Djibouti First

Local Procurement Programs Supply Troops 

While Supporting Local Economies

Adept and Adapting

DLA’s Workforce Recruitment Program 

Helps Talent Overshadow Disabilities

Fit for Duty

Noteworthy Exercise Habits Keep These 

Employees Strong — Mentally and Physically

LOGLINES

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

DLA LAND AND MARITIME

 MOVING THE

FUTURE

 Assuming Logistics Support 

 for Medium Tactical

 Vehicle Replacement 

The Right Solution — On Time, Every Time September / October 2017
DLA DIRECTOR 

Army Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams

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 

Army Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

From the Director

I

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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.
Djibouti First ...........................................02

DLA Europe & Africa uses local procurement programs such 

as Djibouti First to supply troops while also supporting 

local economies. 

Doughboy Distribution ........................06

America entered World War I 100 years ago, and DLA 

Distribution’s cutting-edge support of modern warriors is in 

stark contrast to the haphazard supply systems of yore.

Moving the Future ................................. 11

DLA Land and Maritime now has responsibility for the ongoing 

logistics support of the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, 

relied on in almost every theater of military operations.

Adept and Adapting .............................. 14

DLA’s Workforce Recruitment Program helps recruit employees 

whose talents overshadow their disabilities.

Saving Lives ............................................ 18

When military healthcare providers stationed overseas 

don’t have the medication they need in life-or-death 

emergencies, they turn to a small team of contracting 

officers with DLA Troop Support. 

Innovation Invasion .............................26

DLA Information Operations uses a novel approach to 

recruit and develop ideas for improving the agency’s 

information technology services across the workforce. 

Fit For Duty ............................................. 33

Three employees in the agency’s headquarters discuss 

how their noteworthy exercise habits keep them strong 

— mentally and physically.

02

26

06

33

Features

Departments

A Conversation with ... .........................23

Michael Beaupre

DLA NewsWire ....................................... 31

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

Kaitlyn Parenti

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

2 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Djibouti 
p

Make Promises and Keep Them

September / October 2017

Food and fuel like these being transferred during a 

replenishment at sea on the African coast are among items 

DLA buys from African businesses to decrease customers’ 

storage costs and support the local economy.

— Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tyrell K. Morris

What began as a push to get 

critical supplies to warfighters 

supporting the fight against 

Ebola in West Africa is now a longterm effort to acquire local goods and 

services for military members across 

the continent while helping African 

businesses thrive. 

Congress increased the Department 

of Defense’s authority to use local 

businesses in Djibouti through the 2015 

National Defense Authorization Act, 

creating the Djibouti First Initiative. A 

new provision in the 2017 NDAA also 

gave the Defense Logistics Agency and 

other DoD entities authority to pursue 

business in other African nations that 

sign long-term agreements with the 

United States related to basing and 

operational requirements.

DLA already uses local procurement 

to provide items such as fresh fruits 

i First

Story by Beth Reece

DLA SERVES 

AS AMERICA’S 

EXTENDED HAND 

OF FRIENDSHIP 

WHILE SUPPLYING 

TROOPS AND 

HELPING LOCAL 

BUSINESSES
page

4 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Lonnie Adkins, a gas turbine 

systems technician, conducts a clear and bright test on 

F76 fuel during a replenishment at sea aboard the Arleigh 

Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross. About 90 

percent of the purchases DLA makes via local procurement 

are for fuel.

DLA ensures troops in Africa get fresh baked goods 

ranging from pies to donuts and rolls by contracting with 

local businesses.

with that has been to use the MRO 

contractors we’re already doing 

business with to help educate other 

vendors on things like regulations, 

requirements, currencies, payment 

terms and conditions,” Lauersen said. 

“And, usually, it’s easier for these new 

vendors to work as subcontractors to 

our current MRO vendors than it is for 

them to work with us directly.”

DLA representatives attend events 

like vendor information days held at the 

Djiboutian Chamber of Commerce, where 

vendors can learn how to sell their goods 

and services to military customers, as 

well as the process of bidding for and 

winning government contracts. 

The success of Le Moulin, a bakery in 

downtown Djibouti City, is one example 

of the hard work and time DLA invests 

in creating long-term partnerships with 

local businesses. 

“It took about a year to get a 

contract agreement in place with Le 

Moulin. When we first came together, 

they didn’t understand or have 

computers; they didn’t even have a 

local bank,” Lauersen said, adding that 

vendors like Le Moulin typically aim 

for large, one-time sales with the U.S. 

and vegetables to troops in places 

like Europe and the Middle East, so 

partnering with U.S. Africa Command 

and the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti to 

connect local businesses with potential 

military customers was a logical move, 

said Tom Lauersen, chief of supplier 

operations for DLA Troop Support 

Europe & Africa. 

“Buying local just makes sense,” he 

said. “The closer to customers’ locations 

that we can get goods, the shorter our 

lead times and the better the ability 

to take care of them. It also saves on 

transportation costs and limits the need 

for costly storage, especially in places 

like Camp Lemonnier, where troops are 

really jammed in and space is limited.”

DLA has local contracts in Africa for 

ice, bottled water, soda, produce, baked 

goods, fuel and fuel transportation, 

distribution services and a broad range 

of construction materials through DLA 

Troop Support’s Maintenance, Repair 

and Operations Program. The MRO 

program in Djibouti is strong due to 

its success during Operation United 

Assistance, when DLA officials worked 

on the ground to source everything from 

lumber and gravel to electrical parts 

needed for the construction of Ebola 

treatment units, Lauersen said. 

“With Djibouti being the biggest base 

in Africa and plenty of building going 

on in the area, it was natural for us to 

connect the vendors we were already 

doing business with in Liberia to DLA 

customers in Djibouti,” he said.

Contractors in developing countries 

often have difficulty understanding the 

intricacies of government contracting, 

especially in regards to computer 

systems and regulatory requirements. 

“One of the easier ways to deal 

Army Staff Sgt. Timothy Hughes

Navy Petty Offcer

3rd Class Robert S

Price
p

Make Promises and Keep Them

September / October 2017

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James Herrera with Naval 

Mobile Construction Battalion 1 offloads lumber materials 

received for construction of a multipurpose building project 

in Douala, Cameroon, in March. Lumber, gravel and electrical 

parts are among the many supplies DLA buys locally for 

troops stationed in Africa.

government rather than continual sales 

with reasonable prices.

Poor translation skills were also 

a problem.

“DLA does have people who speak 

French, which is common across Africa, 

or other languages like Spanish, but it 

takes a lot of time to foster trust and 

develop a relationship where both sides 

are comfortable,” he said.

The partnership DLA now has with Le 

Moulin was worth the struggle, Lauersen 

added, because now troops on Camp 

Lemonnier can enjoy fresh baked goods 

rather than frozen ones imported from 

outside. Business varies month to month, 

but customers purchased $20,000 in 

bakery items from Le Moulin in June. 

The lack of modern facilities and 

passable roads in some of Africa’s 

50-plus countries can also become 

obstacles. While a big city in the coastal 

nation of Ghana may have a mature 

infrastructure and offer goods at 

reasonable prices, for example, moving 

those goods beyond 10 miles can be a 

struggle, if not impossible.

“The price can double in that short 

distance because transportation is 

so difficult. And then the political 

environment and conflicts between 

some countries can make things even 

more challenging,” Lauersen said.

In fiscal 2016, DLA awarded 

contracts worth $46.4 million in 

Djibouti, plus an additional $10 million 

in other African countries. 

“Not only are we supporting the 

AFRICOM mission, we’re stimulating the 

economy and providing employment for 

people in African countries [who] allow 

us to operate in their space,” Lauersen 

said. “At the same time, we’re providing 

troops with products that improve 

morale and build health.” LL

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Alyssa Westrich
page

6 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

As a Defense Logistics Agency 

field activity, DLA Distribution 

provides global distribution 

support to the military, to ensure 

warfighter readiness. Among its 

services are transportation support; 

technology development; specialized 

packaging; and receiving, storing and 

issuing supplies. 

The organization comprises 10,000 

military and civilian employees in nine 

countries and 17 states and territories, 

including its headquarters in New 

Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

But 100 years ago in 1917, when 

the United States had just entered into 

World War I, there was no unified logistics 

agency supplying all the services — and 

thus there was no DLA Distribution.

Supply Not on Track

By 1914, most leading European 

nations had extensive rail networks. 

Trains weren’t new in 1914, but 

armies relied on them to a greater 

extent than they ever had during the 

“Great War.” 

In previous wars, armies would 

clash until one side achieved a 

breakthrough, consolidating their gains 

and bringing the war to an end. Sluggish 

transportation via horse-drawn wagons 

or even riverboats often meant troops 

didn’t receive reinforcements until it was 

too late to avert disaster.

The mature rail networks of the early 

20th century changed this dynamic, 

but it was more practical for defenders, 

who were usually more mobile, which 

contributed to the stalemate that 

preceded the entry of the United States. 

Plane Language

Most importantly, WWI was the 

first war to see large-scale use of a 

new technological marvel — airplanes. 

Although early aircraft were initially used 

for reconnaissance, both sides began to 

use them in air battles, to shoot enemy 

airplanes out of the sky and to drop 

bombs on enemy cities. A key innovation 

was the synchronization gear, which 

allowed pilots to fire a gun at other 

planes, through a spinning propeller 

without damaging the blades. 

What planes did not do in the Great 

War was transport materiel to forward 

operating bases. DLA Distribution is now 

a key partner with the military services, 

U.S. Transportation Command and 

Military Sealift Command in using cargo 

planes to supply the warfighter and 

those who support them in-theater.

Mobilization and Storage of 

Supplies, Ammunition

Lessons learned as far back as 

the Revolutionary War reinforced the 

Allies’ need for ready availability of 

warfighting supplies and equipment. 

But even by 1917, storage, movement 

and management of munitions and 

supplies to the armed forces was 

inadequate for the fight. Because the 

U.S. had not expected to enter the war, 

the nation had not planned for the 

expansion of the industrial base needed 

to produce more ordnance. 

Doughboy Distr

Story by Dianne Ryder

IN ADDITION TO MARITIME 

AND RAILWAY SYSTEMS, 

ARMED FORCES USED 

HORSES, MULES AND 

MOTORIZED VEHICLES TO 

THE EXTENT THEY WERE 

AVAILABLE.
p

DLAS OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

September / October 2017

General of the Armies John 

“Blackjack” Pershing, commander of the 

American Expeditionary Forces, opined 

in a postwar report to the secretary of 

war about the already overtaxed railway 

systems and available ports.

“The tonnage for material of an 

army three and perhaps four million 

men would require a mammoth 

program of shipbuilding at home, and 

miles of dock construction in France, 

ribution

with a correspondingly large project 

for additional railways and for storage 

depots,” the general wrote.

Regarding the issue of storage, 

Pershing wrote, “Practically all warehouses, supply depots and regulating 

stations must be provided by fresh 

construction. While France offered us 

such material as she had to spare after 

a drain of three years of war, yet there 

were enormous quantities of material 

to be brought across the Atlantic.” 

Before WWI, the U.S. relied mostly on 

foreign companies and private supplies 

to meet ammunition needs, but the 

scope and nationwide mobilization of 

WWI led to the establishment of the War 

Industries Board in July 1917 to regulate 

military procurement and production. 

The Board set priorities, fixed prices and 

standardized products to support the 

allied war efforts, but it did not survive 

once the war ended.

Decades before the U.S. consolidated 

large-scale distribution and used 

commercial transportation to move 

materiel, the Allies relied on various 

modes of transportation. In addition 

to maritime and railway systems, 

armed forces used horses, mules and 

motorized vehicles to the extent they 

were available. It would be 70 years 

before USTRANSCOM was established 

as the single manager of America’s 

global defense transportation system.

Availability of resources was key 

to strategic movement, but storage 

for supplies and munitions was also 

a tremendous challenge throughout 

the war. 

The New Cumberland 

Army Depot

It wasn’t until February 1918 that 

President Woodrow Wilson approved 

the purchase of land for two reserve 

depots — one near Harrisburg, 

Pennsylvania, and the other near 

Schenectady, New York. The former was 

originally called the Marsh Run Storage 

Depot, but the official title was the U.S. 

