as we learn 

about their requirements and 

other agencies learn about 

DLA capabilities. 

For state and local 

customers, there is so much 

untapped potential. Every 

state is involved in homeland 

security, emergency response 

or counterdrug missions, 

but very few are able to take 

advantage of everything we 

offer. We need to continue 

identifying and breaking 

down barriers, making our 

systems talk to each other, and 

affording these customers the 

same great value we provide to 

DoD customers. 

Is there anything else you’d like 

to add?

I have been in this job 18 

months, and it has been as 

exciting and challenging as any 

tour I had during my 26 years 

in the Navy. I have a great team 

that continues to push for new 

ideas and drive change when 

necessary, and they understand 

that expanding our business 

outside of DoD requires 

nontraditional solutions. 

“One unique challenge is 

getting agencies to see 

DLA as a global logistics 

provider, not a capability 

limited to DoD. In the 

current scal environment, 

it is critical to look beyond 

independent logistics 

solutions and leverage 

existing capabilities that 

achieve the best value 

for all.” 

and local agencies involved 

in counterdrug, homeland 

security and emergency 

response activities to procure 

material from DLA. However, 

only 10 states have the ability 

to access our logistics systems 

and place orders electronically 

since these systems require a 

DoD-specific common access 

card. Linking the unique 

procedures of other agencies 

to the standard DoD systems 

is another recurring challenge, 

especially when processing 

funding between agencies. 
LogPoints DLA Public Affairs

27,800 

Projected increase in the number of jobs 

for logisticians between 2010 and 2020, 

a 26 percent uptick from 2010’s 108,900.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

22

Hours it took DLA Troop Support Medical 

to ship 140 kits of the cyanide-poison 

medication Cyanokit to U.S. Southern 

Command after a Jan. 27 nightclub fire in 

Santa Maria, Brazil. 

82.6 PERCENT 

DLA employees’ satisfaction with the 

agency’s telework program, up from

58.3 percent in 2011.

Source: Office of Personnel Management 2012 

Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey

1944

The year the Coast Guard’s oldest 

cutter in active service, the Smilax, was 

commissioned. The service’s “Queen 

of the Fleet” is home ported in Atlantic 

Beach, N.C.

BY THE NUMBERS

“The department has articulated a sound strategy, and ... we will be charged 

with supporting that strategy through effective acquisition of products and 

services across the full spectrum of Defense Department needs. We must do 

everything we can to execute effectively — to extract full value from the money 

with which we are entrusted.”

— Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall, 

in the January/February 2013 issue of Defense AT&L

“There is physics involved for retrograding out of 

Afghanistan, so we need to know the rough order of 

magnitude so we can begin planning.”

— Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey,

on the drawdown of forces in Afghanistan

“Without it, we probably wouldn’t be able to do the job we 

do. The DoD has really helped us.”

— Knox County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Lee Dunn,

on Humvees his office acquired through the Law Enforcement Support Office

“Usually when I see you, you’re dirty and covered in grease 

and grime. What’s unique about you is you bring something 

that really nobody else can do.”

— Marine Col. Frank Donovan, commander of 24th Marine

Expeditionary Unit, speaking to members of Combat Logistics Battalion 

24 about their deployment to Greece, the Middle East and North Africa.

“This year, we really need to focus on achieving our annual 

small business goals as a collaborative effort; without small 

businesses we lose much of the innovation, goods and 

services essential to warfighters’ success.”

— DLA Acquisition Director Nancy Heimbaugh,

in a blog to the agency’s workforce

QUOTABLES

Loglines l March - April 2013 21
22 www.dla.mil

Above and Beyond

Story by Lally Laksbergs

team of Defense Logistics Agency 

human resources specialists 

working in Columbus, Ohio, 

provides personnel services to 

more than 46,000 employees in 

several defense agencies.

DLA Human Resources Services, 

Department of Defense Customers 

branch provides human resources services 

and charges customers enough to cover 

expenses. Human resources services 

include recruitment, classification, labor 

management and employee relations, 

benefits and entitlements, personnel 

action processing, and personnel files 

maintenance. 

“We operate like a business but 

do not profit from the business,” the 

organization’s senior business adviser, 

Monica Thacker-Duncan, said. 

This diverse HR servicing program 

came about after the 2005 Base 

Realignment and Closure Commission 

consolidated civilian personnel offices 

within the military departments 

team of Defense Logistics Agency 

human resources specialists 

working in Columbus, Ohio, 

provides personnel services to 

more than 46,000 employees in 

several defense agencies.

A and defense agencies. Specifically, 

transactional human resources work for 

the Defense Commissary Agency, the 

Washington Headquarters Services and 

the Department of Defense Education 

Activity was transferred to DLA Human 

Resources Services. 

