LOGLINES

Building Partnerships

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MARCH – APRIL 2012
DIRECTOR

O

ur forces operate in every corner

of the Earth — in some of the most

austere conditions in the world.

Logisticians make sure they have what

they need to operate, whether it is on

a mountaintop in Afghanistan, in the

middle of the Pacific or supporting our 

interagency partners at the bottom of the

world in Antarctica.

DLA is in the thick of it but we are

not alone. Our talented team depends on

collaboration with our coalition partners,

our interagency teammates, the many

members of the “Log Nation” in the

Department of Defense and commercial

industry to deliver the right item at

the right time at the right place. It is

Navy Vice Adm. Mark D. Harnitchek, SC, USN

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

from the

through the strength of our collaborative

relationships that we can continue to say

“yes” to those we serve.

Our relationship with U.S. Transportation Command is an example of the close

partnerships we maintain. Together, we

make certain there is a steady flow of 

food, spare parts and other supplies to

warfighters in Afghanistan. We are also 

working together to lessen the strain on the

transportation pipeline and to help assure

regional stability by purchasing select items

locally in Central Asia or at points along

the Northern Distribution Network. And

together with USTRANSCOM, U.S. Central

Command and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, we

are planning for the eventual drawdown of

troops and material as Afghan forces take

on greater responsibility for their security.

Our collaboration is not exclusive to

DoD. At home, we are working with the

Federal Emergency Management Agency

to ensure emergency managers have access

to critical supplies should natural or manHeadquarters, Defense Logistics Agency

Office of Strategic Communications

8725 John J. Kingman Road

Suite 2545

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

703-767-6200

E-mail: loglines@dla.mil

DLA Director

Navy Vice Adm. Mark D. Harnitchek

Acting DLA Vice Director

Ted Case 

Chief of Staff

Frederick M. Baillie

Director, Strategic Communications

Douglas Ide

Deputy Director, Strategic Communications

Jack Hooper

Loglines Staff

Managing Editor Kathleen T. Rhem

Editor Jacob Boyer

Writer Beth Reece

Writer Jonathan Stack

Writer Sara Moore

Layout/Design Paul Henry Crank

Design Assistant Joy Brunk

Loglines is the authorized publication for the

Defense Logistics Agency’s workforce of federal

civilians, active-duty military and Joint Reserve

Force augmentees at agency activities worldwide

and industry customers of Defense Logistics

Agency. 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 following address:

LOGLINES

Official Flagship Publication of the Defense Logistics Agency

made disaster strike inside our borders.

And in Iraq, DLA is using its experience

and supplier partnerships to help the State

Department stand up the necessary support

structure it needs to operate.

The critical partnerships we maintain

with the military services, combatant commands and many other federal agencies as

we take a whole-of-government approach

to logistics ensure we work toward a common goal. Our collaborative relationship

with the industrial base – the thousands

of companies that provide our customers with food, fuel, spare parts, medical

supplies, construction material and other

commodities – ensures our forces have

what they need to prevail. Last year alone

we awarded contracts to nearly 13,000

industry partners, almost two-thirds of

them small businesses.

DLA is America’s combat logistics

agency, but we do not do it alone. We can 

say “yes” because the “Log Nation” team is

focused on the right things and delivers.

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dodlogisticsagency
Loglines l March - April 2012 1

CONTENTS

Reaching Out 2

DLA works with a variety of customers to forecast their future needs,

saving money and time in the process.

Bridging Supply and Transportation 7

DLA and U.S. Transportation Command collaborate to ensure supplies

are where they are needed before and after shipping.

Disaster Relief 10

When disasters strike the United States, DLA and the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency work together to ensure supplies for

those in need.

State Department: a New Role in Iraq 14

When the State Department took on primary responsibility in Iraq at the 

beginning of 2012, DLA made sure diplomats there had what they needed.

Green Team 16

A team drawn from across DLA’s field activities and directorates 

pushes to minimize hazardous materials and encourage green buying.

Guarding the Grid 20

DLA’s Network Operations and Security Center protects the agency’s

slice of the Web and ensures users have responsive support. 

A Single Place for Business 22

The Enterprise External Business Portal looks to give DLA’s customers

and partners a single place to interact with the agency on the Web.

Traveling Billboard 32

A DLA Logistics Operations team travels far and wide to make face-toface communication with customers and partners a reality.

A Conversation with ... 24

NewsWire 27

Money Matters 28

We are DLA 30

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

March-April 2012

pg 2

pg 10

pg 32

pg 22

BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS
2 www.dla.mil

Building Partnerships

n the world of logistics, it pays to stay 

a step ahead of customer requirements and anticipate demands 

before they become urgent. That’s 

a philosophy long followed by the 

Defense Logistics Agency, which forecasts 

demand for the supplies it procures so 

those things can be pre-positioned when 

and where customers need them. 

In recent years, DLA has shifted its 

forecasting model from one based solely 

on historical data to a more customerbased approach using demand forecasting units and data exchange. Some of 

the agency’s field activities are exploring 

even more customer collaboration as 

they work to increase their forecasting 

accuracy and become more efficient in 

how they buy supplies and equipment. 

DLA updated its demand planning 

approach with the rollout of the Business 

Systems Modernization program in 2002. 

That change helped improve forecasting 

accuracy throughout the agency, but as 

the pace of military operations around 

the globe increased and missions became 

more varied, demand planners have 

recognized the need for more customer 

interaction in the forecasting process 

and started developing new programs to 

address that need.

