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LOGLINES

THE RIGHT SOLUTIONS — ON TIME, EVERY TIME

January / February 2017

Mementos of

the Trenches

A Soldier of the Great War Comes Alive

Through Supply Items Brought Home

Aloft and Alert

Surveillance Aerostats and Border Patrol Support

Safety Squad

DLA Veterinarians Ensure Food Safety

LOGLINES

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

The Right Solution — On Time, Every Time May / June 2017

AVIATION NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE SUPPORT OFFICE

 Sustain

 and Deter

 DLA Aviation Pioneering 

 Advances in Ballistic 

 Missile Support
DLA DIRECTOR 

Air Force Lt. Gen. Andy Busch

DLA VICE DIRECTOR

Ted Case

CHIEF OF STAFF

Renee L. Roman

DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Joseph M. Yoswa

DEPUTY DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Patrick H. Mackin

MANAGING EDITOR

Phil Prater

SENIOR EDITOR

John R. Bell

WRITERS

Beth Reece

Dianne Ryder

LAYOUT AND DESIGN

Paul Henry Crank

LOGLINES

THE OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION OF THE 

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY 

Lt. Gen. Andy Busch, USAF

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

From the Director

As my time as your director comes to a close, I want to take this 

opportunity to share my thoughts on the great work of the 

Defense Logistics Agency and offer my personal thanks for 

your outstanding efforts.

First, as I close my third tour of duty with DLA, I want you to 

know that our Strategic Plan has served us well. Our warfighting 

customers at the combatant commands continue to include us in 

their deliberate planning processes and rely on us heavily for realtime operational support. Our work with the combatant commands 

is wide-ranging and diverse. Beyond our massive and ongoing 

contributions to U.S. Central Command, we have expanded our 

reach. DLA’s support of U.S. Strategic Command is well received 

and must continue. Our support to U.S. Southern Command, while 

less materiel intensive, is no less important to helping our nation 

advance its foreign policy priorities.

DLA continues to improve in our support to the military 

services, particularly their depots and shipyards. Our 

implementation of the Base Realignment and Closure 2005 

directive continues to be a shining example of the benefits 

of customer collaboration. As a growing part of our mission, 

our whole-of-government customers, particularly the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, will continue to pay dividends and ensure we are ready 

for natural disasters.

I would also like to express my appreciation for your focused 

efforts on other areas of our Strategic Plan. DLA continues to 

excel in our audit preparation, and I expect the agency to remain a 

leader and continue to serve as a good steward of taxpayer dollars. 

I am also pleased to see the progress made in Process Excellence, 

particularly continuous process improvement. Our CPI efforts 

across the agency continue to accelerate. Keep up the good work.

On a personal note, I would like to express my appreciation to 

Vice Director Ted Case for his unwavering support and invaluable 

perspective. I want to thank my “battle buddy,” Command Sgt. 

Maj. Charles Tobin, whose positive energy and enthusiasm for the 

mission have been an inspiration to us all. 

Lastly, as I close out my 38-year Air Force career, I want you 

to know that the opportunity to serve as your director has been an 

honor and a privilege, and I wish all of you the best in your future 

endeavors. LL

LOGLINES is the authorized publication for the Defense 

Logistics Agency’s workforce of federal civilians, activeduty 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 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:

Headquarters, Defense Logistics Agency 

Office of Public Affairs, 

8725 John J. Kingman Road, Suite 2545, 

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

DLA ON THE WEB www.dla.mil www.facebook.com/dla.mil

SUBSCRIBE TO LOGLINES MAGAZINE

If you would like to be on the Loglines mailing list, please 

email loglines@dla.mil with your name, organization and 

complete mailing address.
Mementos of the Trenches ..................02

The author reflects on what the items his grandfather 

brought home from WWI can tell us about the life of the 

American warfighter 100 years after America joined the war.

More Than Just ‘Piles of Rocks’ ...........07

A long-awaited change to the law means DLA can use certain 

materials to enhance its support to the warfighter.

Aloft and Alert ........................................10

Tethered surveillance balloons, filled with helium from DLA 

Energy Aerospace Energy, are helping law enforcement defeat 

and deter the smuggling of people and narcotics into the 

United States.

Sustain and Deter................................... 14

DLA Aviation has become the agency’s lead activity for 

support of the Minuteman III, an intercontinental ballistic 

missile weapon system.

Safety Squad............................................ 27

DLA leans on Army veterinarians to help ensure warfighters 

around the world eat safe, wholesome food. 

02

14

07

27

Features

Departments

A Conversation with ... ......................... 19

DLA’s Regional Commanders

DLA NewsWire ........................................24

I am DLA ..................................Back Cover

Kyu Sok Kwak

www.twitter.com/dlamil www.youtube.com/dodlogisticsagency
page

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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

A SOLDIER

OF THE

GREAT WAR 

COMES ALIVE

THROUGH 

SUPPLY ITEMS

BROUGHT 

HOME

 MEMENTOS

Army Sgt. Leon H. Bell, sometime in 1919 in 

Beaumont, Texas, after returning from service 

in World War I.

Courtesy Photo

OF THE TRENCHES
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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

2017marks the 100th 

anniversary of the 

United States’ entry 

in World War I. America declared war 

April 6, 1917, and the first troops 

began arriving in Britain in June.

The Defense Logistics Agency would 

not exist by any name for another 44 

years, but a few supply items carried 

by one soldier in the “Great War” give 

us insight into the lives of the men who 

fought it.

Who were these warfighters of a 

century ago? What did they think about? 

And what were their lives really like?

For me, the daily life of the 

“doughboy” became more real when my 

father recently sent me a box of small 

personal items, letters and notes his 

father, Army Sgt. Leon H. Bell of Caldwell, 

Texas, had brought home after serving 

in France in the 90th Infantry Division, 

360th Infantry regiment, B Company, 

made up of Texas and Oklahoma 

draftees. (When the unit later took in 

soldiers from other states, they decided 

the “TO” on the unit patch instead stood 

for “Tough Ombres.”)

My paternal grandfather died long 

before I was born, so these things he 

brought back have given me a chance to 

learn more about him and the war he and 

his compatriots fought to stop Imperial 

German aggression.

One thing many did not bring back 

was their lives. During the St. Mihiel and 

Meusse-Argonne Offensives of 1918, the 

360th Regiment alone lost 254 men, not 

counting another 32 listed as missing. 

Just in Bell’s own Company B, 12 men 

were killed. Many others were wounded 

or exposed to mustard gas. The 90th 

received many letters of commendation 

for its service, including from General of 

the Armies John “Blackjack” Pershing.

Story and Photos by John R. Bell

Most of the items my grandfather 

brought home are things DLA Troop 

Support now provides in some form. 

Leon was only 23 years old, but he 

wore (or at least was provided) a pair of 

spectacles, framed in wire made of what 

is likely tin, given the lack of rust in the 

era before stainless steel or aluminum. 

From bottom left, clockwise: French emergency currency; 

unidentified uniform insignia; Army uniform buttons, wallet; 

spectacles and case; newspaper photo of unidentified man, 

French cigarette rolling papers; label for a Christmas package; 

liberty pass from Camp Travis, San Antonio; remains of medal 

or pin; 1913 essay on character. 

A comedic poem satirizing Kaiser Wilhelm found among Bell’s 

wartime items.
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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

division of DLA Troop Support, through 

contracts with private manufacturers. 

Among Leon’s items, the only sign of 

a medal is a tarnished brass pin with 

tatters of ribbon. In fact, it might instead 

be the remains of some type of nonaward pin, such as the American Legion 

pin, also pictured. The list of medals 

awarded to soldiers of the 360th as of 

1918 does not include Leon Bell’s name, 

but like all the men he served with, he 

would have been eligible for the World 

They were stored all these decades in a 

small painted metal case. 

Based on photographs of other 

soldiers wearing identical glasses, I 

suspect these were supplied by the U.S. 

Army Quartermaster — one of several 

ancestors to DLA. On that note, the 

modern U.S. Army’s 90th Sustainment 

Brigade claims lineage from the 90th 

Division, which was deactivated as a 

regular unit after the war but revived off 

and on over the decades.

Thankfully, there were no food items 

in the box. But there was one object 

that could be considered part of the 

Sustainment supply line at that time: a 

tiny tin of cigarette rolling papers. The 

French label makes clear they were 

not official U.S. Army issue. But it’s 

well-known that for years, American 

service members from all branches were 

provided cigarettes along with their 

C-rations or K-rations.

As far as the Clothing and Textiles

supply line, the only uniform elements my 

grandfather brought back were coat buttons — but even they have a story to tell. 

Along with the usual U.S. Army buttons 

with the eagle emblem are two marked 

“USNA” for “U.S. National Army,” the corps 

of draft and volunteer soldiers who joined 

after the U.S. declared war, as well as a 

button with the crossed rifles denoting 

Infantry, below the unit number of 360.

I wondered: Were these buttons 

spares the Army provided every soldier? 

Or were they cut from the uniform 

coat, long discarded or lost? This in turn 

led me to wonder: What happened to 

the coat itself? In the era long before 

DLA Disposition Services, did the Army 

demand the coat back for repurposing? 

Although the buttons are all that 

remain of Leon’s uniform, we can see it in 

full in the photograph on page 2, complete 

with the broad-brimmed felt hat the Army 

used even into the early months of World 

War II. The heavy wool coat was surely 

uncomfortable in the South Texas heat 

of Camp Travis or even in summertime 

Europe, especially in battle.

Medals in modern times are the 

Close-up of uniform buttons, including U.S. National Army. responsibility of the Medals and Insignias 

A 5-cent entertainment coupon provided to military service 

members.

A poster promoting the ‘Services of Supply,’ a World War I-era 

ancestor to DLA.
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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

LOGISTICS AND AMERICAN ENTRY INTO THE GREAT WAR

Wheat and thin strips of wood: Did 

these benign supplies really play a role 

in getting America into World War I?

In fact, logistics played a key part in 

bringing our nation into this conflict — 

in particular, America’s policy of, despite 

official neutrality, providing supplies to 

Britain via merchant ships.