“DLA Human Resources has a long 

history of success,” said Jill Dixon 

Cromer, DLA Human Resources Services, 

DoD Customers’ director. “This success 

was a significant factor in the BRAC 

decision that afforded DLA Human 

Resources the opportunity to support 

other DoD agencies and activities.”

In March 2006, DLA Human 

Resources personnel began staffing the 

new DoD Customers Human Resources 

Center to support the consolidated civilian 

personnel offices. They officially began 

servicing the first customer, the Defense 

Threat Reduction Agency, in June 2007.

As the new DoD Customers Human 

Resources Center was being established, 

human resources professionals needed 

to be hired to service this new customer 

base. Recruiting for staff began by 

sourcing from local private and federal 

agencies near Columbus that included 

the Department of Veterans Affairs and 

U.S. Postal Service, as well as private 

industry, Thacker-Duncan said. 

A college intern program was 

developed in order to hire students 

to enter the human resources career 

field upon graduation. The program 

was instrumental in hiring 30 qualified 

college graduates for the DoD Customers 

Human Resources Center.

“In the logistics world, DLA has 

added incredible value to the department 

over the years by taking on common 

functions, applying standard processes 

and technology, and generating 

efficiencies, cost savings and improved 

performance. We’ve just expanded that 

concept to the human resources support 

function,” DLA Human Resources 

Director Brad Bunn said. 

Human resources support to DoD 

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY HUMAN RESOURCES SERVICES
Loglines l March - April 2013 23

“I am always condent when talking with Missile Defense Agency senior 

leadership that even though we don’t have a person on the ground, the 

services provided by DLA in this area are superb.”

— Donna Davis

customers is provided by three teams. 

The largest customer is DoDEA, with 

more than 18,000 employees worldwide. 

The next largest is DeCA, with about 

14,000 employees. Each of these large 

customers has a specific team that works 

solely for personnel transactions related 

to that agency. The third team, Fourth 

Estate, provides personnel services to the 

remaining customers: DTRA, the Defense 

Advanced Research Projects Agency, 

the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense 

Security Service, the Defense Media 

Activity, the Washington Headquarters 

Services and the Office of the Secretary 

of Defense. OSD encompasses more 

than 40 activities, agencies, offices, staff 

and organizations within that customer 

agreement.

“Our HR professionals have to be 

familiar with a number of unique hiring 

regulations and procedures,” ThackerDuncan said. “For example, DoDEA 

employees are located all over the world, 

and we not only process their hiring, but 

we also process their entitlements and 

benefits no matter where they are located.

“Every transaction is unique because 

you are dealing with a person,” she added. 

With more than 2,300 employees 

assigned worldwide, regular interaction 

and responsiveness to personnel needs 

has been appreciated, Missile Defense 

Agency Human Resources Director 

Donna Davis said. 

 “I am always confident when talking 

with MDA senior leadership that even 

though we don’t have a person on the 

ground, the services provided by DLA in 

this area are superb,” she said. 

Ongoing regular interactions allow 

for opportunities to discuss issues, 

stay on top of priorities and ensure 

communication stays open, Davis said.

DLA’s proactive approach to 

communication with customers enables 

them to work smarter with the least 

amount of disruption and confusion 

when new products are released, said 

Julie McGovern, deputy chief of the 

Defense Security Service’s Human Capital 

Management Office.

“We have really enjoyed working with 

DLA and feel they are true partners in our 

success,” she said. “Each and every person 

that supports us has been responsive to our 

requests and professional in how they conduct themselves and in the work product 

delivered. We don’t receive a ‘no’ response 

without good reason, which is documented 

and includes reference to regulation.” 

Thacker-Duncan said automated 

systems assist in providing human 

resources support to the varied agencies.

“The customers we have are elated 

at the level of service we are providing 

them,” she said. “They are shocked when 

they are used to getting some products a 

month later, when we might get it to them 

in a few days.”

Bunn seconded the sentiment. 

“None of this would be possible 

without the outstanding DLA Human 

Resources employees who make it work,” 

he said.
24 www.dla.mil

Agents for Change

Story by Lally Laksbergs

he Defense Logistics Agency 

Logistics Management Standards 

Office, part of the Program 

Executive Office within DLA 

Information Operations, plays 

a vital role not only within the agency, 

but also in supporting the Office of the 

Secretary of Defense.

 “DLMS is a system, but not in the 

traditional sense,” DLMSO Director D.C. 

Pipp said. 