“If we don’t buy the right part when 

the customer needs it, then we won’t have 

it on the shelves, so that’s why it’s critical,” said Army Col. Jeffrey Vieira, director of Land Customer Operations at DLA 

Land and Maritime. “If we’re spending 

money trying to buy parts the customer 

used to need versus buying parts the 

customer will need, we won’t have the 

right parts for them in the future, and 

we’ll have wasted money buying the 

wrong parts.”

DLA Land and Maritime hosted a

forecasting summit in October to talk

with customers about how demands

would change as the final troops left Iraq 

and military missions changed. This was

the first summit of its kind, Vieira said, 

and it included representatives from the 

Story by Sara Moore

Reaching Out

“If we’re spending money 

trying to buy parts the 

customer used to need versus 

buying parts the customer will 

need, we won’t have the right 

parts for them in the future, 

and we’ll have wasted money 

buying the wrong parts.”

— Army Col. Jeffrey Vieira

Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff 

for Logistics, the joint program office for 

the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected

vehicle, Army Materiel Command, Marine 

Corps Logistics Command, Marine Corps

Systems Command, the Office of the 

Secretary of Defense, DLA Central, and

DLA’s service teams. The summit identified nine areas in which DLA’s forecasts 

will need to be reduced because of changing mission requirements, he said. They

include tactical wheeled vehicle transfers, 

Army pre-positioned stock, retrograde

equipment and MRAPs. The closure of

DLA supply support activities in Iraq has 

led DLA Land and Maritime to reduce

its forecast by more than $120 million,

he said, and further reductions are in the

works.

“The operational tempo’s going to 

significantly drop, and as the operational 

tempo drops, they’re going to use fewer 

parts,” Vieira said. “We’ve increased 

dialogue significantly with the Army 

and Marine Corps since [the forecasting 

summit] to try to take actions on those 

things.”

This direct engagement with customers represents a big change in the

demand forecasting process for DLA Land

and Maritime, Vieira said. In the past,

demand planners relied on the Enterprise 

n

a

ments

before

a

Defense

I
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Business System’s demand planning 

software, called JDA Manugistics, to 

give them a forecast based on historical 

trends. Demand planners would only 

engage with the customers on very-highvalue items or if they noticed a large 

anomaly in the ordering pattern, he said. 

Customer interaction is important to 

future demand-planning efforts, he said, 

because the military’s needs are shifting 

rapidly and the agency needs to focus on 

using its resources wisely in the current 

fiscal environment.

“We’re trying to get more ahead of 

what’s happening,” he said. “With declining budgets, we’re at the point where we 

really need to be more accurate than we 

have been in the past.”

Increasing demand planning accuracy 

is the focus of DLA Land and Maritime’s 

Maritime Customer Operations 

Directorate. Under a pilot program, 

demand planners there are using data 

from the Navy’s Continuous Monitoring 

Program to improve their forecasts and 

better predict what supplies the service 

will need and when. 

The Continuous Monitoring Program 

is the Navy’s process for monitoring inventory levels throughout its 

operational fleet, said Robert Callahan, 

Maritime financial resource officer at 

DLA Land and Maritime. The Navy tracks 

allowances for each ship and how many 

items the ship has on hand or on order 

each month. This allows the Navy to identify deficits throughout the fleet and make 

orders accordingly, he said. Under an 

agreement with the Navy, DLA can access 

that information, and maritime demand 

planners use the reports to modify their 

forecasting models to more accurately 

reflect the Navy’s needs, he said. 

Historically, Navy operational units 

place orders in large clumps tied to how 

they were funded and when they received 

funding, Callhan said. From DLA’s 

perspective, this created large spikes in 

demand that often resulted in overforecasting in the agency’s demand forecasts. 

So far, this data-sharing initiative

has been very successful, improving

demand planning accuracy for the items

involved by more than 30 percent in

some cases, said Shawn Cody, industrial

division chief for maritime support in

DLA Land and Maritime.

“We’ve seen a significant increase 

in our demand-plan accuracy and a 

corresponding reduction in our absolute 

percent forecast error,” Cody said. “As 

part of the analytical process for this 

CMP initiative, we compare the forecasts 

that we are generating to what the JDA 

Manugistics statistical forecast would 

have generated. We can see the difference 

in what we’re forecasting versus what 

JDA is forecasting, and it’s been 

extremely positive up to this point.”

The program’s success is generating

interest within DLA Land and Maritime

and throughout the agency, Cody said.

The Maritime Customer Operations

Directorate is continuing to look for ways

to enhance the initiative by including more

 Army Sgt. Kim Browne

A CH-47 Chinook helicopter crew unloads a box of basic rst aid items in Kunar province,

Afghanistan. The Defense Logistics Agency’s customer-outreach and demand-planning efforts

help it keep troops in the eld stocked with necessary supplies.
4 www.dla.mil

Building Partnerships
Loglines Loglines Loglines l March - April 2012 March - April 2012 5

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operational customer data and expanding

it to include industrial operations.

Callahan said he believes CMP helps 

the Enterprise Business System achieve 

one of its true purposes, to allow DLA 

and customer systems to communicate 

directly and share information. He noted 

that in the past, DLA had no awareness 

of when ships were in shipyards for 

extended maintenance and would continue forecasting supply demand as if the 

ships were operational. Along with the 

CMP program, DLA Land and Maritime 

has added even more data sources to 

its forecasting, like the Navy Enterprise 

Resource Planning redistribution file, 

which tells the agency what assets the 

Navy is able to satisfy internally, he said.