At the turn of the 20th century, most 

Americans had grown weary of nearly 

a century of war. In the latter half of the 

19th century alone, Americans fought 

and died in the Civil War, the SpanishAmerican War and the Mexican War, 

not to mention the Indian Wars. In fact, 

Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election 

with the slogan “He kept us out of war.”

But soon after war broke out in 

August 1914, America began to supply 

food, materials and even munitions 

to Britain and other German enemies, 

such as Italy. Germany — itself under 

pressure from a British sea blockade — 

began using its “unterwasser” boats, 

or submarines, to sink these merchant 

ships in 1915. The Germans believed 

that American merchant ships, by 

delivering supplies, were contributing in 

a real way to the success of their enemy, 

Great Britain.

“Cruiser law” of the era dictated 

that unarmed vessels first be boarded, 

inspected for contraband, and if 

contraband was found, be afforded 

enough time for crew and passengers to 

escape via lifeboats. The first such attack, 

in January 1915, was of the ship William 

P. Frey, which was carrying wheat to 

Britain. Germany sank several more 

U.S. merchant ships that year. However, 

because of the comparatively genteel 

and his cabinet toward war, according 

to Rodney Carlisle, in his 2007 article for 

the Canadian nautical journal Northern 

Mariner. The sinking of the Vigilancia 

killed 15 crew members, including 

six Americans. The other two ships, 

the City of Memphis and the Illinois, 

were empty and on the way back to 

the United States, but the fact that the 

Germans made no attempt to warn 

them, seize any contraband and give 

the crew a chance to escape was the 

probable turning point for Wilson, who 

considered such aggression barbaric, 

according to Carlisle. 

In the Germans’ defense, their 

submarines were at great risk 

once they surfaced and made their 

presence known, given that the British 

government had urged merchant ships 

to ram German subs when possible.

As to the views of the American 

public, these ongoing attacks with 

their civilian deaths, combined with the 

Rape of Belgium; Germany’s offer in 

the Zimmerman Telegram to return to 

Mexico a large, recently acquired swath 

of the United States; and the prospect of 

a “war to end all wars,” turned the nation 

from isolationism to nationalism. And so 

America declared war April 6, 1917, with 

the first U.S. troops arriving in June.

For those American doughboys, 

it might have all begun with food 

and lumber. 

— John R. Bell

rules of engagement, most of these early 

sinkings brought no casualties.

This changed, however, with the 

sinking of the British ship Lusitania in 

May 1915. The attacking submarine 

gave no warning and made no attempt 

to rescue passengers. The attack killed 

nearly 1,200 civilians, including 128 

Americans, many of them prominent 

civilians instead of the isolated losses 

of working-class merchant mariners 

in previous attacks. The sinking of the 

Lusitania led to widespread criticism 

of Germany, and so Germany soon 

re-imposed its own restrictions on its 

submarines.

But by early 1917, Germany was on 

the verge of losing the war. And so it 

declared on Jan. 31 that its submarines 

had the right to sink any ship in the war 

zone encircling the United Kingdom, 

without warning.

Between this announcement and 

the U.S. declaration of war on April 6, 

Germany sank 10 U.S. merchant ships. 

The Housatonic, first ship sunk after 

the announcement of unrestricted 

submarine warfare was carrying wheat 

to the British government. The second 

ship, the Lyman M. Law, was sunk for 

carrying what Germany considered 

lumber — in actuality thin strips of 

wood used to build lemon crates.

However, it was the sinking of three 

merchant ships in the same weekend 

in March that may have tipped Wilson 

War I Victory Medal once the war ended. 

As interesting as it is to have these 

objects, it’s the random documents that 

make history come alive for me.

Leon took abundant handwritten 

notes (all in pencil, all in cursive) during his 

Army training and deployment, on everything from marksmanship to map and 

compass skills. These notes show what 

soldiers learned and what they thought 

important enough to write down. Perhaps 

most amusing is the list of the qualities 

required for a good scout — among them, 

good feet.

Clipped from a local water-department flyer, a satirical poem has Kaiser 

Wilhelm phoning Satan for advice and 

outlining the crimes of Kaiser Bill’s 

armies. That Leon saved this and 

carried it in the war gives us a window 

into the popular humor of the time, 

heavy on doggerel and cheeky slang.

In a postcard mailed to Beaumont, 

Texas, from Buffalo, New York, Leon 

Editor’s Note: This article is indebted to Rodney Carlisle’s 

“The Attacks on U. S. Shipping that Precipitated American Entry into World War I” 

The Northern Mariner, XVII No. 3 (July 2007), 41-66

http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol17/tnm_17_3_41-66.pdf
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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

writes — again in that neat pencil 

cursive — to his “Hon-o-Mine” Aline. 

His fiancé of not quite 18 years old, Aline 

would later become my grandmother.

A liberty pass, signed in fountain pen 

by his commanding officer (who himself 

would go on to be mayor of a major 

suburb of Dallas, Texas) allowed Leon to 

be away from duty at Camp Travis, to see 

the sights of San Antonio at a time when 

the Alamo was a decaying relic. 

A Veterans of Foreign Wars 

membership card identifies Leon as 

member No. 6 in that VFW post.

A folded handwritten essay on the 

topic of “character,” dated 1913, might 

have been an assignment from church 

or high school that Leon decided to take 

with him to war as a morale booster. 

Or perhaps he wrote it during his basic 

training — which would mean he joined 

the Army at 18 as a volunteer, well 

before the war. 

That raises an interesting point about 

federal record keeping and perhaps 

a lesson on the value of Document 

Services: A 1973 fire in the National 

Archives burned most records of Army 

soldiers from 1912 to 1963. So it’s not 

clear if Leon joined as a private in 1913 

or enlisted in 1918 and was promoted 

to corporal (his lowest rank shown in the 

surviving records) soon after.

Perhaps most significant is a piece 

of folded cotton sheeting, 

pocked with stains and holes, 

on which Leon recorded his 

three months at the base 

hospital in Tours, France, 

in 1918, recovering from 

Spanish Flu. For all 

the notes Leon took 

during training and 

deployment, this is his 

only mention of that 

time. And he was lucky 

to survive; more Allied 

soldiers were killed during 

the war by influenza than by 

the enemy.

Likewise, there is only 

the barest hint at the earlier 

weeks Leon spent recuperating among 

other ill soldiers at the homes of French 

families in the tiny village of Arbot, near 

the Western Front. Only the names and 

addresses of Messrs. Yacotin and Durand 

are evident of this family’s generosity to 

one young American soldier.

However, there are two letters 

from the Army responding to requests 

for his whereabouts from his sister 

and brother-in-law. I found these 

letters notable for how personal the 

responses were from the Army and 

how little the Army knew about the 

fate or location of its own soldier.

For me, these items are a reminder 

of the sacrifices all the soldiers, sailors 

and Marines of World War I made on the 

battlefield and at sea — along with the 

burdens that continued for those lucky 

enough to come home. Many brought 

with them bullet, blast and burn injuries 

from trench warfare and mustard gas. 

Others returned with what was then 

called “shell shock,” known today as posttraumatic stress disorder.

Yet they also brought to American 

society an appreciation for their hard-won 

peace, honored every Nov. 11 first as 

Armistice Day and later as Veterans’ Day, 

along with a toughness that would help 

Americans get through the Great Depression and the even bloodier war to follow.

This year, we remember with pride 

the doughboys of the Great War — along 

with the men and women fighting in 

America’s military today, who carry, wear, 

consume and rely on items and services 

from the Defense Logistics Agency. LL

Pin identifying Bell as a member of the reception committee 

for the 1936 American Legion conference in Beaumont, Texas, 

where he settled after the war. Medal depicts Spindletop oil 

well and Navy ship being built in harbor.

A cotton sheet or pillowcase with dates of Bell’s three-month stay at 

the base hospital in Tours, France, recovering from the Spanish Flu.

Additional photos are 

available on the DLA website

Visit https://go.usa.gov/xXK24
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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

T

he Defense Logistics Agency received 

an early Christmas present of sorts 

Dec. 23 last year, when President 

Obama signed the 2017 National 

Defense Authorization Act, allowing DLA 

to acquire seven new strategic materials 

and dispose of several legacy materials in 

the “national stockpile.”

Revenue from the sale of the legacy 

items will go toward new purchases 

 MORE THAN JUST

and funding for future operations, said 

Thomas Rasmussen, director of strategic 

planning and market research in DLA’s 

Strategic Materials office.

“The law requires that we get specific 

legislation before we sell materials,” he 

said. “Some of the materials we’ve had 

since the Cold War.”

The latest NDAA allows DLA to 

dispose of the large stores of chromesteel alloy, as well as several metals used 

in alloys to add strength or corrosion 

resistance: beryllium, chromium and 

tungsten (in powder and ore form). In 

addition, DLA can now dispose of nearly 

575 pounds of pure platinum, used for its 

heat tolerance and corrosion resistance 

— currently worth about $10 million.

The new law also lets DLA acquire 

new materials: high-strength, highstiffness carbon fiber; tantalum, a 

corrosion-resistant metal used in place 

of much more expensive platinum in 

alloys and capacitors; germanium, a 

semiconductor used in infrared systems; 

tungsten-rhenium, used in electronic 

wiring and in radar systems; europium, 

Story by Dianne Ryder 

DLA STRATEGIC MATERIALS

‘PILES OF ROCKS’

Pile of ferrochrome in Scotia, New York. 

Ferrochrome is used in chrome plating 

and other alloyed metals.

— Photo by David Landry

A pile of ferromanganese, used for high strength steel. This 

shipment was part of a depot relocation project from Warren, 

Ohio to Lordstown, Ohio. 

— Photo by Christopher Johnson
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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

a rare element used in superconductors, 

color video monitors and memory chips; 

and boron carbide powder and silicon 

carbide fiber, both used in personal 

protective and vehicle armor.

The Strategic and Critical Materials 

Stock Piling Act provides for the 

acquisition and retention of stocks of 

certain strategic and critical materials. 

It also encourages the conservation 

and development of sources for these 

materials within the United States. Such 

materials, when acquired and stored, 

constitute the National Defense Stockpile 

— known simply as the stockpile.