Quartermaster Interior Storage Depot. 

On May 14, 1918, the Army first raised 

the flag over the warehouses in New 

Cumberland, Pennsylvania. 

The warehouses and makeshift 

storage facilities, on more than 800 acres 

of farmland adjacent to the Susquehanna 

River and the North Central Branch of 

the Pennsylvania Railroad, were the 

U.S. Marines in France head to training camp after a long sea voyage. 

General of the Armies John “Blackjack” Pershing, outside 

General Headquarters, Chaumont, France, circa 1918.

Photo Courtesy Library of Congress

Photo Courtesy Library of Congress
page

8 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

management of eight depot operations 

in the eastern United States. At the 

same time, the consolidation of 

Defense Depot Mechanicsburg and 

New Cumberland Army Depot created 

the Defense Distribution Depot 

Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, one of 

those depot operations. 

Current Operations 

and Partnerships

Joe Faris, business development 

director at DLA Distribution, recalls 

the challenges that came with the 

consolidation and how the development 

of the Distribution Standard System 

simplified operations. 

“When those sites transferred to 

us, every service had their own version 

of warehouse management systems, 

and you had what DLA was using at the 

time,” he said. “The single largest thing 

that DSS did for us and continues to do 

today is we can put anybody’s inventory 

— Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or 

DLA, in any of our distribution centers 

around the globe.”

Faris’s job involves product 

development and market solutions to 

help DLA Distribution create long-term 

value and growth.

The growth of DLA Distribution’s 

mission is due in great part to the 

agency’s joint relationships with its 

strategic partners, Faris said.

“Today, at least from a [Department 

of Defense] standpoint, we do a 

much better job of joint logistics 

across all of our military services, DLA, 

birthplace of what would become DLA 

Distribution headquarters. 

Notwithstanding its various names, 

the installation has been in continuous 

operation as a supply source since it 

was built in 1918 for the Quartermaster 

Department. Initial construction 

consisted of storage, housing and 

support facilities, but the farmhouses, 

barns and associated structures on the 

property that the depot used in 1918 

have been demolished. 

The depot’s original mission of 

shipping supplies to troops in the field 

was short-lived. World War I ended 

less than three months after receipt of 

the first shipment of knocked-down 

wagons and saddles at the partially 

completed installation. Following the 

armistice, the depot was inundated 

with supplies that had been in 

contractors’ factories or en route to 

ports for overseas shipment. By April 

1919, the warehouses served primarily 

as a reserve or dead storage depot, and 

only a small number of buildings were 

used to store quartermaster, signal, 

medical, engineer, chemical warfare 

and ordnance supplies. 

Little permanent construction took 

place on the depot during the years 

before World War II. Between 1934 

and 1937, excess warehouse space 

and open storage areas were leased 

to federal agencies, including the 

Department of Agriculture, the Post 

Office Department, the Forest Service 

and the Treasury Department.

A New Purpose

In 1940-1941, the 1301st Service 

Unit Reception Center was built at the 

depot to process troops entering the 

Army. World War II brought increased 

activity to New Cumberland, when it 

served as a Quartermaster and Army 

Service Forces filler depot, responsible 

for channeling supplies to east coast 

ports. To support this supply mission, 

the number of storage facilities was 

doubled between 1942 and1943. A 

reception center for inductees and a 

hospital complex were built. Named 

the Army Service Forces Depot in 

1943, the installation name changed to 

the New Cumberland General Depot in 

1946, and the New Cumberland Army 

Depot in 1962.

Major construction projects since 

the war included a considerable expansion of family housing and storage 

facilities, an enlisted barracks and a 

new headquarters building constructed in 1952. In 1960, an aircraft hangar, along with maintenance shops, 

were constructed on the western portion of the site. These facilities served 

mainly as maintenance and repair 

facilities for U.S. Army helicopters and 

other aircraft. During the 1980s, most 

of those maintenance operations 

were eliminated, and NCAD’s mission 

was modified to function solely as a 

supply depot.

The NCAD was deactivated in April 

1991 and assigned to DLA as Defense 

Distribution Region East, a regional 

headquarters responsible for the 

Workers refresh paint on a train engine at the New 

Cumberland Army Depot during the late 1960s. 

The Army Reception Center at the New Cumberland Army 

Depot, early 1940. 

DLA Distribution

DLA Distribution
p

DLAS OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

September / October 2017

USTRANSCOM and Army Materiel 

Command — they are further forward 

on the battlefield than they’ve ever 

been,” he said. 

Faris stressed the importance of 

combined logistics operations DLA 

has with foreign partners such as the 

foreign military sales programs, the 

agency’s logistics capabilities in Iraq 

and Afghanistan, and how the U.S. has 

teamed up with the United Kingdom 

on initiatives like Operations Enduring 

Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

“It’s a joint storage and distribution 

network that we didn’t have in 1917,” 

he said. “If you look at a map, we easily 

have a dozen overseas locations to 

support contingency operations today.”

Faris said a primary difference 

between WWI-era and current 

operations is the agency’s integration 

with its foreign partners and improved 

relationships with private industry. 

Storage, Receipt and 

Inventory Innovations

Ed Visker, director of organizational 

management at DLA Distribution, 

currently manages leadership and 

workforce development as a civilian, 

but he also commanded two different 

distribution centers during his 27 

years as an Army officer, and postretirement, as deputy commander at 

the Susquehanna distribution center for 

several years. 

“Back in the late ‘80s/early 

‘90s, when I first started managing 

distribution operations, the on time 

performance goals were three days to 

complete requisition processing for a 

high-priority item, and eight days for a 

routine requisition,” he said. 

By the late ‘90s, Visker said, the DLA 

Distribution commander changed that 

processing time to one day. At that time, 

requisitions were in paper form; multipart material release orders with copies 

to tear off and send with the package. 

“The velocity increased dramatically 

from three and eight days to one-day 

processing,” Visker said. 

“Today, we give ourselves one day for 

a high-priority requisition and three days 

for a routine requisition, but with DSS, 

we have the paperless capability and 

remote label printing. Back in the day, we 

didn’t even have bar codes,” Visker said.

Visker noted that DSS is both a 

warehouse management system and 

a transportation management system, 

but in the late ‘80s, they were still 

operating out of WWII “vintage” facilities 

with no automated systems. 

“[They were] long, skinny buildings 

that were only about 12 feet high and 

had support posts every 20 feet; very 

hard to navigate in,” he said. “Some were 

knocked down and replaced through 

the military construction program and 

some, through repair and maintenance, 

had the lighting improved and had 

automated conveyor systems added.”

Visker said the new warehouses 

are four times the size, with a 26-foot 

stacking height and bright lighting.

“Our largest warehouse is the 

eastern distribution center here at New 

Cumberland — which is 33 football 

fields under one roof, or 1.7 million 

square feet,” he said. “About 600 people 

who work in that particular facility now. 

The entire distribution center consists 

of 53 warehouses on two different 

sites — all together it’s about 10 

million square feet of storage space.”

Improved Asset Visibility

“One of the biggest changes in 

distribution came in 1991 with Defense 

Management Review Decision 902 [that] 

consolidated wholesale distribution, and 

DLA absorbed the distribution centers 

from all the services,” Visker said.

The development of DSS increased 

visibility of materiel in the depot system, 

American soldiers from the 324th Field Artillery Regiment 

assist the 29th Infantry Division, in Cote de Roche, France, 

in loading the barrel of a camouflaged 155 mm Howitzer 

(circa 1917 or 1918). 

DLA Distribution
page

10 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

and put it all in one automated system, 

as opposed to five. 

“DSS has been modernized over the 

years to add Wi-Fi capability and remote 

processing capability,” Visker said. “The 

radio frequency capability and bar codes 

improve in-transit [visibility] so we can 

know where the materiel is at each step 

of the process.”

This affords DLA Distribution’s 

customers, the military services 

and other federal agencies, better 

customer service.

“We’ve got an emergency supply 

operation center capability — a customer 

can actually pick up the phone and call 

and say, ‘I need this immediately, shipped 

by the fastest traceable means,’” Visker 

said. “Within a matter of hours, it’s 

picked, packed and shipped out of the 

distribution center and on its way.” 

Visker pointed to the advances in 

equipment such as forklifts, mobile carts 

and barcode scanners. 

“Just like you see in the grocery 

store — the clerk walking around with 

the handheld barcode reader that’s 

wireless ... we have that handheld 

remote capability,” he said. “We have 

remote carts that are a complete 

computer suites sitting on a mobile cart 

— operated by automobile batteries 

so that you can move to the work as 

opposed to hauling materiel around. 

It saves steps and makes the process 

more efficient.” 

Before these innovations, there were 

multiple employees manually moving 

transportation storage. Included in 

the storage aspect is something the 

average DLA employee might not guess 

is part of DLA Distribution’s mission: 

Meals, Ready-to-Eat. 

“We do have some of the combat 

rations that we store — MREs — and 

we do have an assembly operation out 

in our distribution center in California 

that does unitized group rations, which 

are tactical meals,” Visker said. 

A unitized group ration is a meal 

for 50 people put together in a box. 

The box typically contains an entrée, 

all the fixings that would go with it, 

plus fruit or dessert. 

“They come in heavy trays that you 

can heat up and serve,” Visker said. “It’s 

not five-star restaurant stuff, but it’s 

primarily used for forward operating 

bases where they don’t have the luxury 

of a dining facility operation [that serves] 

freshly prepared food.”

Visker said the UGRs are for remote 

locations that have some sophisticated 

means of heating up food — “as opposed 

to out in a foxhole, where your access to 

food is what you were able to carry.” 

Rations those WWI soldiers 

could only dream about out there in 

the trenches. LL

back and forth from a fixed workstation 

to the materiel.

When It Has to Be There 

On Time

A small commercial airfield sits next 

to DLA Distribution in New Cumberland. 

Visker provided an example of its use. 

“Say the Presidential Air Unit has 

a part that they need. They’ll send an 

aircraft up here to New Cumberland 

to that small commercial field,” he 

said. “We’ll run the part over to them, 

so that within a matter of hours, we 

can fill a high-priority requisition in 

an emergency.”

Supporting the warfighter is 

DLA’s primary mission, and large 

amounts of supplies — sometimes 

in 10,000-pound increments — need 

to be transported. Visker said DLA 

Distribution sometimes does this 

by using multiple shipments, in 

contingency operations, and by using 

what DLA calls “pure pallet” schemes.

“Materiel can be assembled here 

in a nice, pristine environment on a 

big 463-liter air pallet that would go 

in an Air Force aircraft or chartered 

commercial aircraft, and could be 

taken all the way to Iraq,” he said. “By 

improving that process, we shortened 

the delivery response time from 35 

days to 15 days.” 

Visker has seen DLA Distribution 

transform exponentially over almost 

three decades. From changes in 

infrastructure and equipment to 

Jeeps stored in New Cumberland warehouse during the 1940s.

New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Warehouse #1, Depot 

Headquarters from 1918-1952.

DLA Distribution

DLA Distribution
p

September / October 2017 

Make Promises and Keep Them

“I

want my MTV.” 

If you’re old enough to have 

watched cable TV in the 1980s, that 

phrase may mean something to you.

But if you’re a U.S. military service 

member, MTV means Medium Tactical 

Vehicle, the five-ton, six-wheeled vehicle 

capable of carrying tons of equipment 

— over unpaved terrain if needed. And 

its replacement, the MTVR, has been 

built since the late 1990s.

The MTVR and its precursors 

have been built by three 

different defense contractors 

since 1996. Since then, 

the platform has come in 

more than 25 variants with different 

wheelbases and body styles, some built 

to hold ground-to-air missile launchers, 

others built just as wreckers, and some 

just for hauling equipment.

And now, a Defense Logistics 

Agency Land and Maritime program has 

logistics control over this very important 

asset, relied on in almost every theater 

of military operations. 

For nearly two decades, the MTVR 

system has been the standard group 

of cargo trucks used by the U.S. Marine 

Corps and Navy. With a standard 

chassis, MTVR variants can 

undergo production 

modifications to 

meet tactical or 

practical purposes. 