“This CMP initiative incorporates

Navy data files that our forecast system 

can’t accommodate today, and leveraging

data the customer is using every day

to manage their business increases the

likelihood that DLA forecasts will be

aligned with customer ordering patterns,”

he said.

A different kind of customer 

collaboration goes on at DLA Troop 

Support Clothing and Textiles. Demand 

planners there work closely with the 

military services, with whom they have 

established close relationships over the 

years, to ensure service members get the 

clothing and equipment they need to 

perform their duties. 

The Clothing and Textiles Branch 

has different divisions to deal with recruit

clothing and organizational clothing and

individual equipment. While the demands

for each division are quite different, both

rely on established relationships with the

services to keep their demand planning

forecasts accurate.

In the Recruit Clothing Division, 

demand planners work closely with the 

military to determine how many recruits 

are going to each of the nine recruit centers spread throughout the services, said 

John McAndrews, the division chief. The 

planners get data about not only which 

service the recruits are going to, but also 

what vocation they are entering, because 

the items troops need vary by location, 

he said. 

In addition to communicating with

the recruit centers, demand planners

can also reach out to higher levels in the

military to talk about policy issues, such

as new uniforms that are coming down

the line, he noted. Demand requirements

for recruit clothing change often, he said,

especially as the military adjusts its size to

deal with troop withdrawals and budget

constraints. The demand planners have

to keep a close eye on troop-level trends

and engage with the military to determine

future requirements, he said. He noted

that DLA got a number from the Army

on recruit levels for fiscal 2012, but after 

noticing lower levels in the first three 

months of the year, demand planners went

back to U.S. Army Training and Doctrine

Command and got a lower number.

“Every time you buy a full clothing 

bag, you’re spending $1,300, so if you 

can avoid doing that if you don’t have to, 

it saves significant dollars,” McAndrews 

said. “The Army has adjusted their 

number down by about 13,000 people for 

the rest of this year, so that’s $17 million 

that we’re not going to spend that we 

would have if we just took the Army’s 

initial number and continued to buy it.”

A Soldier guides a Mine Resistant Ambush

Protected vehicle to a building with suspected

homemade explosives in Afghanistan. A

forecasting summit with military customers led

DLA Land and Maritime to reduce its forecast

for MRAP repair parts as the demand for these

and other vehicles has gone down now that

U.S. troops have left Iraq. 

 Army Pfc. Alicia Brand
6 www.dla.mil

Building Partnerships

When it comes to organizational 

clothing and individual equipment, 

which includes things like cold weather 

gear, body armor and helmets, DLA’s 

demand planners also work closely with 

the services, said Dave Farrell, division 

chief for organizational clothing and 

individual equipment. The planners work 

with each service’s office that manages 

clothing and equipment, meeting with 

them on a regular basis to determine 

their requirements, he said. Demand for 

organizational clothing and equipment 

varies as operational tempo changes, he 

said, and demand planners rely on their 

relationships with the services to adjust 

to these changes.

Farrell cited the example of the 

Army’s new uniform pattern for 

Afghanistan, the Operation Enduring 

Freedom camouflage pattern. Demand 

planners had forecasted for an increase 

in demand for the new uniform and a 

decrease in demand for the uniform worn 

in Iraq. That ended up not being the case 

in the short term, and DLA found itself 

with accumulating back orders for the 

older uniform. Demand planners in the 

Organizational Clothing and Individual 

Equipment Division were able to coordinate with the Army and adjust the 

contracts to fulfill all the orders, he said. 

Having established relationships with 

customers is a luxury the Clothing and 

Textiles Division enjoys because many of 

its customers are automatically mapped 

to it through their Department of Defense 

activity address codes, McAndrews said. 

“Ours is a small community, and it’s 

pretty much directed at clothing,” he said. 

“I’ve been here for 35 years, and there are 

people that started around the same time 

I did in the services, and I’m still talking 

to them today. That’s a very unusual 

opportunity that’s not afforded to the 

other supply chains.” 

An MH-60 Seahawk helicopter descends to the ight deck of the eet replenishment oiler USNS

Joshua Humphreys during a replenishment at sea in the Gulf of Aden. Under a pilot program, DLA

Land and Maritime is using the Navy’s Continuous Monitoring Program to improve its accuracy

in forecasting what supplies the Navy eet will need. 

Navy Petty Ofcer 3rd Class Trevor Welsh
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Bridging 

Supply and

Transportation

Airmen unload supplies from a C-17

Globemaster III aircraft at Kandahar Aireld,

Afghanistan. Airlift is a key method for

transporting supplies to warghters throughout

the landlocked country.

 — Photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Laura K. Deckman

When it comes to supplying

warfighters, the Defense 

Logistics Agency doesn’t do

it alone.

“Supply chain success 

depends on a good partnership between 

DLA and the U.S. Transportation 

Command. We can’t do our jobs without them; they can’t do theirs without 

us,” said Scott Rosbaugh, director of 

the Distribution Process and Planning 

Branch for DLA Distribution. 