DLMS is a compilation of procedures, 

standards, code lists, metrics and policies 

all synchronized to promote joint logistics 

interoperability, he said. The organization 

serves as the Defense Department’s 

executive agent for logistics information 

exchange, a DoD mission that supports 

OSD’s Supply Chain Integration, 

Defense Procurement and Acquisition 

Policy Office and the OSD comptroller. 

DLMSO’s customers come from across 

the Defense Department, including the 

military services, defense agencies, select 

federal agencies, state, local and foreign 

he Defense Logistics Agency 

Logistics Management Standards 

Office, part of the Program 

Executive Office within DLA 

Information Operations, plays 

a vital role not only within the agency, 

T governments, and the private sector. 

DLMSO identifies inefficient 

processes, deletes obsolete guidance and 

develops new capabilities to streamline 

logistics operations across and between 

multiple partners, Pipp said. This lofty 

goal is achieved through integration, 

standardization and continuous process 

improvements to logistics management 

business processes and operations. 

Pipp explained that interoperability 

can be interpreted in many different ways. 

DLMSO’s challenge is to connect supply 

chains and service providers throughout 

DoD. While all DoD logistics organizations 

continuously improve their support to 

warfighters, DLMSO has a unique mission 

with joint logistics interoperability at 

its core, he said. It manages the process 

that delivers business rules, information 

exchange transactions and data standards 

that logisticians around the world depend 

on, he said.

DLMSO’s challenging roles include 

developing business rules that implement 

DoD policy, developing and managing 

the DoD logistics information exchange 

infrastructure, and publishing detailed 

procedures, Pipp said. 

DLMSO is an 11-person team, and its 

members bring extensive logistics and 

information technology experience to the 

table, Pipp said. A core challenge for the 

DLMSO staff is the need to be familiar with 

the wholesale and retail systems, enterprise 

resources planning programs, and legacy 

operations of all DoD components and 

select federal agencies, Pipp said. 

“Don’t be fooled by the staffing size 

of the operation. The impact of their 

efforts is far reaching, creating processes 

and capabilities that heretofore did not 

exist,” he said. “Simply put, DLMSO is a 

champion for logistics interoperability.” 

Pipp said his staff members excel at 

being good at what they do.

“You can oftentimes find a good 

logistician having in-depth functional 

knowledge; you can oftentimes find 

an excellent [information technology] 

person; you seldom find the two in the 

same person. That is what DLMSO 

personnel are all about,” he said. 

“Assigned personnel have spent many 

years mastering their craft and becoming 

resident experts on military services’ 

and agencies’ logistics operations, and 

both the legacy and emerging enterprise 

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT STANDARDS OFFICE

DLMS is a compilation of procedures, standards, code 

lists, metrics and policies all synchronized to promote joint 

logistics interoperability.
Loglines l March - April 2013 25

Army Sgt. William Adams

resource planning systems supporting 

logistics operations.” 

Tad Delaney, a logistics management 

analyst at Headquarters Marine Corps, 

said DLMSO is helpful in the issues 

he has to navigate while supporting 

the service’s deputy commandant for 

installations and logistics.

“They (DLMSO personnel) really 

are the honest brokers,” he said. “Pipp 

and his staff are the hall of famers when 

it comes to being technically astute, 

responsive and willing to guide others 

through the process.”

It all begins with process review 

committees. One of DLMSO’s requirements 

is to chair several process review 

committees: Supply, Finance and 

Department of Defense Activity 

Address Directory among 

them, Pipp said. PRCs include 

representatives from DoD 

components, the Coast Guard 

and other federal agencies. 

“Not only 

were DLMSO 

and Pipp’s team 

instrumental in 

ramping up my 

learning curve, they were essential in 

helping address the policy in applying 

to the other service components,” 

said Delaney, who was part of the 

DoD Activity Address Directory PRC. 

“Because of being part of this, we have 

all developed a better stewardship of 

the database. We couldn’t have done it 

without them.”

The process begins with an idea, 

concern or mandate, he said. Then, 

through extensive research and 

collaboration, a new process emerges 

that is formally documented in defense 

logistics manuals. Final products are 

refined, and new business processes 

that are standard, efficient and well 

documented are created. 

The committees receive inputs from a 

variety of sources: OSD policy guidance, 

trading partners, DLMSO subject matter 

experts and DLA Transaction Services 

to name a few, Pipp said. In the early 

stages of the process, a proposed DLMS 

change is documented and coordinated 

with all components. Proposed business 

processes are thoroughly examined to 

ensure the objective is met. The intent 

is to create a more efficient 

business process that 

doesn’t solve one 

problem to only create 

another, he said. This 

is a genuinely collaborative effort, and 

assuming all the details are worked out, 

leads to an approved DLMS change. 