In the late 1980s, the secretary of 

defense delegated the operation of the 

stockpile to DLA. DLA Strategic Materials 

is responsible for the acquisition, storage, 

management and disposal of materials. 

“There’s a whole section in Title 50 

of the U.S. Code that tells us what we 

can do, when we can do it and how 

to do it,” said Michele Pavlak, a DLA 

associate general counsel. “There’s a 

market impact committee that Strategic 

Materials personnel have to meet with 

annually, before they can get approval to 

buy or sell anything, so they don’t disrupt 

the U.S. markets.”

Rasmussen explained that the 

purpose of the Stock Piling Act is to 

ensure raw materials are available for 

reconstituting military capability after a 

military conflict. 

“During World War II, it was a 

logistical war,” he said. “A lot of times, 

enemies went out of commission 

because they ran out of critical supplies.” 

The government expanded its 

stockpiling effort shortly after the war 

to protect the U.S. against material 

shortages as the United States pursued 

an arms race and a “space race” with the 

Soviet Union, and as the possibility of 

another war was ever-present.

“We have to keep certain materials 

that [the Department of Defense] deems 

strategic and critical to the national 

defense, so we’re not dependent on 

foreign sources or a single point of 

failure,” Pavlak said. “It’s an insurance 

policy, basically.” 

“Every other year, the secretary of 

defense is required to report to Congress 

the department’s recommendations 

with respect to stockpile requirements,” 

Pavlak said. “These recommendations 

are based upon emergency planning 

assumptions that are in turn based upon 

the military conflict scenario used by DoD 

for budgeting and planning purposes.”

Pavlak explained that based on 

military-conflict scenarios, DoD develops a 

list of stockpile requirements to replenish 

or replace munitions, combat-support 

items and weapons systems required for 

the conflict. All these elements go into 

a report to Congress, which determines 

what materials DLA buys.

Rasmussen said the stockpile 

increased in size, particularly in the 1950s 

and 1960s, due to fears of a conflict with 

the Soviet Union. 

“There was a really gigantic stockpile 

— over $3 billion worth of raw materials,” 

he said. “And billions of dollars go a lot 

further when you’re buying raw materials 

than when you’re buying airplanes.”

In the 1990s, after the Soviet Union 

fragmented and the threat diminished, so 

did the need for such a large inventory of 

raw materials.

“The Soviet Union was a pretty good 

source of raw materials. They needed to 

generate hard currency, and they sold 

a lot of commodities into the market,” 

Rasmussen said. “It became very clear 

that we didn’t need these mountains of 

material anymore.” 

During the 1990s, the stockpile 

started selling many legacy materials 

quite aggressively. However, as nations 

Drummed material of electrolytic chrome is used by the metal 

plating industry for high-performance alloys in jet-engine 

applications.

— Photo by Eric Deal

Germanium metal and germanium wafer used by 

the aerospace industry, along with the night vision 

optics industry. 

— Photo by Vanessa Brown
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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

like China became more economically 

powerful and people became concerned 

about external threats, the pendulum 

swung back and there was a renewed 

interest in reconstituting the stockpile.

“We’re also modernizing,” Rasmussen 

said. “Rather than getting very simple, 

more basic industrial materials, we’re 

getting a lot more technical materials.”

Acquisition and sales planning for 

these materials has already begun, with 

initial awards expected this year, but 

getting the authority to buy new materials 

is a recent development, Rasmussen said. 

Because decades often elapse between 

congressional approval of such changes, 

the changes permitted in the latest NDAA 

are particularly significant.

“We have to have a review by 

Cabinet-level groups such as the State 

Department, Commerce Department and 

the Department of the Interior to avoid 

undue disruption,” he said. For example, 

the stockpile at one time had “enough 

ferrochrome to supply the entire world 

for five years.” 

If the stockpile had tried to sell the 

entire stock of the metal additive, used in 

stainless steel and other alloys, it could 

have put private industry out of business.

Congress directs where the money 

from material sales goes, and it hasn’t 

always been funneled back into stockpile. Although the Stock Piling Act 

established a transaction fund to pay for 

the stockpile and its activities, Congress 

has sometimes diverted money from the 

T Fund to other programs and redirected 

the proceeds from the sale of excess 

materials to unrelated projects. 

“For several years, we automatically 

sent $50 million to the Air Force, 

Navy and the Army,” Rasmussen said. 

“Whatever revenues we had, they got 

$50 million each.”

“Even after the NDAA-specific 

legislation to acquire/dispose materials is 

enacted ... each planned acquisition and 

disposal of materials must be included in 

the Annual Materials Plan,” Pavlak said. 

“The stockpile manager includes in the 

AMP the proposed acquisitions for the 

stockpile for the upcoming fiscal year and 

the following four years.”

Rasmussen said the proposals have 

helped ensure the stockpile’s solvency, 

for now. 

“Sales will continue to support 

acquisitions and operations for a few 

more years,” he said. “Eventually, we’re 

going to need appropriations to continue 

operations, but we will continue to fund 

ourselves by selling off material.”

And current stockpile operations are 

not dependent on new taxpayer money, 

Rasmussen said.

“We have a separate account, the 

stockpile transaction fund,” he said. 

What might appear to the naked eye 

as piles of rocks are actually materials 

critical to DLA’s mission of supporting 

the warfighter, Rasmussen said. For 

example, boron carbide may look like a 

piece of dark ceramic, but when arranged 

correctly in a vest, it can stop bullets.

“The things that materials do are 

just incredible. It’s exciting to us, and we 

enjoy it, but it’s not always easy to share 

with other people,” he said. “Our program 

doesn’t have completed rockets, but we 

hold a reserve of the things that help 

make the rocket light and fast.” LL

Germanium lenses awaiting a recycling initiative. Germanium 

is used in the lenses of night vision scopes. Inventory is 

currently stored at Hammond, Indiana. 

— Photo courtesy of DLA Strategic Materials Hammond Depot
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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

ALOFT AND ALERT

Story by Elizabeth Stoeckmann, DLA Energy Public Affairs

DLA’s Support to Border Surveillance Aerostats

The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is highly effective in force protection and surveillance 

roles in recent military operations. The use of aerostats offers U.S. Border Patrol a significant 

tactical advantage in ongoing border and security surveillance operations by deploying 

payloads as high as 3,500 feet.

— Photo by Donna Burton
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DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

T

ethered surveillance balloons, 

filled with helium from Defense 

Logistics Agency Energy 

Aerospace Energy, are helping law 

enforcement defeat and deter the 

smuggling of people and narcotics 

into the United States.

The balloons, technically known as 

aerostats, are operated by U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection 

and are equipped 

with an array 

of high-powered surveillance and 

communications equipment.

“The main program we support is 

the Tethered Aerostat Radar System, 

and we’ve been supporting it for more 

than 30 years,” said Doug Smith, 

director of DLA Energy Aerospace 

Energy.

TARS, the largest and highest-flying 

of the CBP aerostats, detect suspicious 

aircraft flying near the United States’ 

southern border and report them to 

CBP’s U.S. Border Patrol officers, who 

investigate and, if warranted, interdict 

the suspicious aircraft. 

“TARS is the most cost-efficient 

capability that we own,” according to 

Richard Booth, director of domain 

awareness for CBP’s Air and Marine 

Operations, in an article for the Oct. 

29, 2014, issue of CBP Frontline by 

Dave Long. “It’s like a low-flying 

satellite system but [is] 

cheaper to launch 

and operate.”

Aerospace 

Energy supports 

CBP’s continuous 

surveillance 

operations for 

13 surveillance 

aerostats, which detect activity 

in the air and on the ground. By 

detecting illegal immigration, the 

smuggling of people or drugs, as 

well as staging areas for drug runs, 

aerostats are among the most costeffective tools in CBP’s inventory. 

 Aerostats are similar to airships 

except that they are unmanned, said 

Rob Brown, CBP program manager 

for TARS. By lifting radar and other 

surveillance tools high in the sky, 

the aerostats increase the effective 

range of those systems. In addition, 

the balloons’ presence helps deter 

illegal activity.

TARS uses Aerospace Energy–

supplied helium to fly the aerostats 

as high as 12,000 feet. This allows 

long-range radar to overcome 

line-of-sight constraints caused by 

the curvature of the Earth and the 

terrain, according to CBP officials. 

The average size of the TARS 

aerostat is 10 percent longer and 

15 percent wider than an average 

surveillance aerostat and is about 

70 yards long.

“The smallest of our tactical 

aerostats, the Rapid Aerostat Initial 

Deployment system, can fit within 

the small belly of the larger TARS 

system,” Brown said. 

Along the Texas border, CBP 

operates a half-dozen TARS balloons 

to monitor known entry points for 

human and drug smuggling into 

the United States. Because the Rio 

Grande and the vegetation in these 

areas make it difficult for agents 

to detect and respond to the illegal 

activities, the agents use aerostats 
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12 www.dla.mil

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

worldwide, ready to provide helium 

based on customer demand. This 

includes short-notice requests, since 

DLA Energy can quickly react and 

coordinate to provide the gas when 

needed, Smith explained.

In most cases, requirements 

are part of a long-term Aerospace 

Energy sustainment plan that issues 

competitive indefinite delivery/indefinite 

quality contracts for bulk gaseous 

helium to support numerous aerostat 

programs around the globe, including 

CBP programs.

“We have a diverse supply base to 

meet these program needs,” Smith said. 

“We coordinate with the Bureau of 

Land Management [which] manages 

the federal helium reserve, to buy our 

helium,” Smith said. “The agreement 

allows the delivery of crude helium to 

our suppliers, who refine the helium to 

required quality levels and then provide 

the helium directly to our customers. 

However, with gaseous helium, we have 

trailers that go to the vendor’s fill points, 

load the helium and then deliver it to the 

customer location.”

Smith said they also coordinate with 

the DLA Energy regions, whose representatives perform quality assurance. 

These personnel “go to our vendor 

fill points to ensure the quality control 

program keeps the helium we provide 

CBP on specification,” Smith said. 

to carry cameras high above the terrain. 