The Defense Department designated 

USTRANSCOM the distribution process 

owner for the military’s global distribution 

system in 2008. That move inspired 

more collaboration between DLA, 

USTRANSCOM and agencies such as the 

Story by Beth Reece
8 www.dla.mil

Building Partnerships

Army and Air Force Exchange Service 

and General Services Administration, all 

of which rely on the same system to get 

supplies to warfighters.

“No one owns the process from cradle 

to grave. What the designation did was 

push us to collaborate with DLA and our 

other partners so that we’re synchronizing and integrating all of our processes,” 

said Diana Roach, the change management lead in USTRANSCOM’s Office of 

the Chief of Staff. 

The process of equipping warfighters 

begins when representatives from one 

of DLA’s eight supply chains order 

material, which is then distributed by 

either commercial manufacturers or 

one of DLA’s 26 distribution centers for 

direct delivery to customers. Material 

that goes to DLA Distribution facilities 

en route to places such as Afghanistan 

is packed by DLA’s distribution process 

workers according to which mode of 

transportation USTRANSCOM will use to 

move it: air, surface or sea. 

It’s important that members of DLA 

understand how the transportation 

pipeline works, said Tom Shively, DLA’s 

liaison to USTRANSCOM.

“It affects what we position, where 

we position it, how much we position and 

how much we put in that transportation 

pipe in order to keep sufficient supplies,” 

he said. “And with 26 distribution centers 

located around the world, we need to 

integrate our placement of stocks and our 

distribution strategy with USTRANCOM’s 

capabilities to make sure they match up.”

The closure of supply routes 

from Pakistan into Afghanistan in 

November is a strong example of the 

need for collaboration between DLA 

and USTRANSCOM, said Air Force Col. 

Emily Buckman, chief of DLA Logistics 

Operation’s Combatant Command 

Support Division.

“We were involved in intense discussions with both U.S. Central Command 

and USTRANSCOM to determine alternate ways for our prime vendor to get 

subsistence into Afghanistan,” she said. 

Losing access to those supply routes 

forced some innovative solutions that 

also saved money, Rosbaugh added. 

“USTRANSCOM came up with an 

intermodal solution in which we’re now 

shipping some items ... from the United 

States all the way over to Jebel Ali, United 

Arab Emirates, in 40-foot containers,” 

he said. “Once those containers get to 

Jebel Ali, they’re put on air pallets and 

flown into theater. That’s huge, because it 

enables us to avoid Pakistan but doesn’t 

USTRANSCOM and DLA worked together to get housing and construction materials into Afghanistan to support a 30,000-troop increase in 2009

and 2010.

Navy Seaman Apprentice Gregory Kaminski
Loglines Loglines Loglines l March - April 2012 March - April 2012 9

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take away our southern leg into theater.”

Soon after President Barack Obama

announced the 30,000-troop increase

in Afghanistan in December 2009, DLA

and USTRANSCOM worked together to

get housing and construction materials

into the country.

The troop surge also led to increased 

demand for airdrops in Afghanistan, 

but DLA originally lacked the stock to 

support requirements for low-velocity 

parachutes. Distribution process workers at DLA Distribution Warner Robins, 

Ga., worked 24/7 to palletize newly 

ordered parachutes so they’d be ready 

for transporting, then turned them over 

to USTRANSCOM, which loaded them 

onto planes for immediate shipment, 

Rosbaugh added.

DLA has also worked to lessen 

demands on transportation networks by 

turning to local procurement, said Steve 

Dubernas, a management analyst on 

Buckman’s team. 

“By procuring some items locally in 

Central Asian states and the Southern 

Caucasus, we were able to free up portions of USTRANCOM’s pipeline. We’re 

constantly enabling each other,” he said. 

“You’d think the supply chain process is 

linear, where DLA just hands cargo off to 

USTRANSCOM for strategic movement, 

but our partnership goes 

beyond that.” 

Shively used the 

example of water treatment 

facilities in Afghanistan to 

illustrate the local procurement effort.

“Think about the 

drinking water manufacturing plants we built in 

Afghanistan. ... The more we 

acquire locally, the less we 

have to move long distances 

to get supplies to our 

warfighters,” Shively added. 

“There’s always a big effort 

to get these pieces integrated 

and to reduce the transportation footprint.”

The merging of DLA’s

Integrated Data Environment

and USTRANSCOM’s Global

Transportation Network has

resulted in a single data source that logistics and transportation experts can rely on

when making decisions about day-to-day

operations. But it doesn’t replace the need

to colocate representatives from both

organizations, Buckman and Shively said.

“A lot of the daily discussions that

occur between USTRANSCOM and

DLA revolve around situations where

there are conflicting requirements or 

there’s too much demand but not enough

strategic lift, whether it’s surface, air

or a combination of surface and air,”

said Shively, who has served as DLA’s

liaison officer, known as an LNO, to 

USTRANSCOM since 2005.

“Our LNOs play an important role 

because they have immediate reach back 

to various parts of our organizations,” 

Buckman added. “They have an ear to 

any emerging issues and can usually head 

something off before it blows up.”

How do members of DLA’s 

primary-level field activities describe 

the relationship between DLA and 

USTRANSCOM?

“It’s never been better,” Rosbaugh 

said. “By working together, we’re supporting warfighters with effectiveness 

and efficiency.”

Leaders from both organizations are 

already planning for the drawdown of 

troops and equipment in Afghanistan. 