Since the first 

MTVR trucks rolled off the assembly 

line in 1998, Wisconsin-based Oshkosh 

Defense has delivered more than 

11,000 of these vehicles to Marines 

and Navy Seabees across the world, 

including extensive deployments in Iraq 

and Afghanistan. Until recently, the bulk 

of logistics functions, such as spare and 

repair parts replacement, engineering 

support, and materiel and equipment 

management, were all coordinated 

through contractor logistics support. 

CLS allows for technical and 

logistics support for a product 

throughout its lifecycle, and can see its 

greatest impact during initial fielding 

while the product support package 

is being deployed and customers 

are becoming familiarized with their 

new equipment. However, it comes 

Moving the FutUre

Story by Craig M. Rader

DLA Land and Maritime Public Affairs

 MEDIUM TACTICAL VEHICLE REPLACEMENT

Marine Corps Sgt. Gabriela Garcia

Marines use a dump-truck variation of the Medium Tactical Vehicle 

Replacement at Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, 

to level the ground and create a staging area for their equipment.
page

12 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

at additional costs that add to a 

product’s total costs over time. 

In November 2015, leaders from 

DLA Land and Maritime’s Strategic 

Acquisition Programs Directorate and 

Land Customer Operations coordinated 

with Marine Corps Logistics Command 

in Albany, New York, to determine DLA’s 

options for assuming responsibility for 

the ongoing logistics support of the 

MTVR. At the time, Oshkosh Defense’s 

CLS agreement called for contractor 

support of approximately 3,400 

individual replacement parts for the 

vehicle system. 

After much discussion, SAPD and 

Land Customer Operations leaders 

reviewed the data and determined 

they could provide long-term direct 

government support for the MTVR once 

the contractor agreement expired the 

following year. The Marine Corps agreed. 

“The transition was implemented 

through three phases,” said Sherry 

Wellmer, Strategic Sourcing division 

chief in the SAPD. “Ultimately, we were 

able to negotiate a 10 percent price 

reduction from the existing CLS pricing, 

resulting in an overall cost savings to 

the Marine Corps.” 

Wellmer added that throughout the 

process, the SAPD team held regular 

meetings and conference calls with all 

involved parties to track progress, share 

updates and resolve any mitigating 

issues that developed. This allowed for 

a positive, ongoing partnership between 

DLA and the Marine Corps. 

The diligence paid off. In January 2016 

the Marine Corps modified its contract for 

the MTVR to add DLA Land and Maritime 

as an ordering entity. By using the CLS 

contract, DLA Land and Maritime was 

able to procure one year of stock for all 

necessary national stock numbers.

The first phase of the initiative 

involved the transfer of 400 NSN items 

to DLA, followed by the second phase 

that included the acquisition of 1,400 

high-demand NSNs. Ultimately, DLA 

Land and Maritime would take control 

over all 3,400 NSNs in the stock pipeline 

required for the MTVRs. 

SAPD works to support its 

customers and promote supply 

chain efficiencies through long-term 

contracting. The MTVR program 

Courtesy Photo

Marines with Combat Logistics Regiment 35, 3rd Marine 

Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, ground 

guide a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle and a 

Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement prior to participating in 

a convoy field training exercise with Philippine Transportation 

and Maintenance Marines during Balikatan 2013 at Camp 

O’Donnell, Philippines.

Members of DLA Land and Maritime’s Strategic Acquisition 

Programs Directorate receive the 2017 Red Ball Express 

Award from the National Defense Industrial Association in a 

May 2017 conference, for their critical support of the Medium 

Tactical Vehicle Replacement logistics program.
p

September / October 2017 

Make Promises and Keep Them

developing, procuring or supporting 

Tactical Wheeled Vehicles, or enabling 

critical technologies that contribute to 

the same.

“Each day I see the outstanding work 

that everyone on this team does, and I 

know how committed they are to their 

mission,” Debord said. “It’s a great honor 

to receive this kind of recognition on a 

national level, because they really have 

worked hard and put a lot of effort into 

making this project successful.” LL

represents nearly 6 percent of the 

directorate’s total stock of 52,000 

items. SAPD actively engages and plans 

strategies two to three years ahead to 

maintain momentum in producing cost 

savings throughout the procurement 

process. For this program, the directorate 

anticipates completing contract awards 

by the end of fiscal year 2017.

“With the MTVR program, we’re 

seeing the biggest benefit through cost 

savings for the taxpayer,” said Navy 

Capt. Justin Debord, director of Land 

and Maritime’s Strategic Acquisition 

Programs Directorate. “We also realized 

that by being able to work directly with 

third party manufacturers, we can 

develop better contractual relationships, 

manage obsolescence during diminished 

supply periods and facilitate long-term 

platform support.” 

SAPD’s primary mission is to 

maintain and increase the number of 

long-term contracts for consumables 

and depot-level repairable items, 

while building and developing supplier 

relationships with key industrial 

partners. This strategic engagement 

promotes supply chain efficiencies 

and provides enhanced support to 

the warfighter, while adhering to the 

Defense Department’s Better Buying 

Power initiative. 

Since 2010, BBP has incorporated 

specific acquisition principles and best 

practices to achieve greater efficiencies 

through cost controls and the 

elimination of unproductive processes 

and bureaucracy. BBP initiatives also call 

for the promotion of government and 

industrial innovation strategies.

DLA Land and Maritime Commander 

Navy Rear Adm. Michelle Skubic said 

SAPD’s work on the MTVR project 

has had a significant impact on 

warfighter support.

“The diligence and collaboration 

efforts of the SAPD team resulted in 

seamless, continuous cooperation 

with both our Marine Corps customers 

and anyone else using these NSNs,” 

Skubic said. “DLA’s support of the MTVR 

pipeline has played a phenomenal role 

in the agency’s ability to sustain the 

tactical wheeled vehicle community.”

The success of Land and Maritime’s 

MTVR support initiative also garnered 

recognition from outside the agency. 

The Strategic Acquisition Programs 

Directorate received the 2017 Red 

Ball Express Award from the National 

Defense Industrial Association in a 

conference earlier this year

The award is presented annually 

to an industry or government 

individual or team who makes 

significant contributions that led to the 

strengthening of national security by 

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jerome S. Tayborn

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Wierzbicki

A seven-ton Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement drives off 

Landing Craft Utility 1666 during Cobra Gold 2014, an annual 

multinational exercise to promote interoperability and training 

between the United States and Thailand.
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14 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Almost one-fifth of Americans have some type of 

disability, according to the U.S. Census, and even 

more will become disabled at some point.

Although many people with disabilities fear they 

won’t find or regain employment that makes the 

most of their abilities, the Defense Logistics Agency 

makes sure it actively recruits and develops these 

workers, for the benefit of the agency, the warfighter 

and the nation.

DLA does this through the Workforce Recruitment 

Program, jointly managed by the Department of 

Defense and the Department of Labor.

A few WRP participants agreed to share 

their stories here.

Mo Fawaz

It all started when I was accepted 

to intern at the Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission in Dallas, 

Texas. Initially, I was terrified of 

disclosing my visual impairment, out 

of fear the EEOC would find an excuse 

to rescind my acceptance. 

I only did so with a few letters of 

recommendation, to assure the staff 

I could do the work. And they were 

so great. They just asked about the 

reasonable accommodation I needed, 

and everything else remained the same. 

I later learned that they had a visually 

impaired investigator there, too. 

My experience at the EEOC was 

so wonderful, I resolved to work for 

the federal government if possible. 

However, the EEOC has few openings, 

they don’t take attorneys right out of 

law school, and the other EEOC jobs 

are so competitive, it would’ve been 

difficult to find employment there via 

the competitive hiring process. 

I decided that working in the 

field of EEO, at any federal agency, 

would be a more attainable dream. 

Around that time, my law school sent 

out an email about the Workforce 

Recruitment Program. I applied and 

had my phone interview with the 

WRP recruiter.

My fear was always that an 

employer who learned of my disability 

would find a way to get rid of me. You 

have to experience it to believe it, but 

people fear blindness more than the 

plague. They’re usually reluctant to 

give us, individuals who are blind, a 

chance. This fear is increased when 

the job is in a different state, requiring 

the new hire to relocate. 

However, because this is 

the federal government, and 

because the WRP is a program for 

individuals with severe disabilities, 

my worries were alleviated. 

ADept and Adap 

Story by Nancy Anthony, Mohammad Fawaz, Colin Grigg, Olivia Kortuem and Ephraim Ungar

Once I was set to come on board, 

I disclosed my impairment to Eric 

Spanbauer, the disability program 

coordinator. He asked about my 

need for accommodations and 

promptly ordered screen-reading 

software and PDF-to-word software 

before I arrived. And because some 

documents involve handwriting or are 

poorly scanned, I occasionally needed 

a person to read documents to me.

My position was as an equal employment opportunity assistant. My 

supervisor was Carl Downey. He treated 

me like he would treat my coworkers, 

because he wanted me to succeed. 

Nearly two months into the 

program, Carl introduced me to my 

mentor, Becky Polansky, accounting 

manager in Human Resources. She 

met with me on a short notice and 

spoke with me nearly an hour. She 

volunteered to share my resume with 

the various offices under Schedule A 

hiring authority. Because I’m licensed 

to practice law and was interested 

in personnel law, Becky introduced 

me to Troy Holroyd at the Office of 

General Counsel.

My 14-week WRP appointment 

was extended by two months to 

find me a position. Troy, Becky, 

Janice Samuel and others at the 

EEO Office, and others at the Office 

of General Counsel, worked hard 

Courtesy Photo
p

Valued Team Members, Resilient and Ready

September / October 2017

to help me become a paralegal 

specialist for DLA. 

Before coming to DLA as a 

WRP intern, I had applied for 

hundreds of positions, many with 

federal and state governments. 

Unfortunately, employers often 

assume individuals with disabilities are helpless and unable 

to do the work — rather than 

giving us the opportunity to prove 

ourselves. In fact, I’ve been to job 

interviews that were concluded 

before they even began because 

of my white cane. 

WRP gave me the chance I 

needed and deserved, to prove my 

abilities as a productive part of society. The program gives us, individuals with disabilities, the chance we 

would not otherwise get. 

I came to DLA nearly a year ago, 

and I love every minute of it. 

p ting

Colin Grigg

My experience as a WRP participant 

has changed my life. Before WRP, I 

worked long hours for a moving company, 

lifting heavy furniture up and down stairs. 

By chance, I stumbled on the WRP when I 

saw a sign for an information session at a 

community college. 

My diagnosis is Attention-Deficit/

Hyperactivity Disorder. I’ve been taking 

medication for it since elementary 

school. Often, my mind races, and I’m 

unable to focus — which can make me 

unable to perform my duties. 

After an interview with a WRP 

recruiter in September 2015, I was told 

employers might contact me again in 

the summer. My plan was to get my foot 

in the door with the government and 

accept the first position I was offered. 

Workforce Recruitment Program

(But all told, I was contacted by at least 

five different agencies that year.) 

DLA called me in May for a position 

in the Equal Employment Opportunity 

Office. After a conversation with the 

supervisor and a follow-up phone 

interview with the team, I started work 

in June 2016. 

The DLA EEO Office was the ideal 

start in the federal government. I 

was provided great leadership and 

mentorship. I was given complex 

assignments that required research 

skills. I learned the process to create 

policies, regulations and procedures. I 

used creativity to implement new means 

of collecting and displaying information. 

My position was extended, and I 

got hired back through the program 

the following April. This gave me time 

to complete my bachelor’s degree in 

Computer Information Systems and 

General Management.

My supervisor sat me down in the 

beginning and asked me what I wanted 

to do. I told her it would be nice to learn 

about the information technology field 

at DLA. 

I now work with a variety of IT teams. 

I help with troubleshooting, setting 

up and configuring voice over internet 

protocol phones. I help set up video 

teleconferences. I shadow the local-area 

network team to learn more about how 

networks operate. Sometimes I work 

with the asset management team, 

keeping inventory. I work with great 

people while learning more daily. 

From my perspective, the WRP gives 

people who wouldn’t normally have the 

opportunity a chance to gain experience 

in the federal government. And then it’s 

up to the individual to shine and make a 

name for themselves. 