This gives CBP a decisive tactical 

advantage, Brown explained.

For example, Dec. 1, 2016, U.S. 

Border Patrol agents from Zapata, Texas, 

working with the Government of Mexico, 

seized 6,283 pounds of marijuana, with 

a street value of $5,026,000. The U.S. 

agents working aerostat operations 

observed illegal activity on the Mexican 

side of Falcon International Reservoir. 

The agents saw several subjects loading 

bundles of contraband onto a boat 

and notified Mexican authorities, who 

confiscated the narcotics.

Damon Moore, Aerospace Energy 

supplier operations deputy, said Falcon 

Reservoir is one of the top bass-fishing 

lakes in the country and is the site for several major bass tournaments each year. 

The segment of the Rio Grande 

that abuts Texas is the official border 

between the U.S. and Mexico. With 

proper licenses, both U.S. and Mexican 

citizens can access the water. There 

is no wall, and there are no border 

checkpoints, which makes the use of 

the aerostats important for surveillance 

of illegal activity, Moore explained.

“I have fished the Texas side of Falcon 

Reservoir on several occasions. And over 

the past two years, it’s encouraging to 

look up while on the lake and see the 

aerostats,” he said. “Because of the lake’s 

recent history, it gives me an extra sense 

of security while fishing on the U.S. side 

of the lake.”

“It’s the diversity of the Aerospace 

Energy mission that continues to 

impress and give me a sense of pride in 

what we do each day at work supporting 

the Department of Homeland Security 

mission of securing the border from 

the trafficking of illegal immigrants and 

drugs,” Moore said.

Aerospace Energy manages the 

worldwide acquisition of missile fuels, 

liquid propellants for space launch and 

satellites, aviators’ breathing oxygen and 

other bulk industrial chemicals and gases 

– including nitrogen, oxygen, argon, 

hydrogen and helium. The DLA Energy 

directorate has an enduring partnership 

with CBP and supplies helium to multiple 

TARS aerostats along the U.S.-Mexico 

border in tube-bank trailers.

Aerospace Energy owns and 

maintains a fleet of helium tube 

trailers at numerous vendor-fill plants 

“DLA’S FLEXIBILITY, 

PROFESSIONALISM 

AND MISSION 

FOCUS IS WORTHY 

OF EMULATION 

ACROSS ALL OF 

THE GOVERNMENT.” 

 — KIM DORMAN

Courtesy Photo

Using aerostats, Border Patrol agents from Zapata, Texas, 

observed illegal activity on the Mexican side of Falcon 

International Reservoir and helped Mexican authorities 

seize over 6,000 pounds of marijuana.
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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

John Milne

“We do this for all of our customers, 

whether Department of Defense, or in 

this case DHS.”

DLA has directly supported DoD 

aerostat systems for more than 20 

years, including operations in Iraq and 

Afghanistan, and with DHS/CBP domestically for law enforcement activities.

In 2012, CBP began a series of 

demonstrations with tactical aerostats 

to counter illegal immigration in the 

Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, 

Brown explained. 

“The Border Patrol quickly learned 

how to operate and support the cameraequipped aerostats, and now there are 

six such systems deployed in the region,” 

Brown said.

After the successful demonstrations, 

the U.S. Army transferred several 

aerostat systems and spares to CBP, 

and now lends the agency additional 

systems, he said.

DHS’s TARS was until recently an Air 

Force program supported by DLA Energy. 

DLA Energy’s strategic partnership for 

logistics support with DHS has been in 

place for five years. 

“Throughout these program 

transitions, DLA always remained and 

continues to remain a critical logistics 

partner with CBP, supporting all of our 

critical helium-supply requirements,” 

Brown said.

“In addition to providing the helium 

at better-than-market prices for CBP, 

DLA consistently demonstrates their 

outstanding commitment to our law 

enforcement mission and our program 

personnel,” said Kim Dorman, TARS 

logistics manager.

“We throw a few curve balls to 

DLA now and then by relocating 

deployment sites, changing order 

quantities off-schedule due to 

contingencies or simply reacting to 

unplanned concerns,” Dorman said. 

“DLA delivers what we need, where 

we need it and when we need it. DLA’s 

flexibility, professionalism and mission 

focus is worthy of emulation across all 

of the government.”

“We leverage economies of 

scale [and] buy helium for all of our 

customers, [which] include DoD, 

DHS, and support operations at the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration,” Smith said. “The 

more requirements we bring to the 

table, the more interest we are able 

to gather from industry. The more 

competition we receive, the more 

competitive pricing we receive as well. 

This is a win-win for all involved: DoD, 

DHS and our helium suppliers.”

CBP has approved spending plans 

for these aerostats well into the next 

decade. In 2013, CBP Air and Marine 

Operations received control of the TARS 

program after nearly 25 years of U.S. Air 

Force management. 

CBP law enforcement personnel 

claim these systems are “game 

changers” due to their effectiveness, 

relatively low operating costs and overall 

results in securing the southern border.

DLA Energy Aerospace Energy “will 

continue to focus on providing logistics 

support for helium to CBP, as well as 

all of our customers, in an economical 

and efficient manner,” Smith said. 

“I’m proud of the work my staff does 

in support of this mission and look 

forward to strategic engagement with 

CBP and DHS, and helping to secure 

our nation’s borders.” LL

U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande Valley 

Sector in Texas undergo familiarization and training by support 

personnel from the U.S. Army aerostat program. The Border 

Patrol agents have been using these camera-equipped 

aerostats since 2012.
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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Sustain 

and Deter

N

uclear missiles may not be what most people 

think of when they think of the Defense 

Logistics Agency, but DLA plays a key role in 

making sure the nation’s strongest deterrents are 

always at the ready.

That’s why, when Air Force Lt. Gen. Andy Busch took 

command of DLA in 2014, he committed the agency to 

improving its support to the nuclear enterprise. One of 

his goals as director was to synchronize nuclear support 

across the agency while making DLA a part of the overall 

support strategy as the military services modernized 

their nuclear assets.

DLA Aviation Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Allan 

Day and the DLA Aviation team are also committed to 

improving nuclear support. DLA Aviation has become 

the agency’s lead for support of the Minuteman III, an 

intercontinental ballistic missile. Land-based ICBMs are 

one leg of the nuclear triad, along with ICBMs carried by 

heavy bombers and on submarines.

Recognizing the benefits of synchronizing support 

efforts across DLA and within the activity, DLA Aviation 

recently stood up the Aviation Nuclear Enterprise 

Support Office, in its Customer Operations Directorate. 

The new NESO office focuses on improving nuclear 

weapons capabilities, in particular for land-based ICBMs, 

the air-launched cruise missile, the B-52 and B-2 aircraft 

and the future deployment of the B-21 bomber.

Story by Cathy Hopkins, DLA Aviation Public Affairs

Air Force maintenance personnel with the 321st Strategic Missile Wing guide 

the re-entry system for Minuteman III missiles onto a missile guidance set. DLA, 

in partnership with Air Force maintenance wings, designed point-of-use built 

sets for launch facilities, stocked with required parts and items to perform 26 

maintenance tasks.

DLA Aviation Pioneering Advances 

in Ballistic Missile Support
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DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Fernando Serna
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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

and supplies needed to perform required 

ICBM maintenance. The aviation 

and distribution leadership teams 

at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex 

at Hill Air Force Base are providing 

strong leadership and making this 

transformation happen, he said. 

DLA Distribution Hill’s Deployable 

Medical Systems Activity designed two 

types of build sets, one for LCCs and one 

for LFs. The build set for LCC contains 

approximately 202 DLA-managed 

national stock numbers valued at $46,800 

per build set, supporting 15 maintenance 

tasks. The Air Force will require a couple of 

LCC build sets per year per base.

Dave Graves, chief of the new office, 

updated leaders on DLA Aviation’s 

NESO efforts during DLA Aviation’s 

Senior Leader Conference, Feb. 7-9, 

2017, at Defense 

Supply Center 

Richmond, Virginia. 

He highlighted 

the collaboration 

between the DLA 

Aviation NESO 

office and the Air 

Force on the ICBM 

launcher door 

closure cables and 

launcher door bulb 

seal, resulting in 

modifications that 

had been needed 

for several years. 

Graves pointed 

to DLA Aviation/Air 

Force innovations 

like the first attempt 

to provide retail 

support for Minuteman III’s programmed 

depot maintenance. He described the 

efforts of two DLA teams in Utah: DLA 

Aviation at Ogden and DLA Distribution 

Hill, at Hill Air Force Base. These teams 

worked with Air Force partners at Hill Air 

Force Base to create a support structure 

to supply the Air Force’s three ICBM 

wings. {See this related article, Partnership 

Streamlines PDM for ICBM Wings, at https://

go.usa.gov/xX5ah.}

“It is a transformational initiative,” 

Graves said. 

He noted that ICBMs are now on an 

eight-year cycle of programmed depot 

maintenance for 450 

launch facilities (the 

missile silos and the 

attached buildings) 

and 45 launchcontrol centers (the 

underground control 

hub for a network of 

10 LFs, where the 

crew stands watch 

and, if ordered, 

launches the missile). 

The maintenance 

cycle is 51 days, 

and the Air Force is 

covering 57 launch 

facilities a year.

Graves said 

this maintenance 

cycle is possible, 

in large part, 

because DLA created point-of-use 

build sets consisting of portable 

containers pre-loaded with the parts 

THE SEVERITY 

OF SUPPORT 

CHALLENGES IS 

LESS AS DLA BRINGS 

SOLUTIONS TO THE 

TABLE IN CLOSE 

COORDINATION WITH 

THE AIR FORCE.

Kim Baird, DLA Distribution Hill, Utah, shelter maintenance 

supervisor, describes a new support structure [build sets] 

used for maintaining missile launch facilities and control 

centers to customers at Hill Air Force Base.

Air Force Airman 1st Class Jonathan McElderry Todd Croma

Air Force Col. John Waggoner, Customer Operations director, 

DLA Aviation, talks to members of the 91st Maintenance 

Group at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. He discussed 

how to improve Minuteman III sustainment and the Air Force 

Global Strike Command’s role in sustainment success.
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DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

The LF build set contains 294 DLAmanaged NSNs valued at $96,210 per 

set, supporting 26 maintenance tasks.