“Military material over there eventually has to come back out, so we’re 

already talking about how to do that 

smartly,” Shively said. “There’s a sincere desire on the part of both DLA and 

USTRANSCOM to continue strengthening the collaborative relationship we 

have now. And in the end, it’s all about 

meeting warfighters’ needs.” 

Material that goes to

DLA Distribution facilities

en route to places

such as Afghanistan is

packed according to the

mode of transportation

USTRANSCOM will use to

move it: air, surface or sea.

When the demand for low-velocity parachutes

skyrocketed in 2010, employees from DLA

Distribution and USTRANSCOM rushed to

meet warghters’ needs.

Air Force Master Sgt. William Greer
10 www.dla.mil

Building Partnerships

evere weather ranging from

snowstorms to tornadoes

prompted state governors to

declare 99 separate major

disasters needing federal

assistance during 2011. Some recovery

efforts were more extensive than others,

but for each one, the Defense Logistics

Agency stood ready to provide logistics

support to first responders.

The 1998 Stafford Act allows DLA to

provide items like meals, fuel, tents and

medical supplies to the Federal Emergency

Management Agency for use in relief efforts

following such disasters as hurricanes,

tornadoes and floods, as well as terrorist 

Story by Beth Reece

Disaster

Relief

acts that occur in the United States.

When Hurricane Irene swept north

along the East Coast from North Carolina

to Maine in August, DLA Troop Support

and DLA Distribution worked to provide

1.6 million meals in just 72 hours. One

day later, FEMA officials determined the 

need for meals wouldn’t be as high as

evere

snowstorms

prompted

declare

disasters S

assistance

A logistics specialist from the Federal Emergency Management Agency directs vehicles delivering supplies to Fort Bragg, N.C.’s Simmons Army

Aireld before Hurricane Irene’s expected landfall in the mid-Atlantic states in August.

Benjamin Abel
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anticipated and cancelled the request for

about 22,000 meals, said Air Force Lt. Col.

Kate Ritzel, an operations officer with the 

DLA Joint Logistics Operations Center.

Within 10 minutes, DLA Distribution 

officials were able to stop one fully loaded 

truck from leaving a loading dock in 

Albany, Ga., and stop the loading of a 

second truck, she added.

“We were in the process of rerouting 

the meals to FEMA warehouses when 

Tropical Storm Lee came up. At that point

the meals were still in trucks, so we were 

able to push them to the affected areas,”

said Steve Quinn, DLA’s liaison to FEMA.

“DLA Distribution had plenty of 

challenges keeping up with the changes 

and multiple diversions during those 

two storms, and they deserve a ton of 

credit because we literally had trucks 

running all over the eastern seaboard as 

requirements changed,” he continued. 

Lessons learned during hurricanes 

Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005 shaped 

the way DLA supports FEMA today. DLA 

Troop Support provided FEMA with 

more than 30 million meals in response 

to Katrina and Rita, and DLA Energy 

provided thousands of gallons of ultralow-sulfur diesel and unleaded gasoline. 

But federal agencies struggled to

provide relief for the back-to-back

disasters, Quinn said. So in March 2006,

DLA and FEMA signed an interagency 

agreement that defines DLA as the source 

for specific commodities. It also allows both 

agencies to begin processing and expediting

supply requests through approval chains 

with simple heads-up notifications before 

formal paperwork is received. 

FEMA initiates logistics efforts 

anywhere from seven to 10 days before 

weather-related disasters are expected to 

occur. At the same time, members of DLA’s Joint Logistics 

Operations Center at Fort 

Belvoir, Va., – which intensifies its 24/7 operations during 

disaster responses – reach 

out to the appropriate field 

activities to determine where 

stock is available and which 

supply contracts may need to 

be activated to meet FEMA’s 

needs. 

The process usually 

involves interpretation and 

numerous follow-up calls 

between DLA and FEMA representatives, Quinn said. He 

noted that FEMA’s requests 

don’t include the national 

stock numbers traditionally 

used by the military and often 

don’t specify exact ship-to addresses 

because staging areas are still being 

established. 

When Hurricane Gustav 

threatened the Gulf Coast in August 

2008, employees throughout DLA’s 

supply centers and DLA Distribution 

worked together to move material and 

equipment into Louisiana even before

news reports alerted citizens, said David 

Kless, DLA’s national account manager

for international and federal programs.

By the time residents evacuated 

ahead of Gustav, DLA was five days 

into the relief effort, he added. Even as 

the agency continued sending food to 

Louisiana residents returning home after 

the storm, JLOC staff prepared to help 

those affected by Hurricane Hanna while 

simultaneously gearing up for the much 

stronger Hurricane Ike that swept across 

Texas one week later.

DLA Troop Support provided 30 

million meals in 30 days in support of 

relief efforts following those three storms. 

“That was an incredible achievement,” 

Quinn said.

While hurricanes as powerful as Ike 

and Gustav require expansive relief efforts, 

responding to smaller storms such as

Tropical Storm Lee can also be complex.

“In a state like Vermont, you don’t 

expect to be hit by a tropical storm. The 

amount of response effort is tenfold 

because that state doesn’t have the same 

infrastructure or level of preparedness as 

hurricane-prone states do,” Quinn added. 

As DLA’s lead organization for fuel,

DLA Energy initiated a contract to provide 

gasoline and diesel fuel when DLA and 

DLA provides items like meals and fuel to

FEMA for use in relief efforts following such

disasters as hurricanes, tornadoes and oods.

The majority of the support it provides comes

during hurricane season.