If you might be eligible, I recommend 

you apply for the program. Wayne 

Gretzky said, “You miss 100 percent of 

the shots you don’t take.” The program is 

designed to open doors for participants; 

it gives you at least 14 weeks of 

opportunity to network, learn and grow. 

If you get into the WRP, ask about 

training you can take advantage of. 

Ask about rules and regulations you’re 

unsure of. And most importantly, ask 

your supervisor to get you in contact 

with a mentor in the field you’re 

interested in. Nurturing those types of 

relationships is how you will succeed in 

the WRP.

The DLA WRP has been wonderful in 

providing a structured program that has 

boosted my confidence and elevated my 

career potential. 

Courtesy Photo
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16 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Olivia Lynn Kortuem

When I was six years old, I was 

diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning and 

cognitive disability also known as a 

hidden disability. 

A person who is dyslexic uses the 

brain differently to decode information. 

This means the typical academic 

abilities like reading, writing and math 

are difficult and may take more time. 

Despite this, dyslexia does not affect 

general intelligence.

Dyslexia has had a profound effect on 

my belief in myself. Throughout my basic 

education, I was in special education 

classes, and my peers were much further 

ahead in reading, writing and math. I 

did not learn to read on my own until I 

was in the 8th grade and almost did not 

graduate high school. 

As a young adult, I could not drive or 

read a book out loud to my son unless I 

memorized it. I could not even write out 

the simplest of things, like a shopping 

list. Despite how I felt about my abilities 

and myself to do anything academic, my 

Ephraim Ungar

It may be cliché, but it’s true: I owe 

everything to the Workforce Recruitment Program.

I graduated from college two years 

ago. I figured with my degree, office experience, and even a few published pieces of 

fiction, landing a job would be easy. 

Instead, nearly every place I applied 

to turned me down. However, I was able 

to land a WRP internship with the Army 

Equal Employment Opportunity office in 

Wiesbaden, Germany.

Those three months were some of 

the best of my life. I gained experience in 

my first real full-time position with two 

highly experienced EEO specialists as my 

mentors. They gave me a crash course in 

what an EEO office does, and then had me 

assist in a variety of tasks, including updating training spreadsheets, reorganizing 

ADept and Adapting

husband helped enroll me at the local 

community college at age 26.

In the fall of 2008, I saw an email 

advertising the Workforce Recruitment 

Program. Normally, I would talk myself 

out of trying, because I was convinced 

there was nothing I could offer in an 

office environment. But one of my 

college teachers helped me to “own” my 

disability and stop trying to hide from it.

With this new perspective, I had the 

confidence to interview and was hired for 

a summer WRP internship at DLA, as a 

law clerk in the Office of General Counsel.

At first, there was little I could do, but 

whatever task I was given, I did my best 

and made sure to show how grateful I 

was to be there and to help. 

It turned out to be the perfect 

environment for me. The people were 

so understanding, kind, and helpful that 

I was able to flourish. They asked me to 

come back for a second WRP internship 

in the summer of 2010.

After the second internship ended, 

they helped me get an internship in a 

the office filing and supply cabinets and, 

most importantly, launching, editing and 

contributing to an EEO newsletter sent to 

EEO offices across Army Europe.

Not only that, but the people I worked 

with were very understanding of my 

autism spectrum disorder. Because I 

sometimes don’t understand when I make 

social mistakes, my co-workers took the 

time to explain why something I did was 

a mistake and how I could avoid repeating 

it. It was comforting to have people who 

understood my needs and took the time 

to help me, rather than assuming I was 

rude and refusing to speak to me.

In addition, I was able to immerse 

myself in the culture of my host country, 

improving my language skills, traveling 

to places I’d only read about and 

learning what it’s like to live day-to-day 

as a German. Those were some of the 

happiest days of my life, and I owe that all 

to the WRP.

After I returned from Germany, I set 

out on a job search again, hoping to find 

something soon before I had to start 

paying student loans off. Unfortunately, 

I faced the same problem that had beset 

me prior to Germany: I was considered 

too inexperienced, even for positions 

considered entry level. 

Luckily, I was able to apply again to the 

WRP, and after a number of interviews 

and applications, I was offered two 

internships. One was an EEO position with 

DLA in the city I live in. I took that position, 

and in two months I was converted to full 

employment, something I’d been hoping 

and praying for since graduation.

A year later, I’m still in that position, 

and I love it. I’m helping employees with 

disabilities gain accommodations that 

Teodora Mocanu
p

Valued Team Members, Resilient and Ready

September / October 2017

An Asset for Managers

The WRP is not just a 

great thing for participants; it 

also offers managers several 

unique advantages, said Eric 

Spanbauer, the former manager 

of the program, who is now 

DLA’s program manager for 

special emphasis programs & 

affirmative employment.

Spanbauer said he’s seen 

managers who had been resistant 

to hiring WRP participants become 

enthusiastic about the program 

after trying an employee for 14 

weeks and seeing the person 

contribute beyond expectations.

Many supervisors have asked 

participants to come back. In fact, 

DLA has hired over 950 WRP 

participants since 1995, when the 

program began.

WRP is also a fast way to hire a 

qualified candidate, he noted. 

“Among many pluses is the 

ease of using Schedule A authority 

to hire noncompetitively after 14 

weeks of satisfactory performance,” 

Spanbauer said.

He added that the program also 

brings a significant amount of DoD 

funding to DLA, since DoD funds 

each WRP internship entirely.

Spanbauer noted DLA offers 

free assistive technologies available 

through the Computer/Electronic 

Accommodation Program and job 

accommodations through the Job 

Accommodations Network. 

In addition, “We have excellent 

EEO WRP coordinators providing 

great support and guidance for 

both supervisors and employees,” 

he said. 

He concluded: “I cannot 

emphasize how important and 

advantageous the WRP is to the 

DLA workforce.” LL

position that fit my skills and abilities 

perfectly in Corporate Events. I was 

later hired full-time into Logistics 

Operations. I was very fortunate that 

people in the OGC saw such potential 

in me and believed in me far more than 

I believed in myself. 

I have worked for DLA for over 

seven years and have been promoted 

several times. In that time, I found 

myself taking on new tasks, projects 

and roles that help me realize how 

capable I am and how much I have to 

contribute to the agency.

My disability remains difficult; there 

are things I cannot do, but I’ve learned 

to adapt. Technology, like software 

issued by the Computer/Electronic 

Accommodations Program, helps with 

writing and reading. I can do budgeting 

and math by using Excel. 

When I tell people that I have a 

disability, they seemed astonished. 

I believe that dyslexia and other 

cognitive disabilities, where a person 

thinks and learns differently, can be 

very valuable to an organization or 

team because of how our minds work. 

Our approach to problem solving 

can be the innovative thinking that is 

needed. There have been times that 

my ideas and strategy were used to 

solve complex issues. I am a bigpicture, deep thinker, always thinking 

of how to solve problems. In my 

opinion, I have these abilities because 

of my dyslexia and not despite it. 

I owe my career to the WRP. It 

opened a door that would not have 

been there, and gave me and others 

an opportunity to see how capable and 

valuable we are if only given a chance. 

I have learned to talk about 

my disability as a struggle not be 

ashamed of, as vulnerable as it makes 

me feel. I now know that if kind people 

are listening, I can use my experiences 

to build awareness for others with 

hidden disabilities in hopes that they 

will be accepted, understood and 

given opportunities to thrive in a 

federal career.

help them do their work, something I find 

very fulfilling. I’m surrounded by a great 

team of people who love to laugh and are 

passionate about the work we do. And 

they’re understanding of my autism and 

give me the guidance I need when I ask 

for help. I’m able to pay my bills and live 

comfortably thanks to the pay and benefits I earn. I go into the office every day 

grateful for the opportunities the WRP 

has sent my way.

In an interesting twist, this year I 

was made the WRP coordinator for 

DLA Land and Maritime, which has 

been challenging, but rewarding. For the 

students I work with, there’s a chance the 

WRP could do for them what it did for me, 

and I’m happy to be part of that. 

Because the WRP works. And if it can 

work so well for me, I want to make sure 

it works for everyone who comes after me.

Courtesy Photo
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18 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Saving Li

DLA TROOP SUPPORT PROVIDES URGENTLY NEEDED MEDICATIONS NO MATTER W
p

Make Promises and Keep Them

September / October 2017

E

ives

R WHERE ON EARTH THEY’RE NEEDED

While relaxing at home on 

the evening before a long 

weekend, Lorinda Ferraiolo 

noticed an urgent message pop up on 

her work cellphone. She logged onto 

her laptop, read the message and 

learned her expertise was required in 

a life-or-death medical emergency at 

an Air Force base in Japan.

Ferraiolo isn’t a doctor, a 

nurse or a medic.

She’s a contracting officer at the 

Defense Logistics Agency and a vital 

cog in the Defense Department’s ability 

to take care of its patients anywhere on 

the globe. 

“Our employees play a critical role in 

our support to the warfighter, especially 

in our response to overseas life-ordeath requirements,” said Army Col. Alex 

Zotomayor, the director of DLA Troop 

Support’s Medical supply chain.

Ferraiolo serves with the supply 

chain’s Pharmaceutical Prime 

Vendor. She and her teammates 

connect more than 6,000 military 

healthcare providers with about 

1,000 commercial manufacturers 

and distributors of more than 

25,000 pharmaceuticals. 

The division supports all military 

customers, regardless of location. But 

the level of support becomes much 

more sophisticated when working with 

customers outside U.S. borders.

In a stateside critical pharmaceutical emergency, the prime vendor 

can shift its massive distribution 

network to meet the demand. But 

Story by Shawn J. Jones

DLA Troop Support Public Affairs

Pharmaceuticals are refrigerated at the 35th Medical 

Operations Squadron clinic at Misawa Air Base, Japan. 

Military healthcare providers at Misawa and other 

installations throughout the world rely on acquisition 

professionals at DLA Troop Support’s Medical supply chain 

to provide pharmaceuticals in life-or-death emergencies.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton
page

20 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

tation folks, coordinating the discussion 

between the vendor and the courier,” 

Ferraiolo said. “We communicated that 

whole entire weekend to make sure the 

customer got the medication.” 

While Ferraiolo helps keep the AsiaPacific region stocked with pharmaceuticals, her colleague Nicole Accardo handles 

military customers in Europe. 

Since many military patients who are 

injured in Afghanistan are evacuated to 

Germany, Accardo has seen her share of 

pharmaceutical emergencies. 

She said that during these 

emergencies, her other work grinds to 

a halt so she can focus on providing the 

best support.

“You have to ignore all the emails 

and other stuff you have going on 

and immediately contact the prime 

vendor,” Accardo said. “You need the 

right item, the right quantities and the 

right delivery location. Gathering all 

that information quickly is critical.”

“I think the process works well,” 

Accardo said. “Of course, if anything 

unexpected happens, we’re right on top 

of it to smooth out any issues.”

when the emergency is overseas, 

thousands of miles from the prime 

vendor’s distribution hubs, getting the 

right drug to the military healthcare 

provider calls for a complex 

system. It’s a system that involves 

acquisition professionals, distributors, 

logisticians and transportation 

specialists from various government 

and commercial organizations.

This complex system is held together 

by the Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor 

division. Its people manage the contracts 

and processes that enable the flexibility 

to rapidly provide lifesaving emergency 

medications. And while a lot of planning 

and coordination goes into awarding 

effective contracts, life-or-death 

emergencies require more than just a 

set-it-and-forget-it approach.

As Ferraiolo learned while supporting 

the customer in Japan, these emergencies 

take over the Pharmaceutical Prime 

Vendor division’s workday, or in her case, 

an entire long weekend.

As the contracting officer in 

charge of supporting customers in the 

Asia-Pacific region, which is about a 

half-day ahead of Philadelphia, she’s 

accustomed to receiving email while 

off duty. Most can be addressed briefly, 

but a life-or-death emergency requires 

her complete attention. So instead of 

kicking back for the weekend, Ferraiolo 

kicked it into high gear. 

First, she coordinated with DLA’s 

Customer Pharmacy Operations Center 

to validate the emergency as life-ordeath, meaning that if the patient did not 

receive the medication, the risk of death 

would increase significantly. 

She then contacted the prime vendor 

to ensure it had the medication on hand. 

Next she coordinated with Army Maj. 