“The containers are transported to 

the ICBM sites, where mechanics perform 

repairs, and are then returned to DLA 

Distribution Hill for inventory, billing and 

replenishment,” Graves said. “DLA will 

have about 15-18 LF container build sets 

in motion for the customer at all times.”

The 309th Maintenance Group, also 

at Hill Air Force Base, will manage the 

maintenance planning and the ICBM 

induction repair schedule. 

On Jan. 30, Air Force Col. John 

Waggoner, director of customer 

operations at DLA Aviation, joined with 

team members from Air Force Global 

Strike Command, Air Force Nuclear 

Weapons Center, and the Air Force 

Sustainment Center for their ICBM 

Sustainment Roadshow. Between 

Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, the team visited 

Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana; 

Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota; and 

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. 

A visit to F.E. Warren Air Force Base, 

Wyoming, is planned.

Air Force senior leaders planned the 

events as candid talks with maintenance 

troops, defenders and operators on 

Minuteman III status and the way forward 

until the new ICBM weapon system, the 

Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, begins 

deployment in the late 2020s. 

The Minuteman III missile fleet 

was fielded in the 1970s with an initial 

10-year service life, while its launch, 

command and control systems date to 

the 1960s. 

The “Roadshow” team shared 

sustainment improvement actions taken, 

in progress and the impact of the actions 

for the maintainers in the field. 

Waggoner represented DLA on 

the combined team. He said he felt 

fortunate to deliver DLA’s message and 

proof of its commitment. 

“The first round of visits provided 

an unprecedented opportunity for the 

collective Air Force nuclear enterprise 

support chain to stand before the 

TROOP SUPPORT LAUNCHES DEDICATED

NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE SUPPORT

Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support heralded the launch of focused 

sustainment of the Defense Department’s nuclear capabilities with the official 

establishment of the local Nuclear Enterprise Support Office during a ceremony 

Feb. 27.

The office will coordinate the support that DLA Troop Support’s five supply 

chains provide to nuclear weapons systems platforms, including submarines, 

aircraft carriers and strategic, long-range bombers.

Each supply chain has a division chief managing materiel support to the 

nuclear enterprise. Additionally, the Industrial Hardware and Construction and 

Equipment supply chains established integrated supplier teams to support 

the enterprise.

It was difficult to ensure materiel availability for all the items the weapons 

systems required before the concepts behind the NESO were established, said 

Kathy Nitka, NESO program integrator.

“It’s very hard to manage things if they’re spread out over the supply chains,” 

Nitka said. “But now there are materiel planners working to directly support 

these specific weapons systems.”

Nitka said an example is the Navy requiring food, medical supplies and 

other equipment stocked on submarines before leaving port. Tying all of 

those items to the nuclear enterprise nets them a higher priority over other 

customers’ requirements.

In January 2015, DLA Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Andy Busch created the 

agency’s NESO under DLA Logistics Operations to demonstrate the agency’s 

commitment to supporting the nuclear triad.

The strategic importance of the nuclear weapons systems prompted the 

creation of the NESO, said Air Force Col. Stephen Petters, DLA executive director 

of logistics operations.

“We’re dedicating teams of people to make sure DLA is exactly where we 

need to be to support these activities from the services,” Petters said.

Nitka said that she appreciates the agency’s efforts to align the work across 

supply chains to sustain the nuclear enterprise.

“I don’t think any other program is set up like this,” Nitka said. “Under this 

program, we are absolutely one DLA.”

— Jason Kaneshiro

A munitions display demonstrates the full capabilities of the B-52 Stratofortress, an Air Force bomber. DLA’s Nuclear 

Enterprise Support Office was established in January to position the agency to be fully responsive to the needs of the 

Air Force and Navy nuclear communities.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Robert Horstman
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18 www.dla.mil

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

members who execute the mission, so 

we could share the progress and stand 

answerable for our efforts to strengthen 

the nuclear enterprise,” Waggoner said. 

“As a key member of the support chain, 

DLA was at the top of the Air Force’s 

invite list for the roadshow. It is important 

we stand beside the rest of the Air Force 

support team we interact with daily.”

“It’s always refreshing to interact with 

the customer face-to-face on their turf, 

and the roadshow was no exception,” 

Waggoner said. “The presence of the 

entire support chain, together, enabled 

us to quickly focus and tackle concerns 

on the spot. Our nuclear customers 

continued to make huge strides over the 

last several years, but many challenges 

still exist.”

The daily demands of sustaining a 

capability with zero defects are great. 

Balancing that need for zero defects 

with the need for preventive measures 

requires enormous effort. During the 

trip, Waggoner said he learned of 

several emerging support challenges 

DLA is integral to solving, but as Air 

Force personnel commented during 

the roadshow, the severity of those 

challenges is less as DLA brings solutions 

to the table in close coordination with the 

Air Force.

Waggoner said Team DLA could 

stand firmly behind its achievements 

and its progress toward other goals. 

“Almost every area within DLA is 

involved in the nuclear enterprise. DLA 

set aside more than $200 million for 

nuclear enterprise parts procurement, 

of which $37 million was for Minuteman 

III PDM,” he said. “In the last 10 months, 

Air Force nuclear site materiel availability 

has risen 5 percent.” LL

Air Force 1st Lt. Allia Martinez, 320th Missile Squadron missile 

combat crew commander, and Air Force 2nd Lt. Benjamin 

Lenos, the deputy combat crew commander, perform checks 

on the strategic automated command and control system in a 

launch control center at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Ruano

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Could one of you offer readers a basic description of the 

command-and-control initiative known as C2?

Williams: For DLA CENTCOM & SOCOM, we 

combined existing assets — my DLA support teams 

in Afghanistan and Kuwait — with assets from DLA 

Energy (DLA Energy Middle East), DLA Disposition 

Services (DLA Disposition Services Directorate–

Central) and DLA Distribution (Distribution Depot Naval 

Support Activity Bahrain) — into a single brigade-level 

organization to serve as the single face to the customer 

A Conversation with ...

DLA’s Regional 

Commanders

for all DLA support to the CENTCOM commander, 

component commanders (Army Central Command, 

Navy Central Command and Marine Corps Forces 

Central Command) and the SOCOM commander.

So how were your commands structured before the 

C2 transition?

Williams: In the CENTCOM area of responsibility, 

Disposition Services, Energy and Distribution each 

had a “silo of excellence.” All those were feeding back 

to their headquarters, all of them doing great and 

wonderful things. But what it meant on the ground 

was that each one had an inject to the component 

headquarters in the AOR. 

All we’ve done is flatten the organization so the single 

person interacting with the component headquarters, 

as well as SOCOM, is the regional commander — in 

my instance, the forward commander. We didn’t 

sever all ties between the local primary-level field 

activity organizations and the PLFA headquarters. We 

just formalized the information flow, so it now flows 

through my headquarters as it pertains to operational 

aspects of their missions.

All the supply chain aspects of the mission still 

belong to the PLFA headquarters in terms of writing 

contracts, funding and things of that nature. But for 

operational support to the warfighter, that kind of 

cycles through my command now. It’s an additional 

responsibility for us.

Army Col. Derrin Williams, commander of DLA 

Central Command & Special Operations Command; 

Army Col. Lisa Keough, commander of DLA 

Europe & Africa; and Navy Capt. Timothy Daniels, 

commander of DLA Pacific discuss the recent 

command-and-control change to streamline how 

DLA supports customers in combatant commands 

— otherwise known as C2

DLA’s first group of regional commanders are, from left, Army Col. Derrin Williams, DLA CENTCOM & SOCOM; Army Col. Lisa Keough, DLA Europe & Africa; and Navy Capt. Timothy 

Daniels, DLA Pacific.

Phil Prater

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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017
Daniels: Derrin captured it perfectly there. The issue 

before was, if the geographic combatant commander 

or one of the subunified commanders had an 

energy-related operational issue, they’d go up the 

DLA Energy channels to get up to the DLA Energy 

commander. The same for a distribution issue. 

So essentially, C2 has singled up that touchpoint, 

where they go to the regional commander now, and 

we do the interface across the DLA enterprise to 

provide the response. So it really simplifies things 

from the customer standpoint, in terms of how they 

engage. And then we work the internal DLA dialogues 

to get at whatever their internal operational issue is.

So with C2, the combatant commander only needs to 

worry about getting in touch with your office?

Keough: Pretty much. From the Europe and Africa 

perspective, the one thing it helps create efficiencies 

with is exercise and planning alone. Before, Energy 

and Troop Support would each do their own thing 

for exercises. 

Now with C2 and our consolidated Joint Logistics 

Operations Center, we have a representative 

from each organization, and you don’t have those 

“silos of excellence” Derrin referred to. It creates 

a lot of efficiencies, with the regional commands 

setting priorities for the support and relaying the 

requirements for the exercises and for the planning. 

And with Europe Command and Africa Command, 

even though the regional commands all have the 

single face to the combatant commander, supporting 

them for the enterprise, the regions each have a 

slightly different take, depending on what combatant 

command you’re supporting. And the challenges are a 

little different. 

For DLA Europe & Africa, I think the one thing 

we’re really happy with is the exercises. We’ve 

been working with the acquisition directorates of 

the combatant commands on the exercise design. 

We’ll be the first entity that is part of a training 

audience. For most exercises, DLA is just providing 

a response cell. The Joint Staff is using us for one 

of our exercises and incorporating DLA now as the 

training audience for the exercise. So we’re pretty 

happy about that. 

And like both Capt. Daniels and Col. Williams said, 

it’s all about support to the warfighter and making it 

simplified. Instead of contacting seven people for an 

exercise, they only have to contact one person.

Could you explain what a training audience is?

Keough: In past exercises, DLA typically provided 

only a response cell to help combatant commands 

train the staff at the tier 1 level. And now we’ll 

have training objectives for DLA in JTIMS [the Joint 

Training Information Management System]. The Joint 

Staff will be tracking those, and we’ll be focused on 

achieving those objectives.