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
12 www.dla.mil

Building Partnerships

FEMA initiated the interagency agreement 

in 2006. The vendor under contract has

facilities scattered throughout most of the

East Coast and Gulf Coast, said Eugene 

Turner, a contingency planner for DLA 

Energy.

“Once we’re notified by FEMA of a 

requirement, the vendor has 24 to 48 

hours to have trucks in the impacted area. 

And once the trucks arrive on site, the 

vendor is required to stay there with the 

trucks and dispense product to whatever 

end customer FEMA identifies. So it 

could be used for generators, radiators, 

hospital vans, emergency communication 

equipment and more,” he said.

DLA Energy contracting officer Karen 

Hammack worked with FEMA and the 

vendor to expand the contract to include

eight additional states that FEMA identified as being in hurricane-prone areas.

“Karen was able to renegotiate the 

contract so that it not only expanded the 

coverage, but significantly reduced the 

cost to FEMA,” Quinn said. 

DLA Energy also supports disaster 

relief efforts in areas not covered by the 

contract with emergency one-time buys, 

Turner added.

Outside of hurricane season, which 

runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, 

FEMA works with state representatives 

to forecast what residents may need in 

the case of an emergency. DLA helps 

translate those needs into logistics 

response plans. 

“This is where there’s real benefit to 

our partnership with FEMA,” Kless said. 

“DLA already has an established mature 

relationship with vendors. Food and fuels 

support is something DLA does well; it’s a 

core competency, so why not leverage our 

relationship to support FEMA?”

Just as states continually revisit and 

improve disaster-preparedness plans, 

DLA and FEMA update the interagency 

agreement each year to include lessons 

learned. While meals, ready-to-eat were 

once the standard fare for meal requests, 

for example, the two agencies have 

worked together to offer more civilianfriendly commercial meals, Quinn said. 

“We take those requests and translate 

them into the best logistics solutions, 

usually working closely with [DLA] Troop 

Support,” Kless said. 

The DLA-FEMA relationship is a 

healthy one because of the formal interagency agreement and because response 

plans are flexible, he continued. 

“Even though we have a structured 

agreement, there’s also built-in flexibility 

so we can respond to situations as they 

change. Not only can we not predict 

exactly what a storm will do, the 

requirements for each state could change. 

But we have a strong partnership that 

improves year after year,” he added. 

Just as states continually revisit and improve disaster-preparedness 

plans, DLA and FEMA update the interagency agreement each year 

to include lessons learned.

An Airman loads pallets of supplies in response

to Tropical Storm Irene.

Air Force Tech Sgt. Dan DiPietro
Loglines Loglines Loglines Loglines l March - April 2012 March - April 2012 - April 2012 13
14 www.dla.mil

Building Partnerships

he warfighters have left, but the 

Defense Logistics Agency’s work 

in Iraq endures as nearly 17,000 

civilians, mostly Americans, 

continue their work at the U.S. 

Embassy in Baghdad and consulates to 

the north and south.

DLA employees have been working 

since fall 2010 to ensure logistics support 

including food, fuel and disposition services 

was in place for the State Department 

when it assumed primary responsibility for 

operations in Iraq Dec. 31. 

“We’re using existing contracts for 

food and fuel as a bridging strategy 

until the State Department can establish 

their own support contracts and selfsustain,” said Carlo Montemayor, a DLA 

Logistics Operations planner who helped 

coordinate the agency’s support with 

Defense and State Department officials. 

Thirteen dining facilities and 11 

bulk fuel sites originally used by U.S. 

forces now serve the U.S. mission in 

Iraq. Transitioning the sites from U.S. 

Forces-Iraq to the State Department was 

transparent, Montemayor said, because 

the support personnel running those sites 

and the processes they used to operate 

them didn’t change significantly. 

“One of the main differences is now 

we’re billing and receiving reimbursement from the State Department instead 

of U. S. Forces-Iraq,” he continued. 

Disposition services are being provided at a new 5-acre disposition site at 

Sather Air Base, where a small group of 

DLA employees process scrap material, 

dispose of recyclable hazardous waste 

and demilitarize equipment.

“Some DoD equipment has 

transferred over to the State Department, 

such as [Mine Resistant Ambush 

Protected vehicles], so if the scenario 

calls for one of those MRAPs to be 

demilitarized, we have the facility right 

there in country to take care of that,” 

Montemayor said.

The range of expertise needed to 

assist the State Department extends 

beyond that involved in food, fuel 

he warfighters have left, but the 

Defense Logistics Agency’s work 

in Iraq endures as nearly 17,000 

civilians, mostly Americans, 

continue their work at the U.S. 

Embassy in Baghdad and consulates to 

T

Eleven bulk fuel sites have transitioned from

U.S. Forces-Iraq to the State Department.

Army Spc. Anthony Zane

A NEW

Story by Beth Reece Beth Reece

ROLE IN IRAQ

State Department:
Loglines Loglines Loglines l March - April 2012 March - April 2012 15

Loglines l March - April 2012 15

and disposition services, and includes 

providing expertise in operational 

logistics planning, acquisition and 

financial management, and legal services.

Planning how much logistics support 

the State Department would need at each 

of its sites was challenging because the 

Iraqi and U.S. governments were still 

negotiating how many people would 

be allowed to maintain a long-term 

diplomatic presence in Iraq, added Air 

Force Col. Freddie Sherman, a Defense 

Department liaison between DLA and the 

State Department. 