Christopher Splichal and Marie Boggs 

of the Medical supply chain’s customer 

support team, which is responsible for 

managing the coordination between the 

vendor, courier and customer. 

“Maj. Splichal was running back and 

forth between the CPOC and transporAir Force Senior Airman Taryn Mendoza, right, prepares a 

syringe at Misawa Air Base, Japan. DLA Troop Support’s 

Medical supply chain provides more than 25,000 

pharmaceuticals to military healthcare providers around 

the world. Mendoza is a medical technician with the 35th 

Medical Operations Squadron.

Air Force Staff Sgt

Benjamin W

Stratton
p

Make Promises and Keep Them

September / October 2017

 “YOU NEED THE RIGHT ITEM, THE RIGHT QUANTITIES 

AND THE RIGHT DELIVERY LOCATION. GATHERING ALL 

THAT INFORMATION QUICKLY IS CRITICAL.” 

 — NICOLE ACCARDO

“DLA’s Troop Support process of 

ensuring life-or-death pharmaceuticals 

are delivered on time has proved successful,” said Ruth Herman, chief of the 

Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor division. 

The success, she said, is due to her 

division’s strong relationships and open 

communication inside and outside of 

Troop Support. 

Internally, Herman said her division 

especially relies on the Medical supply 

chain’s customer support team.

“Without their knowledge and 

support, the program would not be as 

successful as it is,” she said.

Externally, Herman said her division is 

responsible for understanding the people 

and processes that drive their suppliers.

In one emergency, a military customer 

required an unusually large quantity of 

a medicine the prime vendor couldn’t 

supply through its usual processes. 

She could have accepted the circumstances, but that would have put military 

patients in greater jeopardy. So Herman, 

who has built a network of relationships 

with her prime vendor counterparts, 

reached out to identify alternative methods to meet her customer’s needs. 

Through that collaboration, 

Herman said they solved the logistics 

puzzle by rerouting an order intended 

for another customer.

“If they had put it into stock, it 

would’ve gone out to their regular 

commercial customers, and we would 

never have caught it in time.” 

When Herman talks about the 

importance of open and frequent 

communication, she means it.

“From about 11 a.m. on a Friday to 

8:30 Tuesday morning, I had 125 emails 

related to one emergency,” she said.

One large customer the 

Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor team 

communicates with frequently is 

the U.S. Army Medical Materiel 

Center, Europe — especially in lifeor-death emergencies.

“With DLA Troop Support’s 

assistance, USAMMCE routinely makes 

the impossible possible, enabling our 

medical providers to give our service 

members and beneficiaries top-notch 

medical care,” said Army Maj. Derek 

Stranton, the chief of USAMMCE’s clinical 

advisory branch. 

Stranton said USAMMCE relies 

on DLA’s support during medical 

emergencies that are uncommon and 

difficult to forecast.

Earlier this year, healthcare 

providers deployed overseas 

encountered a military patient with a 

life-threatening bacterial infection that 

was resistant to common antibiotics. 

The providers looked to USAMMCE for 

a rarely used antibiotic, but it wasn’t 

available in Europe. 

So they placed a life-or-death 

emergency order. 

“We reached out to DLA Troop 

Support for assistance. And within 

Army medical supply specialists Spc. Tevin Beaty, Spc. 

Brittany Griffie and Sgt. Lorrence Wilder sort materials for 

packaging at U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center Europe in 

Pirmasens, Germany. DLA Troop Support’s Medical supply 

chain employees work with USAMMCE personnel to connect 

U.S. military healthcare providers with more than 1,000 

pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Army 2nd Lt. Nicholas Molinelli
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22 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

a few hours on a Friday night, they 

were able to locate and purchase the 

medication from a vendor in Maryland,” 

Stranton said. “They coordinated with 

a commercial carrier to ensure the 

product was delivered to USAMMCE in 

Pirmasens, Germany, the very next day.”

The event made an impression 

on Stranton.

“I have 100-percent confidence in 

DLA Troop Support’s ability to respond to 

a medical crisis anywhere in the world,” 

he said.

Stranton said it takes a team effort 

of military medical professionals from 

DLA, USAMMCE and other military 

and civilian agencies to ensure service 

members receive the best emergency 

care available in deployed environments.

The idea of providing lifesaving 

medications to service members 

overseas may conjure visions of battlehardened warriors wounded in action. 

But some patients are as harmless as 

infants in the womb.

This was the exactly the case 

for Ferraiolo, who spent a weekend 

coordinating the acquisition and delivery 

of emergency pharmaceuticals to help 

save the lives of unborn infants of 

military service members in Japan.

Air Force Maj. Rohin Kasudia, the 

pharmacy flight commander for the 

35th Medical Group at Misawa Air Base, 

Japan, said the base was experiencing a 

shortage of a medication that lowers the 

risk of pre-term birth and infant mortality. 

Demand for the drug was quickly outpacing supply, so Kasudia reached out to 

Ferraiolo to help expedite the delivery.

He said he was pleased with how 

quickly DLA responded to the request 

and how their continuous communication benefited healthcare planning at 

Misawa Air Base.

“This was very nice because we 

usually don’t have eyes on shipments 

and movements,” he said. “This gave our 

staff and providers confidence that the 

drug will be coming and the ability to plan 

for any contingency strategies if a new 

pre-term risk mother was identified.”

Kasudia said that DLA’s 

Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor team 

does more than help save lives; its 

members also enable the overall 

mission of their military customers.

“If we can’t get drugs to our overseas 

bases, then it affects our ability to 

project air power, deploy forces and 

meet the trusted care mission of the Air 

Force surgeon general,” he said. “The fact 

that they have the ability to push our 

vendors to make things happen is critical 

to the warfighting mission, because 

it ensures our warfighters and their 

families are taken care of.”

The warfighter can continue to count 

on DLA Troop Support’s Medical supply 

chain to provide excellent support for lifeor-death requirements, Zotomayor said.

“Medical employees are committed 

to their jobs and take pride in their 

support to the warfighter — moreso 

if that support involves a life-or-death 

requirement,” he said. “They will go the 

extra mile to make sure a medication is 

delivered as quickly as possible.”

Ferraiolo’s weekend support was 

just one example of Medical supply 

chain employees going the extra mile to 

ensure success.

Within a few days of placing the 

emergency order, Kasudia received the 

shipment, and mothers-to-be received 

the medication they needed, boosting the 

chance of a healthy birth for the sons and 

daughters of American service members 

at Misawa Air Base.

“I was very happy, extremely happy. 

We did our job and we got the customer 

the product they needed,” Ferraiolo said. 

“It almost feels like we save lives.” LL
Can you give us an overview of what DLA Human 

Resources Services does and how it aligns with DLA 

Human Resources?

Sure, I know the different terms sound similar and can 

get confusing. In a nutshell, DHRS is the operational 

arm of DLA Human Resources. DHRS falls under DLA 

Human Resources and is by far its largest organization. 

We provide the actual HR services — benefits and 

retirement processing, employee relations, promotions, 

reassignments, hiring actions, etc. — for DLA’s 25,000 

federal civilians. We also provide personnel services for 

the agency’s more than 500 active military personnel. 

And many people don’t know we also provide staffing 

and benefits support, among other services, to roughly 

45,000 employees of other Defense Department 

agencies on a fee-for-service basis. 

A Conversation with ...

Michael 

Beaupre

The other DLA Human Resources teams — Policy, Labor 

and Employee Relations Policy; Human Capital Program 

Development; and Human Capital Business Integration — 

deal more with the “big picture”-type stuff, such as policy 

guidance, workforce planning, strategic planning internal 

controls, and audit support. We all work closely together 

on our shared goal of making DLA the best-managed 

organization in the federal workforce. 

Providing HR support to 45,000 DoD employees outside 

DLA sounds like a huge job. Can you tell us more about 

how that came about and how it works?

Our mission to provide HR support to other DoD agencies 

stemmed from the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure 

legislation, which called for consolidation of HR assets in 

the defense agencies. Our DoD Customers team has been 

fully operational since 2011 and operates like a business, 

with operating funds coming from customer payments for 

services rendered. 

Dedicated personnel work with agencies — including the 

Office of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Staff, DoD 

Education Agency, Missile Defense Agency, Defense Media 

Activity, Defense Commissary Agency and Defense Threat 

Reduction Agency — to customize support to fit those 

agencies’ needs. Formal military service-level agreements 

with agencies outline specific support that could 

encompass everything from staffing, in-processing, 

personnel actions processing, and managing benefits 

and retirement actions.

DLA’s Human Resources Services administrator 

discusses the many ways in which DHRS 

supports DLA leaders and employees.

Michael Beaupre, administrator of DLA Human Resources Services.

John Bell

p

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

September / October 2017
Fewer than 300 people make up this team, but they’ve 

saved our customers tens of millions of dollars. We already 

provide workers’ compensation management, drugtesting management, and audit support to some customers, and we hope to soon be able to provide our customer 

agencies access to our electronic Learning Management 

System to deliver training and track completions.

What are some of the greatest challenges facing DHRS?

As is often the case, things outside our control can pose 

the greatest challenges. But we’re lucky to have forwardthinking leadership in DLA Human Resources and staff 

members adept at brainstorming effective solutions. The 

recent example that immediately comes to mind is the 

temporary hiring freeze enacted in January this year. We 

couldn’t effect an earlier end to the hiring freeze, but we 

took several concrete steps to help DLA recover from the 

hardships imposed by the hiring freeze once it was lifted in 

early May. 

Throughout the freeze, we worked closely with all of our 

customers to prioritize critical hiring actions and request 

waivers from DoD when appropriate. We also carefully 

prioritized actions to take after the freeze ended. We began 

by immediately assigning start dates for those new hires 

who had already completed all the necessary steps and 

accepted tentative offers before the freeze took effect. Then 

we moved on to issuing tentative offers in cases where the 

hiring manager had previously made a selection. 

Simultaneously, we worked with hiring managers with 

valid vacancies to expedite finalizing position descriptions 

and job announcements. Two weeks after the hiring freeze 

was officially lifted, DHRS had cleared a full 75 percent of 

the staffing backlog that had accrued over three months 

— something we’re pretty proud of! 

Similarly, last year we were dealing with mandatory 

personnel cuts to major headquarters activities and DoD’s 

“delayering” initiative. But here in DLA, where we have 

engaged leadership and a quality workforce, we prefer to 

look at these issues as opportunities to clarify our mission 

priorities and renew our focus on culture and accountability. 

Over the past year, the implementation of the DoD 

Performance Management and Appraisal Program was 

a major HR focus for the whole workforce. What role did 

DHRS play in that implementation?

DPMAP is obviously a really big deal in the DoD. In all, 

roughly 630,000 employees will be covered by the program when it’s fully launched throughout the department, 

including nearly all DLA civilian employees. DHRS was 

responsible for several significant aspects of implementing 

DPMAP in DLA. I’ll run through them one at a time.

Training: DoD mandated all affected personnel be trained 

on the program prior to implementation. DLA Training tailored the DoD curriculum materials to the DLA workforce, 

then offered that curriculum in two phases: an hourlong 

computer-based course that was delivered through our 

LMS, and an eight-hour classroom course delivered in person to the extent possible. We knew early on we wouldn’t 

be able to deliver this training to the entire workforce with 

existing personnel, so our training team developed an 

innovative solution: training facilitators provided by DLA 

organizations who were certified as subject-matter experts by DLA Training to deliver this classroom curriculum 

in their respective locations. This worked even better than 

we imagined. Over just five months, 26 instructors from 

DLA Training and 105 facilitators from other DLA organizations delivered in-person training to more than 24,000 

DLA team members throughout the United States and in 

roughly 20 other countries. 

MyPerformance: Civilian employees and their supervisors 

manage all steps of the performance management 

process — creating performance plans, tracking 

performance discussions and accomplishments, and 

writing and receiving appraisals — in an automated 

system called MyPerformance. The DHRS information 

technology systems team worked closely with DLA 

Information Operations and DoD personnel officials to 

test and troubleshoot implementation and ensure all DLA 

employees and supervisors had access to the system. 

They also set up a mailbox to answer employee questions 

about using this entirely new HR system. 