What was the impetus for the change? Were there 

problems with the old structure, or was this more about 

just making a really good system even better?

Williams: Lisa and Tim brought up a critical point 

in terms of efficiency. The reason we call that “silos 

of excellence” — it wasn’t because someone was 

failing. Each one of these silos was making it happen 

for me on the ground. But in terms of efficiencies and 

unity of effort, aligned under one single command, 

that’s what this change allows. 

In my AOR, where things rapidly change, that 

correlates to speed. So they come directly to the 

regional commander, and we have authority — to 

an extent, in terms of on-the-ground operational 

aspects — to be able to effect change or direct what 

needs to happen to support the warfighter. And then 

we just tie that in with the PLFAs. And that’s what the 

combatant command sees — that unity of effort and 

efficiency gained.

Keough: Like Derrin said, I don’t think things were failing, 

and I don’t think we never met a requirement. I just think 

part of the DLA leadership saw the different stovepipes.

One thing we in DLA tend to not realize is: Terminology 

matters. And the terminology the enterprise uses isn’t 

necessarily the same terminology the customer uses 

at the combatant command. So that’s another aspect 

the authority and regional command brings to the table 

— that translation of terminology. Because it’s bad 

enough when you’re talking about the joint warfighter 

and talking across military services and trying to understand the requirements. But when it comes to a supply 

chain, a PLFA, or a J-code or D-code [headquarters] 

requirement, it requires a little translation. 

And I think the regional commands bring that 

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20 www.dla.mil

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY
operational translation and set priories, whereas 

before, DLA Energy just did its thing if they went to 

them. But if there were two service components that 

needed the energy support, it might not have been 

prioritized right — that one gets it first versus the 

other warfighter. So I think helping set priorities and 

translating the requirements is the big bang the C2 

authority gives us for the customers.

And our region, just like the others, has multiple 

colonels and Navy captains. And I think DLA leadership, 

during strategic engagements, tended to hear it was 

a little confusing as to who has the lead. Who do I go 

to for this? Who do I go to for that? And I think DLA 

leadership wanted to simplify it for the customer.

Daniels: One other point to Lisa’s comment: It really 

aligns well, I think, with what the service components 

do as well. So you kind of standardized DLA’s 

presence within the regions. 

From a service component standpoint: Out here in the 

Pacific, if PACOM has a Navy issue, they go to Pacific 

Fleet. If they have an Army issue, they go to U.S. Army 

Pacific Command. An Air Force issue, they go to Pacific 

Air Forces. Or Marine Forces Pacific for Marine Corps 

issues. And now they come to DLA Pacific if they have 

DLA equities that need to get addressed. 

So instead of having the DLA Energy 0-6 and the DLA 

regional command sitting at the table, you’d have 

either the DLA Europe & Africa, DLA CENTCOM & 

SOCOM or DLA Pacific representative sitting at the 

table. And then we’d work within the DLA enterprise 

to address that. So it really aligns with what the 

services do within the regions, as well.

Williams: In my AOR, how we couched it is that now, 

we fill an identified capability gap in centralized C2 for 

deployed PLFA units in the CENTCOM AOR. Everyone 

knew we had PLFA units out there. Everyone knew 

they had headquarters units outside the AOR. 

But inside the AOR, we could clearly see that the 

components and combatant commander had to look 

for a rep for each one of those silos of excellence, to 

get anything done. 

Similar to what Tim said, now all they have to do now 

is just call one entity. All they have to do is contact 

us, and we make the phone calls and do all the 

coordination — vice making one call to DLA Energy, 

one to DLA Distribution, and it’s all for the same 

mission. Just give it to us, and we’ll coordinate the 

support of DLA to that mission.

What kind of feedback have you each received from 

customers since C2 began?

Williams: Here is where DLA CENTCOM & SOCOM 

is different from DLA Pacific and DLA Europe & 

Africa: My command is located inside the combatant 

command (CENTCOM) headquarters, nested in 

the CENTCOM [Logistics] Directorate. Therefore, 

feedback on DLA performance is instantaneous, to 

say the least. 

With that said, the initial feedback is that the ability 

to push issues to one node, to resolve/mitigate 

internally to DLA is greatly appreciated. It doesn’t cut 

them off from any of the PLFA entities in the theater, 

because I encourage dialogue and because each 

PLFA has a specialized skill set and SMEs internally to 

resolve or mitigate any concerns associated with any 

mission in the CENTCOM AOR. The difference is, we 

are included in all of the discussion or development of 

the resolution issue. In some cases, this is business 

as usual; in other cases, we’re establishing the 

information flow. In the end, it’s uniform across the 

board now, because of the C2 change. Therefore, the 

director’s intent is being met in the CENTCOM AOR.

Keough: I’ve always heard accolades given to DLA 

anyway. And yes, they like C2. It streamlines the 

interface. It shortens the response time. 

But on the flip side, from the PLFAs in my region 

— the commanders and the ops and the plans-andexercises side of the house — we also help [speed 

up] efforts and improve communication within the 

enterprise. So being tied to the J3 and the director 

and being equivalent with the J-codes and on the 

PLFA level — an authority C2 has given each of us 

as regional commanders — I can now better set 

priorities and get information sometimes before 

those commanders in the region hear it from their 

PLFAs. So I think it improves communication among 

the enterprise, and I’ve heard that feedback from 

some of the commanders in my region also. So not 

only just accolades from the customer, but also within 

the enterprise, I think it’s improved communication 

and made DLA’s response times better.

Daniels: Definitely, it has sped up the responsiveness 

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21

LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017
and the communication with the customer out here 

— PACOM in the Pacific, as well as our subunified 

commands, U.S. Forces Korea and U.S. Forces Japan. 

But Lisa hit on a great point earlier: It has really 

streamlined the communication among the PLFA 

presence in the region, in particular on the plans and 

exercises aspect. We have really improved the cross 

talk in terms of a planning support effort and exercise 

support effort to a COCOM or service component out 

here. We’ve really simplified things and are producing 

better support to the customer through improved 

external and internal communications.

Williams: My location inside of the CENTCOM 

headquarters coupled with my liaison officer’s 

location inside of the Operations, Plans and 

Distribution Branches of the CENTCOM [Logistics 

Directorate]; inside of SOCOM, SOCCENT and 

MARCENT headquarters; and inside of the component 

headquarters in the AOR allows my organization to 

deeply root itself in the planning and decision cycle of 

the COCOM and components. Therefore, we’re able to 

get ahead of the requirements and know what’s coming 

across the horizon in terms of emerging missions. The 

end result is responsive support to the warfighter. 

The added benefit under C2 is that I can now bring 

all DLA entities in the AOR together in our theater 

synchronization meeting and share the information — 

according to classification, of course. The information 

sharing is amplified when, on occasion, the supported 

warfighter will brief the forum on their plan. Synergy at 

its best! 

The end result is the PLFA entities in the CENTCOM 

AOR become CENTCOM current and future 

operations SMEs for their PLFAs. If any PLFA has a 

question about an emerging mission or steady-state 

operation, their entities in the AOR all have increased 

awareness — not only of how the PLFA is supporting 

the mission, but also, because of the dialogue, of how 

other PFLAs are supporting the same mission.

How about feedback from the combatant commanders?

Everyone’s always pleased with DLA’s support, in 

terms of what they get and how fast they get it. 

They don’t see all the struggle behind the scenes. 

In my AOR, other than the quick action on different 

issues, having one person to deal with — that’s what 

they appreciate. Vice just throwing the DLA issue in 

the air and seeing who catches it, they can push it 

to one person and have us work all aspects of the 

supporting one of the operations.

Daniels: From the Pacific side, extremely positive 

feedback from both the geographic component 

commander out here, as well as our subunified 

commanders. For example, as we lead into exercise 

season out in Korea, we have really singled up the DLA 

presence out there and are a lot more responsive in 

terms of how we prepare for and execute that exercise. 

And to Lisa’s point, I think out here in the Pacific as 

well, I think we’ll start to exercise DLA as a training 

audience within the exercise cycle. We’re trying to insert 

ourselves earlier in the planning cycle, so we are able to 

test DLA support concepts to find areas where we can 

improve support overall.

Could any of you share any challenges along the way? 

Or was it all smooth sailing? 

Williams: Smooth sailing? I wouldn’t categorize 

it as that. [Laughter from group.] But all the 

challenges were discussed during various working 

groups established by Logistics Operations. In the 

end, the working groups proved to be invaluable 

to the overall understanding of any second or third 

order effects of the C2 change. In addition, there 

were multiple briefs to [DLA Logistics Operations 

Director] Rear Adm. [Vincent] Griffith and [Deputy 

Director] Mr. [Mike] Scott to adjudicate any friction 

points and provide additional guidance. 

We would then brief the DLA director on the updated 

status of our respective C2 transition and associated 

requirement needs. It was truly a collaborative effort 

to ensure we addressed the C2 transition in a holistic 

manner. SOCOM was just tracking the change and 

wondering, “Will our support be diminished?” And in 

the [CENTCOM] AOR, the question was, “Is everything 

going to stay the way it is, in terms of support?” 

In terms of the warfighter, we had to ensure the 

transition was transparent and didn’t impact ongoing 

operations. So we at DLA CENTCOM & SOCOM 

reorganized to ensure we didn’t lose any touchpoints.

For example: Prior to the C2 transition, we were 

arrayed in functional branches of the Plans, Operations, 

and Business Management Office. To caveat, we 

didn’t have a joint logistics operations center. So with 

C2, we developed a cross-functional organization 

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22 www.dla.mil

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY
Williams: I would add that it’s also strengthened 

the relationship between the three of us. I knew we 

had differences, but now I clearly understand their 

challenges and the differences that we have. And 

we can feed off each other in terms of executing and 

resolving problems.

Daniels: I learn a lot from the conversations we have 

with each other. I think it’s been very beneficial. 

On the Pacific side: One thing we always talk about 

when folks come out here is the tyranny of distance. 

You have the East Coast interactions early in the 

morning out here, and that bleeds over across the 

International Date Line to the interactions in the 

afternoon. And I think it’s also true for Lisa; it’s her 

evening and my early morning when we’re in some of 

these forums.