“You can’t forecast mission and mission 

support until you get permission to bring 

that footprint to bear, so working at high

levels of government to get a consensus on 

the numbers was a challenge,” he said.

That no other U.S. 

embassy has been as large or 

approached such a mission 

made it even more difficult 

to forecast logistics support,

Montemayor added.

“The scope and number 

of personnel is unlike that

of any other embassy in 

the world, and the level of

support they’re providing 

has never been done before. 

The embassy complex in 

Baghdad alone is like a small 

college campus,” he said.

Differences in how DLA and the 

State Department typically operate also 

created challenges as planners from both 

sides worked to understand each other’s 

perspectives. 

“State officials thought in terms of 

how they operate at any other embassy, 

where they outsource a lot of their support 

to the local economy in 

a stable environment,” 

Montemayor said. “But Iraq 

is not a stable environment 

at this time, and DoD is 

used to doing business a

certain way in an unstable 

environment.

“We were anticipating, 

like most people, that 

once U.S. forces left, the 

situation in Iraq might 

turn for the worse, but now 

we’re into the new year 

and, relatively speaking, 

things have not gotten worse,” he 

continued. “I think we’ll eventually get to 

the point where the State Department’s 

approach for a commercial solution 

should work.”

The State Department’s goal is to 

gradually wean itself off DoD contracts, 

Sherman added.

“The idea is that State will establish

itself as a diplomatic, enduring presence, 

so as we look toward 2014, there’s going

to be a contracting strategy that moves 

away from DLA contracts, which will 

be predicated on what happens in 

the region and the ability to find local 

sources for those commodities DLA is 

providing,” he said.

By using the existing logistics 

support, State Department officials will 

be able to watch for stabilization in terms 

of Iraq’s economy and relationships both 

inside the country and along its borders, 

Sherman said. 

“We’ve had a favorable response 

from State. The logistics bridge is in 

place, and it’s enabled them to establish 

a presence without being concerned 

about trying to contract this capability 

on their own,” he added. 

Army Staff Sgt. Adelita Mead

“We’re using existing

contracts for food

and fuel as a bridging

strategy until the State

Department can establish

their own support

contracts and selfsustain.”

— Carlo Montemayor

A Soldier walks through a scrap metal site in Basra, Iraq, in 2010. A small group of Defense

Logistics Agency Disposition Services personnel have remained in Iraq to process scrap material,

dispose of recyclable hazardous waste and demilitarize equipment for the State Department.
16 www.dla.mil

Story by Sara Moore

Green Team

famous frog once said, “It’s not 

easy being green,” but chances 

are he never met the team that 

is revolutionizing the way the 

Defense Logistics Agency does 

business and making it more environmentally friendly in all its business 

practices, garnering big successes along 

the way.

The DLA Supply Chain Sustainability 

and Hazardous Materials Minimization 

Team was established in November 2008 

in response to executive orders and a 

governmentwide trend toward reducing 

hazardous materials and encouraging 

the use of environmentally preferred, 

or “green,” products. The team includes 

representatives from throughout the 

agency. Its members are logisticians, 

product specialists, business process 

analysts, chemists, engineers, acquisition 

specialists, standardization specialists, 

program managers, and technical and 

quality analysts, and they work together 

to make the agency greener and even 

more effective and efficient. 

“We have a hard-working team,” 

said James Reed, DLA’s Hazardous 

Minimization Program manager. 

“Currently there are 36 members on our 

team, and we all work together, along 

with the military services. We’re out 

there promoting DLA [and] promoting 

environmentally preferred products.”

Reed runs the program tasked with 

tracking the receipt, storage and handling 

of hazardous materials while also 

reducing the use of such materials. The 

other major program run by the Supply 

Chain Sustainability and Hazardous 

Materials Minimization Team is the 

Supply Chain Sustainability Program, 

which focuses on offering customers 

environmentally responsible products 

and services.

“With both these programs, the team 

works to bridge the gap between people 

in the environmental sector and people in 

the logistics world,” Reed said. 

Often, similar initiatives are being 

worked on under the Office of the Under 

Secretary of Defense for Installations and 

Environment and the deputy assistant 

secretary of defense for supply chain 

integration, he said. 

“If such initiatives can be linked, 

solutions can be reached more quickly 

and effectively,” Reed said. 

Reed noted current efforts to eliminate a chromium-specific hazardous substance in surface coatings as an example.

When the use of hexavalent chromium, a

potential carcinogen, came up as an issue

for the Defense Department, the Supply

Chain Sustainability and Hazardous

Materials Minimization Team spoke with

logistics professionals to determine if

replacing it with an environmentally preferred product would be feasible, he said.

“When you take the chromium out 

of the product, we have to go back to the 

services to make sure that they have alternatives to do this, number one,” he said. 

“Number two, if we do take it out, how 

will that affect the weapons systems and 

what they do?”

famous

easy

are

is

Defense A

business and

16 www.dla.mil
Loglines l March - April 2012 17

Sailors maneuver an experimental riverine command boat

powered by a blend of algae- and petroleum-based fuel

during an alternative fuels demonstration at Naval Station

Norfolk, Va. The DLA Supply Chain Sustainability and

Hazardous Materials Minimization Team helps DLA Energy

promote the use of alternative fuels throughout the military.