Customer Account Managers: In DLA, DHRS customer 

account managers are assigned to all DLA field 

activities and headquarters organizations as our face 

to the customer. CAMs interact daily with their serviced 

organizations’ leaders by participating in daily standup 

meetings, staff meetings and larger venues such as 

town halls. They are integrated into the organizations 

to provide advice and support from the initial stages 

of any workforce issues. When it came to DPMAP, 

they were instrumental in socializing up-front issues 

that were brought up and in communicating every 

phase of the implementation (e.g., training, systems, 

performance plans, etc.).

page

24 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY
How does DHRS help support the 21st century workforce?

We continually work to keep up with trends in technology, 

in terms of delivering training, electronic HR systems, and 

data aggregation and security. It’s a challenging field, and 

the teams we have working in these areas are top notch! 

We’ve worked for years to deliver training via blended 

technologies. Why send people on expensive temporary 

duty for training when we can deliver content via computer 

online, via tablet or via video teleconference? Delivering 

training electronically has the added benefit of being 

environmentally responsible by reducing our use of paper 

and ink, and we can make updates to content instantly. 

Our next major IT project is migrating our electronic 

Learning Management System for assigning, delivering 

and tracking training to a cloud-based environment, 

which will make the system less costly and allow faster 

updates. DLA employees register nearly 600,000 

training completions in topics such as IT, logistics, project 

management, safety and other business-related topics 

each year. Much of DLA’s leadership training, which is 

aligned with the Office of Personnel Management’s 

executive core competencies, is also delivered through 

the LMS.

We’ve mostly discussed DHRS’s role in managing and 

supporting DLA’s civilian workforce, but the agency also 

has over 500 assigned military personnel. What is your 

organization’s role in supporting DLA service members?

DLA Military Personnel administers the full range of 

military human resources programs to support the 

readiness, mission and well-being of DLA service 

members around the world. This team of both military and 

civilian personnel ensures DLA follows applicable service 

and DoD guidelines and standardizes procedures across 

DLA. It also manages military training, access to service 

data systems and assignments.

Managing military assignments in a joint agency brings 

with it specific challenges, which our DHRS military 

team members are especially adept at overcoming. 

They must start planning for a replacement a full 

year before the expected departure of a military 

member assigned to DLA to make sure the military 

services are aware of our upcoming requirements. As 

a joint agency, DLA gets notification of an incoming 

military member, and then leaders in the specific 

DLA organization with the vacancy review the 

individual’s records and concur or non-concur with the 

assignment. While rare, managing non-concurrences 

and negotiating with DLA field activities and the 

military services for assignment of replacement 

personnel can be a sensitive issue and takes careful 

oversight. DLA leaders rely on our DHRS Military 

Personnel team to handle this and other aspects 

of HR management and support to the agency’s 

uniformed team members. 

What else does DHRS manage that we haven’t 

discussed yet?

DLA Human Resources follows a “Hire to Retire” 

business model, known as H2R, in which we support 

our team members from the hiring process, training 

and internships, all the way through career and leader 

development and retirement planning. We had come 

to realize that payroll services and travel management 

were an integral part of this H2R function, so in June 

2017 a team of 43 employees was transferred from 

DLA Finance to DLA Human Resources to provide better 

coordination of critical functions, improve audit support 

and minimize financial risk. 

Part of helping DLA employees remain productive and 

resilient is making sure their benefits elections are 

up-to-date and that they understand what benefits 

they’re entitled to. Earlier this year, the DLA Benefits 

Center undertook an extensive reorganization to 

better meet the needs of our valuable customers. 

Dedicated phone numbers now provide a direct line 

of communication to a DLA benefits specialist to 

help answer questions and resolve issues pertaining 

to retirement and phased retirement, medical or life 

insurance, the Thrift Savings Plan, and flexible spending 

accounts. This highly trained staff processed more than 

3,000 benefits actions, which they tracked in a stateof-the-art Web-based system, in one six-month period 

in the past year. 

DLA has a strong reputation as an employer of choice 

within the federal government. Over time, our directors 

have placed a high priority on programs to support our 

workforce in a variety of ways, and DHRS administers 

and oversees several of these programs. The Employee 

Assistance Program, Sexual Assault Prevention and 

Response program, the DLA awards program, and 

the workers’ compensation program all fall under the 

purview of DHRS. Dedicated teams support each of these 

important programs that go a long way in helping meet 

the DLA Strategic Plan goal of maintaining a workforce 

that is valued and resilient. LL

p

DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

September / October 2017
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26 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Innovation 

At Fort Belvoir, Virginia, senior leaders in DLA 

Information Operations listen as a team presents 

its project via video teleconference.

— Photo by John Bell
p

Valued Team Members, Resilient and Ready

September / October 2017

Invasion UNLEASHING

INNOVATION

IN THE WORKFORCE

Story by Sara Moore

DLA Information Operations

Acontest that features crowdsourcing, 

workforce voting, a judging panel 

like television’s “Shark Tank” 

and pilot projects isn’t typical for a 

government organization. And it certainly 

isn’t standard fare for federal information 

technology organizations.

But Defense Logistics Agency 

Information Operations used just that 

approach to recruit and develop ideas for 

improving the agency’s IT services across 

the workforce.

The division began with a contest in 

which groups of employees suggested 

an array of creative ideas for improving 

their services. From there, winning ideas 

were developed into pilot projects, which 

the employee innovators continue to 

flesh out in periodic real-time reviews 

with senior leaders.

The project is not only meeting the 

goal of devising solutions and increasing 

Software-Defined 

Networking

A network solution that allows 

the network appliances (routers and 

switches) that traditionally move 

data to be programmed remotely 

to control data dynamically. This 

eliminates the need to locally 

configure the appliances.

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT
page

28 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Employee Task Tracker

A task management program that would allow employees and 

supervisors to organize tasks, collaborate, increase productivity 

and measure analytics.

In addition, many of the ideas were 

about increased collaboration. 

“People are proud of DLA 

Information Operations, and want to 

work together to further improve things,” 

he noted.

Adam Price, the inventor of the 

contest, noticed the same thing as he 

evaluated every idea and communicated 

with each submitter. Most ideas focused 

on improving ways for employees to 

communicate and collaborate to make 

the organization better.

“That was the ‘a-ha’ moment,” Price 

said. “When we finished going through 

all the ideas, we saw that people really 

want a way to communicate with each 

other, help each other, and learn from 

each other. We got great ideas, but we 

also learned a lot about what was really 

important to our workforce and what was 

going to make our organization a more 

effective and innovative place to work.” 

Being part of meaningful change was 

a motivating factor for many employees 

who submitted ideas. Tim Braxton is 

an information technology specialist 

on the four-person team whose idea 

won the second-most votes. He said 

efficiency. It’s also showing the agency’s 

IT leadership how employees think and 

what they value. 

“We knew that engaging our 

workforce and tapping into their collective 

genius was the key to making innovation 

work for our organization,” said Kitty 

Eisler, leader of the DLA Information 

Operations Innovation Team. “So we 

simply asked folks for their ideas, 

designed a way to make it easy and 

fun and, most importantly, gave them 

permission and incentive to think out of 

the box.” 

The contest started when DLA 

opened an online portal where 

employees could submit ideas. DLA 

Chief Information Officer Kathy Cutler 

established “hunting grounds,” areas 

she views as ripe for improvement, 

with goals focusing on each one: 

Improve End-User Experience, Improve 

Connectivity/Reduce Latency, Mobile 

Platform Applications, and Quick 

Development/Deployment. 

“I wanted employees to focus on areas 

that would have a near-term positive 

impact for our customers,” Cutler said. 

It was clear early in the two-week 

submission period that the workforce was 

very interested in contributing innovative 

ideas. In total, employees submitted 93 

ideas covering all four hunting grounds. 

That strong engagement continued 

through the voting period, when 

employees could choose the top 

three ideas they thought would have 

the greatest impact. Employees cast 

more than 1,000 votes, a number that 

demonstrated the power of directly 

involving the workforce, said Craig 

Gravitz, the partnerships and contracts 

lead for the Innovation Team.

“The most exciting outcome of the 

challenge was workforce engagement,” 

Gravitz said. “The number of idea 

submitters and voters showed that our 

organization is full of people who want 

to contribute to our mission beyond their 

everyday jobs.” 

DLA Blip

A user-friendly mobile 

application for DLA devices 

to identify customer issues 

and network or application 

performance. It would provide 

a “blip” of data that allows 

employees to be aware of IT or 

network issues without accessing a desktop client.

blip

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT

Information Operations Wiki

A resource website where 

employees could post information 

about known IT problems, solutions, 

workarounds and best practices. 

This knowledge-sharing community 

would give users a place to look 

for quick answers and potential 

solutions, as well as collaborate with peers, share best practices, increase 

communication across the organization and broaden their skillsets.
p

Valued Team Members, Resilient and Ready

September / October 2017

DLA Information Operations already 

promotes teamwork and listens to 

employee concerns, so innovation can 

come from any level in the organization.

“The answer to the question never 

asked is always, ‘No,’” Braxton said. “If 

we want to improve our organization, 

we must use our voices. Our leadership 

definitely supports open channels for 

process improvement.”

Communication and collaboration 

became a theme during the submission 

and vetting process as well. As the 

Innovation Team noticed similar ideas 

coming in, its members encouraged the 

submitters to form teams to strengthen 

their idea and move it along in the 

process. That’s how Braxton’s team was 

formed, along with several others, and 

the process of working together on an 

idea was rewarding, said Gordon Parker, 

one of his team members.

“The team effort has been amazing,” 

Parker said. “I’ve been amazed by the 

productivity and willingness of the 

team to work together to achieve a 

centralized goal in the development of 

our idea.”

During voting, DLA Information 

Operations employees chose the top 

three ideas they believed would have 

the greatest impact on the organization. 

Those ideas, along with several others, 

were chosen by senior leaders to move 

on to face an in-person judging panel of 

DLA senior executives.

The panel consisted of Cutler, Eisler, 

and Deputy Chief Information Officer 

Robert Foster. Idea submitters had 

10 minutes to present their idea, how 

it would be implemented, resources 

needed and potential roadblocks. 

“We told them to get creative, 

and they did,” Foster said. “We had 

traditional presentations, but we also 

had live demonstrations and videos 

with music. The idea submitters really 

went the extra mile.” 

Several teams presented their ideas 

to the panel at the same time and, 

in the spirit of the contest, used that 

opportunity to collaborate even further, 

Foster said. 

“It was really fantastic. In the middle 

of these presentations, right on the 

spot, people were forming their own 

teams, across ideas, offering to help 

each other,” he said. 

Cutler said she and the other leaders 

were impressed enough by the presentations to allow all nine ideas to move 

forward to research and development. 

“We saw some great thinking that 

really showcased the creativity and 

knowledge of our employees,” Cutler 

said. “We’re going to engage people 

to help us completely revamp our 

collaboration, communication and 

knowledge management systems as 

Guest Wireless

Provide a secure guest wireless network at 

major DLA installations for visitors (vendors and 

mission partners).

John Bell

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT

Sara Moore, right, explains the proposed benefits of 

her team’s project as the judging panel listens and 

asks questions.
page

30 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Employee 360 

Create a customizable interface 

that gives employees access to 

information they need to manage 

their careers and benefits, including 

human resources, healthcare, 

finances, retirement, training, 

performance management, news, 

wellness, IT, etc.

a result of what we learned from this 

contest, and that will generate more 

great ideas.”

The nine pilot projects that came 

out of the contest are very different, so 

the first stages of implementation are 

also different. The submitter or team of 

submitters will lead each idea, with the 

help of executive mentorship. 

“We want employees at all levels of 

the organization to participate, so we 

insist on mentorship to take some of the 

‘fear factor’ away, and to make sure folks 

get the resources they need to succeed 

and a safe place to fall if their idea just 

doesn’t pan out,” Cutler said. 

Accepting and embracing failure as 

an opportunity for growth is a key tenet 

of the entire innovation effort in DLA 

Information Operations, Eisler said, but 

one thing is not acceptable: 

“We can’t use the status quo to 

combat these new ideas,” she said. “In a 

government organization, employees are 

taught to follow certain rules, which have 

a useful and sometimes vital purpose. 