One of the challenges that our theater is working is the 

growth of some near-peer adversaries or elements. 

Same with the Europe and Africa side — especially 

Europe. How do we get at that? It’s very complex, from 

a logistics standpoint, in how we plan and execute 

support for the warfighter in the Pacific theater. You 

have an expansive theater, and you have a lot of 

different concepts being explored out here — “dynamic 

basing” being one of them. How do we logistically get at 

supporting some of these warfighter concepts?

Another term being put out there is “multi-domain 

battle.” How do we as logisticians make sure we’re 

poised to support the full spectrum of that multidomain battle?

Williams: The first thing I would tell the workforce is 

that DLA is winning in the CENTCOM/SOCOM AOR. 

But because of those successive wins, I think we’ll 

see an emerging trend of continued reliance on DLA 

subject-matter experts, as well as capability, in the 

CENTCOM AOR. And really, that’s dictated by the 

force-manning levels that are imposed, which we 

can’t exceed. Those allow DLA to fill critical gaps in the 

theater, bringing to bear SME and the capability we 

bring from across the globe. 

A lot of times, we allude to the analogy of the duck 

floating across the placid lake. On the surface it looks effortless, but underneath, there’s a lot of work that goes 

on in — in DLA Pacific and DLA Europe & Africa as well 

as DLA CENTCOM & SOCOM — to make it happen. LL

consisting of the CENTCOM Support Branch, our one 

face to CENTCOM, with rapid-fire information flow; 

SOCOM Support Branch, executing the same mission 

for SOCOM; and our Business Management Office. So 

everyone still has their touchpoints.

So communicating was a big part of making this work?

Daniels: Communicating with the customers as well 

as internally. Having the entirety the DLA workforce 

in a specific region understanding what was taking 

place and how things were structurally changing. I’ve 

done a number of regionwide town halls and have 

done them throughout the region when I travel, to talk 

about the C2 changes. It’s really taken a lot of great 

communication with the PLFAs and their leadership, 

plugged into the routine PLFA battle rhythms across 

each of the PLFA activities as we work through this — 

everything from situation summaries to who’s going 

to report on what. 

As an example, on the Energy side, an operational 

issue can really bleed over to a supply chain issue. It’s 

been a lot of direct communications with [DLA Energy 

Commander Air Force] Brig. Gen. [Martin] Chapin to 

make sure if I was going to report on something, we 

de-conflicted that and vice versa. I’ve been extremely 

impressed with the way as regional commanders 

we’ve been able to talk directly with PLFA leadership 

as well as DLA headquarters leadership to effect the 

C2 changes, to make it successful.

Putting aside C2, are there any larger trends affecting 

your commands or AORs that the DLA workforce should 

be aware of?

Keough: The biggest thing is, Europe and Africa is a 

changing environment. EUCOM is transitioning to a 

warfighting combatant command. And I think moving 

from assurance to deterrence is a key aspect for EUCOM. 

And then with our support to AFRICOM, it’s just harder. 

We use “2.5 times” on anything you do. It’s 2.5 times 

harder, it takes 2.5 times longer and it’s probably 2.5 

times more expensive when you do something in Africa. 

But I want to say that C2 has strengthened DLA as 

an enterprise. It’s made us stronger in supporting 

the warfighter. And I just appreciate everybody’s 

support out there. It has not been smooth sailing, 

but I think the execution of C2 has gone as good 

as it can go, because of all the support from the 

enterprise from everybody.

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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017
DLA NewsWire

‘Flag Ladies’ Continue Betsy 

Ross Legacy as Museum-Worthy 

Philadelphia Flag-Makers

Embroiderers at Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support 

continue the flag-making legacy of Betsy Ross and the many 

needle workers who preceded them, a “flag lady” said during a 

museum exhibit opening Feb. 17.

Linda Farrell is one of 16 Clothing and Textiles flag room 

embroiders, known as flag ladies, featured in the Betsy Ross 

House’s newest exhibit, “Historic Threads: 250 Years of Flag 

Making in Philadelphia.” C&T’s embroiderers are the sole 

producers of the presidential and vice presidential flags, and 

other government and military flags.

“I can’t put into words the strong emotion that I felt when 

I saw the exhibit,” Farrell said. “I never imagined that I would 

one day be standing in the Betsy Ross House, not only as a 

speaker but as part of the exhibit.”

“Historic Threads” highlights the city’s centuries-long 

tradition of flag making, introducing museum guests to 

women like Ross who earned a living stitching flags in 

independent shops, commercial factories and government 

warehouses, said Lisa Acker Moulder, director of the Betsy 

Ross House.

“Philadelphia-made flags have flown in wars, marked 

America’s westward expansion and accompanied presidents 

all over the world,” Moulder said.

As the event coincided with Presidents Day weekend, 

Farrell displayed a presidential flag and described its 

symbolism, while embroider Nereida Rivera stitched a vice 

presidential flag.

“Each lady puts a little bit of her heart and soul into each 

flag that comes out of the [flag room,]” Farrell said. “Rest 

assured: As we go on, the pride and passion of the ‘flag ladies’ 

at the Defense Logistics Agency flag room will carry on the 

legacy of Betsy Ross, and we will continue to make flags as 

the ‘Betsy Rosses of the 21st century.’”

In 2014, five of the flag ladies made a replica 13-star 

American flag, now on display at DLA headquarters in Fort 

Belvoir, Virginia.

Oral history credits Ross for making the first American flag, 

with 13 stars in a field of blue next to 13 red and white stripes, 

at the request of George Washington in 1776, according to 

the Betsy Ross House website.

The Schuylkill Arsenal, a major supplier of military goods 

and DLA Troop Support’s legacy organization, also employed 

Ross to make flags in the early 19th century, Moulder said.

“Historic Threads” will be on display at the Betsy Ross 

House until 2018.

— Mikia Muhammad 

DLA Troop Support Public Affairs

More online: go.usa.gov/xX5Tp

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CHECK US OUT ON FLICKR

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ens 35

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Mikia Muhammad

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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY
Members of the Central Ohio Defense Working Group held 

their quarterly meeting at Defense Supply Center Columbus 

for a firsthand look at the installation’s contributions to global 

defense and its local economic impact.

The March 3 roundtable discussion included members 

of local and state political offices, civic leaders, non-profit 

representatives and military stakeholders. The meetings 

usually rotate among the participants’ sites and facilities. 

Topics included improving public-private partnerships, 

infrastructure development and workforce challenges 

and opportunities.

The group’s purpose is to bring members of the 

defense community together to ensure employers have 

everything they need to successfully complete their 

mission, said Steve Tugend, chairman of the Columbus 

Region Defense Group.

“There’s a major ‘behind-the-scenes’ impact that 

central Ohio has on the defense community, both 

nationally and globally,” Tugend said. “There are a number 

of agencies at this installation alone that significantly 

contribute to national defense, and it’s astonishing to 

consider their global influence in supporting the warfighter.”

Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime has the 

largest presence on the installation, with more than 2,500 

military and civilian employees. Defense Finance and 

Accounting Service makes up the majority of the rest of 

DSCC’s workforce. 

DFAS Columbus supports military services and large 

buying commands within the Department of Defense, such 

as the Air Force and Army Materiel Commands, through 

contract payments and accounting.

DLA Land and Maritime provides logistics support for 

the armed forces, which includes purchasing materiel, 

monitoring inventory levels, maintaining technical data and 

Defense Working Group Visits Columbus DLA Installation

assuring quality conformance on more than 2 million spare 

and repair parts. 

Some of the attendees asked how federal executive 

orders had affected operations at DSCC, including retention 

and recruitment of qualified applicants. Since many 

positions at DLA and DFAS require specific job skills in 

addition to a security background check, the hiring process 

for them often takes much longer than it does for private 

sector positions.

DLA Land and Maritime Chief of Staff Griff Warren said 

the agency’s robust internship program alleviates some of 

the challenges facing the federal workforce. Participants 

can receive full-time positions at competitive salaries 

after completing the agency’s two-year Pathways to 

Career Excellence program, known commonly as PaCE.

Site Director Dan Bell said the installation security 

forces’ ability to adapt to changing demands has also 

greatly contributed to the continuity of operations at DSCC, 

and he commended the workforce. He said many of the 

law enforcement officers, safety coordinators and firefighters are veterans and remain thoroughly committed to 

warfighter support.

“The best asset we have in Columbus is a workforce 

that respects the uniform and respects the American 

flag,” Tugend said. “It’s important for this group to meet 

frequently so we can continue our support for our defense 

community and identify ways to improve that support.”

The meeting concluded with a driving tour around the 

installation to visit storage and disposition facilities, police 

and fire-prevention assets and offices of the Ohio National 

Guard and other military support entities at DSCC.

— Craig M. Rader 

DLA Land and Maritime

More online: go.usa.gov/xX5ba

Jarod Hodge

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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017
Stock Positioning, Retail 

Support Discussed in Logistics 

Operations Leader’s Visit to 

DLA Distribution

George Atwood, the Defense Logistics Agency’s 

executive director for logistics operations, visited DLA 

Distribution headquarters Feb. 24 for discussions and to 

see distribution in action at the Susquehanna facility in 

New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. 

Atwood began with a roundtable discussion with key 

DLA Distribution leadership. He was particularly interested in 

improvement efforts in stock positioning, the state of audit 

readiness at DLA distribution centers and the benefits of the 

newly implemented Trans-Arabian Network.

DLA Distribution is improving stock positioning to 

determine how the military services support small, 

geographically dispersed units that do not generate large 

demand patterns. It’s also looking at how the organization 

can satisfy requests locally to minimize the requirements for 

shipping outside of the area of responsibility.

For audit readiness, DLA Distribution is continuing efforts 

to meet requirements at all locations. In the coming weeks, 

book-to-floor evaluations will begin at DLA Distribution 

Yokosuka, Japan and Susquehanna.

The Trans-Arabian Network’s purpose is to significantly 

decrease air transportation costs to the service components 

through forward stocking. For example, to forward-stock 

items as opposed to on-demand air shipments, DLA can 

save approximately 95 percent.