At this stage, the process to formally 

document detailed procedures to improve 

support to warfighters has begun. 

“Collaboration is key to successful 

process change,” Pipp said. “The people 

who work for me are master facilitators, 

oftentimes taking an unclear requirement and ultimately creating a more 

efficient business process.”

Once the change process is complete 

with all the functional requirements, the 

services and agencies then determine 

when to adjust their supply management systems and processes to take 

advantage of the new capability, he said. 

The primary focus of the committee’s 

actions is a joint process, but if there are 

unique circumstances, certain processes 

are tailored to meet the needs of a single 

component. 

An overall benefit that is difficult to 

express in words is the cross-component 

cooperation that creates a 

better understanding of what 

challenges, successes 

and complexities each 

component and agency is 

dealing with, Pipp said. 

On rare occasions, 

cross-component 

agreement is not 

always possible and all 

participants may not 

agree to a given proposal. 

When that occurs and 

negotiations to resolve 

the stalemate don’t 

progress to agreement, 

an escalation is set into 

motion, Pipp said. Of 

the more than 600 process changes over 

the past six years, three have reached the 

point where Pipp did not have sufficient 

authority to decide the final outcome of 

a stalemate. Those cases were sent to the 

deputy assistant secretary of defense for 

supply chain integration for resolution. 

 “Three out of 600, approximately 

one-half of 1 percent, is testimony to 

the effectiveness of a proven process,” 

he said. 

It all begins with process review 

committees. One of DLMSO’s requirements 

is to chair several process review 

committees: Supply, Finance and 

Department of Defense Activity 

Address Directory among 

them, Pipp said. PRCs include 

representatives from DoD 

components, the Coast Guard 

and other federal agencies. 

learning curve, they were essential in 

helping address the policy in applying 

to the other service components,” 

is to create a more efficient cooperation that creates a 

better understanding of what 

another, he said. This 

It all begins with process review 

committees. One of DLMSO’s requirements 

is to chair several process review 

committees: Supply, Finance and 

Department of Defense Activity 

Address Directory among 

them, Pipp said. PRCs include 

representatives from DoD 

components, the Coast Guard 

and other federal agencies. 

learning curve, they were essential in 

helping address the policy in applying 

to the other service components,” 

is to create a more efficient 

business process that 

doesn’t solve one 

problem to only create 

another, he said. This 

cooperation that creates a 

better understanding of what 
26 www.dla.mil

Story by Beth Reece

R

ene Rioux remembers when FBI agents came 

looking for her father in November 1995. 

Investigators had confiscated two Medals of 

Honor from the black market, and his small, 

family-owned business, Michael A. Hessberg 

Inc., was one of only a few companies certified by 

the federal government to manufacture the medal’s 

signature blue ribbon.

The FBI found no connections between Hessberg and 

the medals, but the experience gave meaning to the extra, 

painstaking steps Rioux saw her father’s employees take 

to protect even the smallest scraps of ribbon. 

“Every little bit that wasn’t needed got locked up. 

It’s used to help honor the nation’s most heroic service 

members, so it deserves to be cherished,” said Rioux, 

who now owns the fourth-generation manufacturing 

plant in Passaic, N.J.

The Medal of Honor is America’s highest military 

award, authorized by Congress in 1861 to recognize 

bravery in war. It is so sacred that anyone who sells, 

manufactures or wears the medal without authorization is subject to a $100,000 fine and time behind bars, 

according to U.S. law.

The clothing and textiles directorate at Defense 

Logistics Agency Troop Support works with Hessberg 

and other vendors to procure ribbon and metal 

decorations for the Medal of Honor. Only the “finest 

American craftsmanship” will do, said Lisa Vivino, 

chief of heraldics for the Dress Clothing Division. 

Vendors typically stick with old-fashioned processes 

and equipment because they give craftsmen a 

hands-on approach, she said. 

“One of the hardest parts is correctly placing the 13 

stars that are embroidered into the ribbon, then following with the moiré process, which gives the ribbon its 

wood-grain appearance, without disrupting the pattern 

of the stars. It’s a pretty tricky process,” Vivino said. 

R

ene Rioux remembers when FBI agents came 

looking for her father in November 1995. 

Investigators had confiscated two Medals of 

Honor from the black market, and his small, 

family-owned business, Michael A. Hessberg 

Inc., was one of only a few companies certified by 

R

President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Honor to 

former Army Staff Sgt. Clinton L. Romesha during a ceremony 

in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., 

Feb. 11. Romesha received the medal for his actions during 

a daylong reght in Afghanistan in October 2009.