But this contest was designed to let 

employees think outside the box and 

imagine solutions without constraints. 

“It’s important to give people permission to come up with big ideas and from 

there to figure out how to work those 

ideas into our system — as opposed to 

avoiding those ideas because of the system,” Eisler continued. She noted some 

ideas may be stockpiled for later use or 

modified so they can be put in place.

DLA Information Operations senior 

leadership is staying involved during the 

pilot process, providing resources and 

sponsorship and keeping submitters 

accountable by requiring regular updates. 

The most recent panel judging event was 

in July. Because many teams are scattered 

around the country, many presented their 

updates via video teleconference.

“Innovation is a priority for this 

organization, and we’re all committed 

to keeping ourselves relevant and ready 

as new technology advances,” Cutler 

said. “While it’s only one aspect of our 

innovation efforts, this idea contest 

proves our employees are enthusiastic 

about innovation and have the skills 

necessary to keep us ahead of the 

cutting edge of technology.”

The goal is to have all the pilot projects implemented within six months. The 

Innovation Team plans to host another 

contest, and the team members are 

excited to see the results, Eisler said. LL

Use Local Cache for 

Remote Locations

Implement an environment 

where end users could work 

primarily from their local 

cache to access their desktop, 

documents and Internet 

Explorer, reducing the burden on 

the DLA network and improving 

the customer experience.

Tiger Teams 

Create a website 

that will allow for 

the dynamic creation 

of teams across 

Information Operations for specific 

projects. The workforce will be able 

to post projects, describe the skills 

needed to complete them, and 

volunteer to work on them.

J6 Peer On-the-Job Training 

Develop a website where 

Information Operations users 

can ask and answer questions, 

provide resources, and create a 

profile to highlight their skills and 

promote collaboration.

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT

INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT INNOVATION PILOT PROJECT
DLA NewsWire

NEW DLA CHARTER OUTLINES 

AGENCY’S AUTHORITIES

A new Department of Defense document outlines the 

Defense Logistics Agency’s mission as assigned by law. 

The charter, DoD Directive 5105.22, is an update to the 2006 

version and identifies DLA as the department’s executive 

agent for numerous classes of supply and includes newer 

authorities, such as nuclear enterprise sustainment and 

retail support at military industrial sites.

“Many of our customers look to this document when 

they want to learn about what DLA can offer them and 

what DLA has the authority to do, so it’s an important 

way of keeping them informed,” said Mike Perozziello, 

chief of DLA Transformation’s Strategic Initiatives and 

Governance Division. 

— Beth Reece

DLA Public Affairs

More Online: go.usa.gov/xRmAz

Army Capt. Colin Cutler

ENGINEERS IMPROVE TRAINING CENTER IN 

ROMANIA WITH DLA-PROVIDED MATERIALS 

strengthen NATO forces’ capability to 

train and respond to threats within 

the region. 

The stones, lumber, rebar, concrete, 

hardware and other materials used 

to improve the training center’s 

infrastructure were provided through 

DLA’s Maintenance, Repair and 

Operations program, said Ada “Cathy” 

Torres Vega, a contracting officer with 

DLA Troop Support Europe & Africa in 

Kaiserslautern, Germany.

— Mike Tuttle 

DLA Troop Support Public Affairs

More Online: go.usa.gov/xRE9m

Military engineers are improving 

the Joint National Training Center 

in Romania with materials largely 

provided through the Defense 

Logistics Agency. 

“Behind me you can see what 

I think will be soon known in the 

Romanian army and throughout 

the Black Sea Region as the 

best mounted gunnery range in 

this part of Europe,” said Lt. Gen. 

Ben Hodges, U.S. Army Europe 

commander, while visiting the JNTC 

in Cincu July 14.

Hodges referred to the non-standard live-fire range at the JNTC, which 

will allow a tank platoon to conduct 

shoot and move live-fire exercises on 

five lanes, according to a release from 

the 926th Engineer Brigade.

The work is underway as part of 

Resolute Castle 2017, an exercise to 

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DLA’S OFFICIAL FLAGSHIP PUBLICATION

September / October 2017
MILITARY COMPUTERS 

GO TO SCHOOL 

Computers once used by the U.S. military are now in the hands 

of Georgia middle and high school students thanks to a program 

administered by Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services.

Irwin County Schools in Georgia has received 45 computers 

through Computers For Learning. The computers were first turned 

over to DLA Disposition Services at Warner Robins from Moody Air 

Force Base personnel.

The program allows DLA to pass on excess computers no 

longer needed by the military to school districts for use by 

their students. 

Jose Perez, a disposal specialist at Warner Robins, helped the 

transfer take place.

“Any time cutting-edge technology in serviceable condition can 

be legitimately transferred to an educational institution is a win,” 

Perez said. “The schools get computers at no cost and DLA avoids 

any associated costs with additional required disposal actions.”

— Jeff Landenberger 

DLA Disposition Services Public Affairs

More Online: go.usa.gov/xREXZ

DLA-PROCURED POLICEPRESENCE KITS DELIVERED 

TO IRAQI SECURITY FORCES

themselves in areas where [Islamic State group] has 

destroyed their infrastructure,” said Canadian Brig. 

Gen. David Anderson, the multinational task force’s 

director of partner force development and ministerial 

liaison team, during a press briefing July 6.

The kits in this batch are the first of 100 that will be 

transferred this summer.

“The imminent liberation of Mosul rids Iraq of ISIS and 

sets conditions for political reconciliation,” Anderson said. 

“The coalition’s role in preparing for what comes after 

ISIS is to train and equip hold forces and area security 

forces so stabilization can occur.”

— Mike Tuttle

DLA Troop Support Public Affairs

More Online: go.usa.gov/xREXv

Courtesy Photo

DLA Dispostion Services at Warner Robins

On the verge of victory in Mosul, Iraqi security forces 

received police equipment that they’ll use to protect 

their citizens. 

The first Police Presence in a Box kits were transferred 

to Iraqi security forces July 3 during a ceremony in 

Baghdad. The Combined Joint Task Force – Operation 

Inherent Resolve transferred the kits after procuring them 

through Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support.

The kits are “temporary stations that provide a local 

police force with the equipment necessary to establish 

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32 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY
p

September / October 2017 

Valued Team Members, Resilient and Ready

Bicycling 20 miles to work in the 

snow. Full-length triathlons in 

foreign countries. Marathons run 

on aircraft carriers. Paddling a kayak 

to the office.

They’re all just a few ways employees 

of the Defense Logistics Agency stay fit, 

focused and motivated while keeping 

stress at bay.

Riverboat Colonel 

Army Col. Wil McCauley lives in 

Maryland and works for DLA at the 

McNamara Headquarters Complex in 

Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Unlike many in 

the greater Washington, D.C., area, he 

usually enjoys his trip to work and back.

McCauley, chief of the Military 

Service Support Division of DLA 

Logistics Operations, shares the “road” 

with herons, bald eagles, fish and other 

creatures as he paddles his kayak 

across the Potomac River about three 

days a week, even in winter. 

He begins by driving from his home 

in Maryland, on a bay just across the 

water from George Washington’s Mount 

Vernon estate, to Marshall Hall Landing, 

a public dock. From there he paddles 

across the Lower Potomac to Fort 

Belvoir’s small marina on Dogue Creek, 

a wide inlet on the northeast side of the 

post. The paddle takes 22-30 minutes, 

he said.

Once at the marina, McCauley stows 

his boat and then rides a mountain bike 

another 20 minutes across Fort Belvoir 

to the HQC. His total commute by bike, 

boat and car is about an hour and a half.

McCauley respects the danger 

that comes with being on any body of 

water, especially one like the Potomac, 

which has currents and tides that 

can be deadly. He always wears a life 

vest, in addition to a headlamp so the 

motorboat drivers can see him. He uses 

a spray skirt to keep water out of his 

17-foot sea kayak, which is much more 

stable in waves than a sit-on-top kayak.

Generally, he won’t paddle if there’s a 

wind greater than 10 knots. 

“If the tide is coming in and you have 

the wind with it, it can make for some 

really big waves,” he said. 

But he does paddle through 

the winter. 

“The only thing that stops me in 

the winter is if Dogue Creek ices up,” he 

said. Or if the need for a car during the 

day requires him to drive the whole way 

to work — a trip that takes at best 45 

minutes and at worst an hour and a half.

Seeing nature up close is one of 

the best parts of his commute, 

McCauley explained. 

“One of the primary nesting sites 

for bald eagles is right here on Fort 

Belvoir,” he said. “I get to marvel at the 

fish jumping and the osprey catching 

the fish. I get to see the cycle of the 

Story by John R. Bell

creatures as he paddles his kayak motorboat drivers can see him. He uses the fish. I get to see the cycle ofthe 

Fit for Duty

Army Col. Wil McCauley paddles his sea kayak out of Dogue Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River, on the way to his home in Maryland from Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

John Bell

DLA EMPLOYEES PADDLE, RUN, RIDE AND SWIM FOR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL RESILIENCY
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34 www.dla.mil

AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Stickel wipes the sweat from his brow during an Ironman triathlon.

seasons, the migration of birds, the 

different types of birds and fish, 

whether snakeheads or perch, longnosed gar or shad. I get to either 

look at tail lights, or I get to see fox, 

beaver and cormorant,” he said. He 

also sees herons and small diving 

ducks known as grebes. 

And being on the river so early 

in the morning lets him see natural 

phenomena many don’t get to witness. 

“There’s something amazing about 

a flock of 100 tundra swan taking off, 

which most people have never heard 

— the amazing thundering of their 

wings beating on the water,” he said. 

“Or the sound of a grebe or a cormorant 

taking off, as they run across the top of 

the water.

“You get to see what happens after 

a rainstorm. You get to see the stars 

and their movement in the sky and their 

effects on the water. You feel like you 

get to understand what’s going on in 

the world around you.”

McCauley has commuted by bicycle 

and/or kayak for about 22 years, since 

he was a young Army captain. So he 

naturally thought about alternative commutes when he was first assigned to Fort 

Belvoir, he said. He had to adapt at first. 

“There’s a bit of conditioning. 

I hadn’t used those [paddling] 

muscles,” he said. “And then there’s 

figuring out winds and weather. But 

then it becomes second nature.”

Being on the water definitely reduces 

his stress, he said. 

“I know I personally need the time 

and space mentally to think, to pray, to 

mediate. My family knows when I’ve 

paddled. They can tell things are a little 

better,” McCauley said.

Being the sole vehicle on the “road” 

has practical benefits as well. 

“Sometimes, I’ll talk to somebody 

on the telephone,” McCauley said — a 

task one can’t safely do while driving. 

“Or sometimes I’ll literally close my 

eyes and paddle for a minute and just 

completely zone out.”

 “It centers me and is relaxing — 

and fun.”

McCauley retires from his 

Army career this year and looks 

forward to spending more time in 

nature — whether on the water 

or in the mountains.

The decision to commute this way 

grew out of a lifetime spent outdoors, 

McCauley noted. 

“I’ve paddled since I was a little kid,” 

he said. “Some of my earliest memories are in a canoe. So being on the 

water’s normal for me.

“As a kid, my dad didn’t buy me a car; 

he bought me a bike,” McCauley recalled. 

So his choice as an adult to 

take the more physically arduous 

but spiritually rejuvenating route 

to work? 

“It’s probably his fault.”

Iron Manager

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Stickel also 

spends time around the water. But for 

him, that can mean swimming 2.4 miles 

just before a 112-mile bike ride and a full 

26.2-mile marathon.

Stickel, the military deputy for 

Order Management in DLA Logistics 

Operations, is a triathlete. He’s done 

seven full-length triathlons in six 

countries, along with more than 30 

marathons. And he swims every 

morning at a pool on Fort Belvoir.

But he wasn’t always so serious 

about exercise, he said. In fact, the 

42-year-old considers himself to be just 

an average athlete.

Stickel, who’s also the Navy fitness 

lead at DLA Headquarters, grew up in 

Los Angeles, playing youth sports. But 

he kept getting injured. So he began 

focusing on endurance sports like 

running and swimming.