After the roundtable, Atwood visited DLA Distribution 

Susquehanna, the organization’s largest facility, accounting 

for 33 percent of the workload across all 25 facilities.

Atwood spoke with employees about challenges in 

meeting the requirements of the military services, and he 

saw the distribution process from induction to shipment. 

He was specifically interested in seeing the distribution 

center’s high-rise storage and retrieval system, which 

stores the fastest moving materials. He also toured the 

sorting area, where materials are separated into dedicated 

truck lanes. For routine materials, dedicated truck 

shipments can decrease the cost of delivery to the military 

services, as they maximize the number of items and the 

route of delivery for customers in the same area.

Atwood also held an internal town hall with his staff who 

work at the New Cumberland installation, and he noted how 

important DLA is to supporting the warfighter.

— DLA Distribution Public Affairs

More online: go.usa.gov/xX5bY

DLA AVIATION

DELIVERING

AIRPOWER

SOLUTIONS

Striving to Deliver Excellence in

Performance and Responsiveness 

in Support of our Worldwide

Customer Network

www.dla.mil/aviation

Jessica Roman

page

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DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY
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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

Safety Squad

Story by Alex Siemiatkowski

I

n summer 2015, a veterinary liaison 

officer for Defense Logistics Agency 

Troop Support received a call from a 

Subsistence branch office in California 

about cucumbers causing people to 

get sick.

Army. Maj. Kellie Triplett quickly 

queried the supply chain’s prime 

vendors and retail marketers, such as 

commissaries, posts and base exchanges, 

to see if they had the cucumbers 

contaminated with Salmonella.

“While collaborating with the California 

Department of Public Health, [the U.S. 

Food and Drug Administration] and state 

and local officials, our Food Safety Office 

discovered the need for the recall on the 

cucumbers and immediately initiated the 

ALFOODACT message,” Triplett said — 

referring to safety warnings DLA issues on 

food the agency provides.

Triplett and Army Chief Warrant 

Officer 3 Jacqueline Telesford, food 

safety officer for the Subsistence supply 

chain, quickly sent about 2,500 emails to 

Subsistence suppliers, prime vendors and 

the military services, notifying them of 

the recall.

“Knowing if there is a recall on a 

product can be important in ensuring 

it doesn’t reach customers and affect 

critical missions,” Triplett said.

Although veterinarians are usually 

associated with providing health care 

to animals, Army veterinarians are also 

responsible for food safety and security.

DLA Troop Support relies on Army 

veterinarians while providing $2.3 billion 

worth of food annually to the military and 

other customers around the world. The 

VETERINARIANS 

ARE BRINGING 

MANAGEMENT 

EXPERIENCE 

TO REGIONAL 

FOOD SAFETY 

PROGRAMS. 

Soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado, participate in the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center annual operational ration field trials in July 

2016. DLA veterinarians inspect military food supplies, supervise operational ration assembly plants, as well as supply and distribution points, and they approve food sources around the world. 

David Kamm
page

28 www.dla.mil

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Army Spc. Tyler Davis, a food inspection specialist at Fort 

Lee, Virginia, uses a swab to test a food preparation area for 

bacteria at a Defense Commissary Agency store.

Terrance Bell

veterinarians help develop food safety 

policies and programs, in addition to 

communicating with the military services 

and partner agencies on issues that may 

affect food supplies.

In the 1890s, veterinarians were 

sought to serve in the military to inspect 

meat, poultry and dairy products 

destined for frontier posts. A strong 

academic background in microbiology, 

epidemiology, pathology and public 

health has always made veterinarians 

ideally suited for helping ensure the 

safety of food, according to the Army 

Veterinary Corps website.

Established in 1916, the Army Veterinary Corps is now composed of more 

than 800 veterinarians who support 

all branches of the military and work in 

deployed environments, aboard U.S. Navy 

vessels and at commercial facilities.

They inspect the Subsistence supply 

chain in the United States, supervising 

operational ration assembly plants, as 

well as supply and distribution points. 

They also approve safe food sources 

around the world.

The experience Army veterinarians 

bring to DLA is an integral part of the 

agency’s efforts to feed the warfighter, 

said Army Col. Brian Kim, veterinary 

advisor at DLA headquarters in Fort 

Belvoir, Virginia.

“Many of our veterinarians bring 

experiences in managing regional- and 

theater-level food safety programs,” 

Kim said. “Bottom line, the vets have 

numerous capabilities which can be 

tapped to benefit the agency.”

Triplett is one of two Army 

veterinarians at DLA Troop Support 

in Philadelphia. She oversees 

ALFOODACT messages and recalls that 

may affect military service members 

and their families.

In addition to the FDA, she liaisons 

the U.S Department of Agriculture, 

Naval Supply Systems Command and 

U.S. Army Public Health Command. 

Relationships with these agencies 

enable DLA’s veterinarians to manage 

inspections of products, audit requests 

and certification of overseas shipments, 

as well as product recalls, she said. 

Lt. Col. Michael Hansen, an Army 

veterinarian and chief of the Food 

Safety Office, is Triplett’s veterinarian 

counterpart at Troop Support.

“My role is to answer any food-safety 

quality assurance questions,” Hansen 

said. “In my role here, subjects have 

ranged from mold grown on pallets, 

to salmonella in peanuts and other 

products. It really does run the gamut.”

 Hansen graduated from Iowa State 

University’s veterinary school in 2001 

and initially went into private practice. He 

was commissioned as a captain in the 

Army Veterinary Corps in 2002. At his 

first duty station at Fort Riley, Kansas, 

he managed the veterinary clinic and 

conducted food audits.

He now also helps make sure 

operational rations meet military 

standards and have the correct labeling 

for packaging and inspections. Hansen 

travels often to provide technical advice 

at food-quality summits and helps with 

various product and vendor audits.

In one of his first trips with DLA, 

Hansen visited a water bottling plant 

that was producing water with too much 

non-disease-causing bacteria. 

“A team of us went down there and 

spent two days at the plant, troubleshooting potential sources of environmental contamination,” Hansen said. “We 

Army Lt. Col. Michael Hansen is a veterinarian and chief 

of the DLA Troop Support Subsistence supply chain Food 

Alex Siemiatkowski

Safety Office.
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LOGLINES

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

May / June 2017

were able to identify some areas they 

could focus on and they adjusted their 

sanitation standard operating procedures. 

We haven’t had a problem since, and that 

has been a real win.”

The Subsistence Food Safety Office 

also comprises Army warrant officers 

and senior enlisted service members. 

They translate food safety language 

for customers and other Subsistence 

employees, said Army Chief Warrant 

Officer 3 Jemme Neal, Subsistence 

consumer safety officer.

“DLA performs quality and food 

defense audits on their vendors to ensure 

contractual compliance,” Neal said. “The 

U.S. Army Public Health [Command] 

performs audits of food facilities so that 

they can be listed as an approved source. 

Our office is able to clear up confusion 

between the two, ensure requirements 

are met for each and perform the steps 

necessary to ensure these audits are 

tasked appropriately.”

Army Veterinary Corps officers 

and warrant officers perform audits of 

facilities that are or will be approved 

sources of military food. They review 

items such as employee hygiene, facility 

sanitation, programs and procedures and 

laboratory sampling, Neal said.

“Once the facility is approved, the 

Department of Defense is assured that 

the plant has been thoroughly audited 

and the food is produced in a safe 

manner,” Neal said.

The Food Safety Office relies on the 

USDA and FDA to inspect items like 

meat, poultry and fish. However, it’s 

up to the veterinarians to ensure the 

safety of bottled water, sandwiches and 

prepared salads.

DLA also has veterinarians assigned 

to regional commands in Europe and the 

Pacific to support Subsistence customers 

around the globe. 

Army Lt. Col. James Pratt, chief 

of food safety for DLA Troop Support 

Europe and Africa, helps navigate the 

rules in Europe for transporting products 

made by or from animals.

“We work with the regulatory 

agencies, both in the U.S. and the 

European Union, to make sure we are 

meeting the host nations’ tracking 

requirements for those [animal origin] 

imports,” Pratt said. “Since many 

foodborne illnesses have an animal origin, 

we receive extensive training in food 

safety and food production auditing.”

DLA veterinarians were called when 

defects were found in operational 

rations in Iraq. During an inspection, the 

veterinarians learned that the rations 

weren’t being stored correctly, Neal said. 

“We found that most of them were 

unusable due to quality defects that 

could have been avoided,” Neal said. 

The storage problem turned out 

to be theaterwide issue, prompting a 

change in the way units managed their 

food storage, which Neal said saved the 

government valuable resources. 

The first Army Veterinary Corps 

soldiers worked in the field of equine 

surgery and medicine during World War 

I. As an Army marches on its stomach, 

DLA’s veterinarians now stand watch 

around the world to ensure warfighters 

have safe food to eat. LL

Army Maj. Kellie Triplett, a veterinary liaison officer, and Army 

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jemme Neal, consumer safety officer, 

review an ALFOODACT message. Triplett and Neal are part 

of the Subsistence Food Safety Office at DLA Troop Support, 

which oversees food safety for the military. 

Alex Siemiatkowski
page

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THE RIGHT SOLUTIONS — ON TIME, EVERY TIME

My name is:

Kyu Sok Kwak

I am:

A supply planner for DLA Energy Pacific at Korea.

Describe your job in a sentence: 

I coordinate fuel inventory levels at 22 defense fuel support points, monitor 

control limits and manage Korea’s Fuel Exchange Agreement and Replacement-inKind program. 

How long have you worked at DLA?

I began working for U.S. Forces Korea in 1979 and then transferred to DLA 

in 2003. 

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA? 

I love working for the same goal with fun people from different countries. They 

challenge me and encourage me, and they bring 

cookies when they visit.

 What are your best memories of working here?

I have so many good memories from DLA Energy, 

but my best are from overnight temporary duty trips, 

when we had a chance to speak with open minds and 

really get to know each other.

How do you make a difference?

I make a difference by focusing on the two C’s: 

concentrating on things within my control and being 

considerate of others.

Kyu Sok Kwak

I AM DLA