— Photo by Leroy Council

26 www.dla.mil

Story by Beth Reece

Honoring Valor
Loglines l March - April 2013 27
28 www.dla.mil

The wavy look left by the moiré 

process is as unique as a fingerprint, 

Rioux added. It’s so difficult to achieve 

that weavers sometimes spend days 

perfecting machinery settings and tension 

so that the finished product meets the 

military’s strict specifications. Rioux’ 

weavers usually present several samples 

before quality assurance specialists at 

DLA Troop Support agree the ribbon is 

flawless and ready for full production.

“It’s truly an art,” Rioux said. “But 

while moiré has become a standard in 

military uniforms and decorations, it’s 

just a trend in the fashion industry. It 

can be really hot, then go out of style for 

10 to 15 years.”

Equipment needed to make the 

ribbon has also become scarce, limiting 

the number of manufacturers capable of 

or wanting to produce it. Rioux’ weavers 

have a dozen Jacquard looms, some so 

old they were purchased in used condition 

at the turn of the 20th century when her 

father brought the family business over 

from Hungary. Others no longer work but 

are routinely pillaged for parts to repair 

those that do. And regardless of a loom’s 

condition, it will be slow. 

“We can only produce about 8 yards 

of ribbon a day with one eight-hour 

shift, so we have to run multiple shifts or 

manufacturing takes a very long time,” 

Rioux said

DLA Troop Support gives the ribbon 

Rioux’ employees create to a separate 

vendor that’s responsible for creating the 

Harry Gernant, head weaver for Michael A.

Hessberg Inc., oversees the production of the 

signature blue ribbon used to produce the 

Medal of Honor.

Rioux’ weavers have a dozen 

Jacquard looms, some so 

old they were purchased in 

used condition at the turn of 

the 20th century when her 

father brought the family 

business over from Hungary.

Photo courtesy Michael A. Hessberg, Inc.
Loglines l March - April 2013 29

Jacquard looms used to weave the Medal of 

Honor ribbon produce only about 8 yards of 

ribbon in one eight-hour shift, and weavers 

may spend days perfecting the machine’s settings and tension before the nished product 

meets the military’s strict specications.

medallion and assembling all the parts, 

but leftover ribbon must be returned.

“What they return is practically scrap, 

but it’s an insurance factor. If they send 

us too much back then we know they 

didn’t use the right amount to create 

the neck drape. If they tell us they have 

nothing left because of errors, we have 

them send us the errors so we can verify 

that the ribbon is actually damaged and 

not going to get in the wrong hands or 

end up on the black market,” Vivino said

The Army and Air Force each have 

their own versions of the Medal of Honor, 

while a third version is shared by the 

Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. 

Each service maintains its own stock.

“The service determines when 

its stock is getting low and when to 

requisition additional quantities from 

us. That all depends on the president 

himself and how many times the medal 

is awarded. Sometimes it’s only once or 

twice a year,” she said.

According to the Congressional Medal 

of Honor Society, only one woman and 

3,459 men have been awarded the Medal 

of Honor since the Civil War, and fewer 

than 80 recipients are alive today. The 

most recent recipient is former Army Staff 

Sgt. Clinton Romesha, who received the 

medal in February for his actions as a 

section leader with 4th Infantry Division 

in Afghanistan. Romesha exposed himself 

to heavy enemy fire repeatedly during a 

12-hour battle, giving his unit the opportunity to regroup and prepare for counterattack, according the award citation.

While most Americans have never 

actually seen the Medal of Honor 

except in photographs, Rioux’ said her 

employees are proud of their role in 

producing it. And for her, the medal 

invokes both joy and sadness. 

“Many of the recipients died in 

service to our country, and those who 

have been alive and able to go to the 

White House and be presented with the 

medal are unbelievably humble. So many 

of them say it was just their job or they 

were just protecting their unit,” she said. 

“We are all very proud to have a part in 

honoring them.” 

Medals of Honor: (from left) Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard; Air Force; Army

Photo courtesy Michael A. Hess
I AM

My name is:

Jamie Shuster

I am:

I am a contracting officer for the Subsistence Prime Vendor 

Afghanistan section.

Describe your job in a sentence:

I purchase a full line of subsistence products for those military 

customers within the Afghanistan area of responsibility. 

How long have you worked for DLA?

I have been a DLA employee for a total of five years.

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA?

No day is ever the same.

What is your best memory of working here?

Although I am young in my career, my best memory was my trip 

to Kuwait to formally meet with a customer. Such trips build trust, 

and it is always nice to know the people you conduct business 

with on a daily basis.

How do you make a difference to warfighters?

Food is the best way to a warfighter’s heart.

Jamie Shuster