At age 22, he enlisted in the Navy, 

where he became a search-and-rescue 

swimmer. He served two deployments 

on a submarine, one on a destroyer and 

one on an aircraft carrier. But that didn’t 

Courtesy Photo
p

September / October 2017 

Valued Team Members, Resilient and Ready

“I’m kind of a high-energy, actionoriented person,” Stickel said. “So I think 

it mellows me out.”

It also keeps him in the habit of 

fighting through adversity. 

“I think it’s a mental thing, breaking 

through those barriers,” he said. “If 

you’re struggling with something at 

work, it gives you confidence you can 

turn to your work environment.”

And starting the day with an 

achievement is a great mental motivator. 

“You’ve heard that old saying, ‘If 

you win the morning, you win the day.’ 

If you’re in a good mood because you 

got up in the morning and didn’t hit that 

snooze button, but you instead said ‘I’m 

going to go to the gym,’ — whatever 

your job is, it sets you up for success the 

rest of the day,” he said.

His training also sets an example for 

his four young sons, Stickel noted. 

“They know Daddy set a goal, 

and that’s what he’s training for,” 

he said. “They know that Daddy 

can be back in time for breakfast 

stop him from running on the ship’s 

treadmill. He even ran in a shipboard 

marathon, the Marine Corps Forward, 

joined remotely by warfighters in Iraq 

and Afghanistan. Another time, he and a 

group of shipmates did a treadmill relay 

run around the world. 

“I kind of started off with baby steps,” 

he said. “I was doing 5Ks and 10Ks back 

when I was enlisted, and that morphed 

into doing half marathons in college. And 

it’s kind of grown from there.”

After three years as an enlisted 

sailor, he was accepted into the Navy’s 

Broadened Opportunity for Officer 

Selection and Training Program. BOOST 

allowed him to earn his degree while 

participating in the Reserve Officer 

Training Corps Program.

That’s when he got serious about 

fitness, he said. During college summers, 

he worked as a beach lifeguard in the 

Outer Banks, rescuing swimmers from 

the rough Atlantic Ocean. 

“It exposed me to a different caliber 

of athlete,” he said, including a coworker 

who was on the U.S. National Lifesaving 

Team. So Stickel began doing shorterlength “sprint” triathlons and marathons. 

His first full marathon was in 2005. 

“I was totally unprepared,” he said, 

explaining that he ran the first half in 

good time but had no energy for the rest 

of the race and finished in about six hours.

He now runs one or two and has 

done as many as six marathons in one 

year. And just like McCauley and Price, 

Stickel and his family planned their 

choice of residence around the idea of 

staying fit. 

“When we moved to Norfolk, I drew 

a radius around the pier where the ship 

was docked, and I said ‘Let’s live within 

five miles. We’ll sell the second car when 

we get there.

“So we sold the car, and I was forced 

to run to work every single day. I ran five 

miles to work, and then ran five miles 

home every single day,” he said. 

He did this for two years except for 

deployments, before the family was 

transferred to Germany. Again, Stickel 

drew his radius around the base — but 

this time for 10 miles. 

“I rode my bike every day for three 

years straight, because we only had 

one car.”

The German motto is, “There’s 

no such thing as bad weather, only 

bad clothing,” Stickel recalled. So he 

bought cold-weather riding gear and 

installed tires with metal studs on his 

bike so he could ride even through the 

German winter.

He and his wife now plan family 

vacations to coincide with triathlons. 

While in Germany, they arranged a 

three-week vacation around an Ironman 

triathlon in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Another trip involved a race in the 

Canary Islands.

Why does he do it?

Part of it is the desire to stay fit, Stickel 

acknowledged. But he also enjoys the 

challenge of increasing his performance. 

“I’m always learning more about 

myself — the nutrition, the training, 

reading, training plans,” he said.

Exercise also helps him reduce 

stress, he noted. 

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Stickel competes in the cycling portion of an Ironman triathlon. 

Courtesy Photo
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AMERICA’S COMBAT LOGISTICS SUPPORT AGENCY

TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

after running 15 or 20 miles. So 

it’s a life lesson for them. It’s goal 

setting, it’s leading by example, 

it’s showing my boys that you can 

decide you want to do something 

and work toward it.”

Just setting a goal and sticking 

with it is the key to getting started, 

Stickel said — even for those who 

Wheels In Motion

Rain, snow, dark of night — none 

of it is enough to keep Craig Price from 

using his bicycle to commute every day 

to and from his job at DLA, also in the 

McNamara HQC.

Price began life as a bike commuter 

nearly 20 years ago, when he was 

working in the Pentagon. He was a casual 

cyclist and runner, but then a co-worker 

pointed out the nearby bike and running 

path that runs through the woods along 

the Potomac River next to the George 

Washington Memorial Parkway, to Mount 

Vernon and just next door to Fort Belvoir. 

So he took the plunge. Already a 

regular runner and marathoner, Price said 

it wasn’t a big adjustment to cycle to and 

from work every work day. And he discovered it was faster than driving, as well as 

less stressful.

Now he’s the deputy director of the 

Program Integration Division, in DLA 

Logistics Operations’ Joint Contingency 

Acquisition Support Office. His current 

14-mile one-way commute on a path 

along the George Washington Memorial Parkway takes a bit longer than his 

ride to the Pentagon did — an hour 

and 20 minutes. 

will never do a marathon but just 

want to be more active. 

As for Stickel, his next challenge 

is qualifying for the Ironman World 

Championships in Kona, Hawaii. 

Whether it’s two miles or 20; whether 

on a bike, in a boat or in a pair of shoes, 

becoming more active is something 

almost anyone can benefit from.

Stickel suggested the following for those wanting to get active.

ASK FOR HELP 

“Get with someone who’s done it before,” whether it’s getting in a 

running club or hiring a coach. In many DLA locations, there are fitness 

facilities with staff who have training in exercise.

START SMALL, SET ACHIEVABLE GOALS

“Take baby steps and build momentum. You don’t have to start with 

an hour workout session. Get on there for 10 or 15 minutes and see how 

you feel.”

ENJOY THE PROCESS 

“Don’t just focus on the end result or the goal. You have to enjoy every 

single time.” That means you won’t get overly discouraged if you don’t meet 

every single goal.”

GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT 

“Enjoy your small successes, because those will lead to bigger 

successes. And it builds on itself. Fifteen or 20 years ago, I was happy 

to have completed a 10K. If you’d told me what I’m doing now, I’d have 

said ‘No way.’”

“When I was at Navy Postgraduate School, I was part of 12-person 

team that did a 200-mile relay race from Napa, California, to Santa Cruz. 

We thought we were awesome. We had some Marines, Naval Special 

Warfare operators, Air Force — we had some really good runners. We 

did three legs with about 20 miles for each person. And then I read that 

[author and renowned ultramarathoner] Dean Karnazes ran the same race 

by himself, 200 miles nonstop. But he didn’t start off that way.”

SEARCH YOURSELF 

“Figure out why it is you want to do it. The ‘how’ will come to you. Are 

you wanting to feel better? Is it your health? Is it for your job performance? 

Are you just getting ready for the summer, to fit into a bathing suit? Then 

just get in there for 15 minutes and call it good. And build from there.”

 — Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Stickel

Craig Price on his morning bicycle commute from Alexandria, 

Virginia, to Fort Belvoir, along the Potomac River and the 

George Washington Memorial Parkway, which links George 

Washington’s Mount Vernon estate with Washington, D.C.
p

September / October 2017 

Valued Team Members, Resilient and Ready

Barring an off-site meeting, Price 

still bikes to and from work each day — 

putting in just over the distance of a 

full marathon. 

“It’s a great way to start and end the 

day,” Price said, also noting he enjoys 

seeing the change of seasons.

That includes winter, when he has the 

trail pretty much to himself.

“The only thing that’ll stop me is ice 

or a really heavy snow,” he said. “If it’s 

just a couple of inches, I know where the 

turns are,” he said with a laugh. “I just 

take it slow.” 

Price also enjoys sharing the 

commute with local Virginia wildlife. 

“I’ve actually found five bald eagles’ 

nests along the way,” he said, in addition 

to deer, fox, raccoons and groundhogs. 

“Oh, and a beaver lodge in one of the 

Potomac tributaries; in early spring the 

newborn beavers are out splashing, 

learning to swim and reinforcing their 

dams — amazing to watch.

“I listen for the birds. If I’m hearing 

them, I’m not concerned about some 

meeting that might or might not go 

well. It’s a way to detach from that 

sense of control.” 

Thanks to his daily rides, “My heart 

rate is lower, and I think that helps me 

during the work day to just focus,” he 

added. “It provides a sense of, ‘Let’s get 

beyond the chaff and the thrashing. 

What are we trying to do here?’”

He noted that the time away 

from problems can actually help 

the unconscious mind come up 

with solutions. 

“I find I come to most of my clear 

thinking when I get away from that,” 

Price said. 

“And I might not actually be thinking 

about [the particular problem] at all. 

Something will just come into my mind. 

And I probably would never have come 

up with that thought sitting at my desk, 

reading the next email.”

Price praised the HQC for offering 

conveniences that make it easier to 

be a daily bike commuter. 

“The gym is one of the best 

facilities that DLA has. Plus, a while 

back, they added the free towel 

service, which is great.”

He recalled other HQC employees 

who have seen him with his bike and 

said something along the lines of, 

“Gosh, I wish I could do that, except I 

live in X community, and it would be 

dangerous.” But one option is to take 

the bus or rail transit part of the way 

and then finish the commute by bike, 

Price noted. 

“The idea is to experiment a bit and 

see if the car keys can become optional 

for a day or two — or more — and that 

opens up more chances for adventure. 

It’s terrific to see fellow bikers along 

the way,” Price said. “And talk about 

convenient parking at the HQC — it just 

doesn’t get any better!”

Like McCauley, Price factored 

in his alternative commute when 

searching for his current home, 

making access to the bike paths a 

priority. He finds that the commute 

actually benefits his mental outlook. 

By staying out of the traffic and 

getting exercise before and after 

work, he said, he avoids a great deal 

of stress and tension.

“It helps you slow down, gain some 

perspective and take in the beauty 

of the creation,” he said. “It’s a way to 

see the hand of the ‘Great Artist’ and 

connect with our spiritual nature.”

He recalled a small waterfall 

on his route, fed by a tributary of 

the Potomac. 

“Sometimes I’ll stop there to 

just get some perspective and think 

about all the things I’m thankful for. 

Like a bunch of us who have been 

deployed ... It makes you appreciate 

that there are places where there’s 

no rule of law, per se.”

Compared with driving each day, 

“I just have a much healthier perspective about the whole idea of coming to 

work,” Price said.

“The DLA Resiliency concept 

is helpful,” he noted, “and reminds 

us there’s a physical dimension 

to our overall wellness — as long 

as we’re doing something, even 

taking the stairs.

“I’m really blessed,” he added. “It’s 

just a dream experience to have this 

option to be able to bike in — and 

have a great job.” LL

John Bell

John Bell

Craig Price uses his bicycle to commute every day to 

and from his job at DLA Headquarters.
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cover4 WWW.DLA.MIL

THE RIGHT SOLUTIONS — ON TIME, EVERY TIME

My name is:

Kaitlyn Parenti 

I am: 

A lead general supply specialist for the Clothing and Textiles supply chain at DLA 

Troop Support.

Describe your job in a sentence: 

As a team lead, it’s my job to train and lead my team to research and identify the root 

cause of transaction errors in DLA’s enterprise business systems.

How long have you worked at DLA? 

I’ve worked at DLA for a little more than six years.

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA? 

First, I like knowing I’m helping take care of our customers and troops. Second, 

I’ve developed relationships with some wonderful people who have become my friends 

and/or mentors. 

What are your best memories of working here? 

The best recent memory would be receiving recognition 

from DLA Troop Support Commander Army Brig. Gen. Charles 

Hamilton after eight months as a team lead for C&T. 

,ŽǁĚŽLJŽƵŵĂŬĞĂĚŝīĞƌĞŶĐĞ͍

I think the biggest difference I make is with my inventory 

team, whom I’ve trained and worked closely with the past year 

and a half. I’ve set reasonably high standards, and to have my 

team meet those standards has made me proud. I believe that 

will make a difference when the day comes that they need to 

train new general supply specialists.

Kaitlyn Parenti