 

— Photo by Navy Petty Ofcer 2nd Class Josue L. Escobosa

Loglines l March - April 2012 17
18 www.dla.mil

Determining the effectiveness of 

green products also means conducting 

joint testing with the services and sometimes research universities, Reed said.

“The coordination involved with these 

green initiatives is why it’s important for 

the team to have such a diverse makeup, 

representing all the DLA field activities 

and supply chain support organizations 

within DLA Headquarters. [It’s] also 

why the team members are involved in 

many different government and industry 

working groups,” Reed said. 

Team members represent DLA and 

DoD on many groups, including the

Interagency Task Force on Electronics

Stewardship, the Federal Electronics

Stewardship Working Group, the

Interagency Energy Efficient Product 

Procurement Working Group, and the 

American Association of Textile Chemists

and Colorists. The team also represents

DLA in the European Union Registration,

Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction

of Chemicals Program, the result of a 2007 

law that aims to improve the identification 

of the properties of chemical substances.

In addition to these large-scale projects,

each DLA primary-level field activity runs 

specific programs to promote sustainability 

and environmentally preferred products.

One specific program is the Hazardous 

Material Information Resource System,

managed by DLA Aviation.

“This system is a database that

contains material safety data sheets

for hazardous materials and other

information required by logisticians in

the field,” said Edilia Correa, chief of

the Hazardous Information Programs 

Division at DLA Aviation.

Correa’s division also includes the 

Hazardous Minimization and Green 

Products Branch, which was created 

about two years ago in response to a 

push for more environmentally preferred 

products throughout the government. 

“This branch works directly with

DLA Aviation customers to identify

products and materials that could be

replaced by environmentally friendly

alternatives,” Correa said.

Calvin Lee, who runs DLA Aviation’s 

Hazardous Minimization and Green 

Products Branch, said his team has 

always been heavily focused on collaboration with customers throughout 

the process of identifying products to 

be replaced and developing and testing 

environmentally preferred alternatives.

“We go out to the facilities and the 

different installations and stay in contact 

with them and dialogue with them on 

what their needs are and, based on that, 

try to work on a solution to solve that 

problem,” Lee said. “It takes a good 

amount of effort and planning.”

Some of the DLA Aviation team’s 

notable achievements include working 

with Naval Air Systems Command’s 

Aerospace Materials Division to develop 

environmentally friendly cleaners and 

solvents with low levels of volatile organic 

compounds, developing a microfiber 

cloth that can clean the canopies of 

aircraft, and developing anti-corrosion 

agents for the Army that are free from 

harmful chemicals. 

“DLA Aviation’s program is

unique,” Lee said. “The team tests the

environmentally friendly alternatives it

develops at military installations, resulting

in direct feedback about whether a

product works.”

Once that is proven and verified by 

the military customers, the services coordinate the assignment of a national stock 

number for the new product to be incorNavy Petty Ofcer 2nd Class Rufus Hucks

An Airman cleans the canopy of an F/A-18F Super Hornet prior to a ight in support of Operation

Northern Edge 2011 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. One of the recent products

developed by DLA’s Supply Chain Sustainability and Hazardous Materials Minimization Team

was a microber cloth that can safely clean aircraft canopies. 

Collaboration with customers is essential when developing products 

that will potentially be added to the DoD catalog, and new products 

must be veried by the military prior to being included.
Loglines l March - April 2012 19

porated into DLA Aviation’s supply chain, 

making it available for all customers.

Collaboration with customers is 

essential when developing products that 

will potentially be added to the DoD 

catalog, Reed said, because DLA does 

not have the authority to add products 

without approval from the military. 

“Any new product must be verified by 

the military prior to being included in the

catalog, so the Supply Chain Sustainability

and Hazardous Materials Minimization

Team’s quarterly meetings always include

military representatives to speed up the

process,” he said. “We can provide a

conduit to the service to be able to speak 

directly with a DLA representative for the 

area of supplies that they’re looking for. 

They work hand in hand in developing 

the environmentally preferred products 

with our primary-level field activities.”

DLA’s other field activities have 

also achieved successes in the area of 

hazardous material minimization. DLA 

Troop Support Medical developed the 

Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor Reverse 

Distribution Program, in which customers return expired pharmaceuticals to 

manufacturers. Those items are properly 

disposed of by manufacturers, and credit 

is given to customers, ensuring that 

expired pharmaceuticals don’t enter 

landfills or wastewater. 

DLA Troop Support Subsistence 

reworked the flameless ration heater 

found in combat rations. “The gases in 

the heaters caused damage and were 

potentially hazardous to troops,” said 

John Woloszyn, with DLA Troop Support 

Subsistence. 

DLA Energy is working to expand 

the use of alternative fuels in military 

vehicles and aircraft, including bio-based 

and renewable fuels and energy sources. 

DLA Land and Maritime also developed 

three new alternative connector finishes 

in lieu of traditional finishes that rely on 

the hazardous chemical cadmium.

“DLA team members are always 

working on new projects to enhance 

the use of environmentally preferred 

products,” Reed said.

The Supply Chain Sustainability and 

Hazardous Materials Minimization Team 

has been recognized with several awards, 

including an honorable mention for the 

2011 Secretary of Defense Environmental 

Award for Sustainability – Individual 

or Team and the DLA Environmental 

Award, he noted. 

Reed said he sees DLA’s hazardous 

materials minimization and sustainability 

mission growing as the military services 

look for more ways to be environmentally 

conscious without compromising 

mission effectiveness. He stressed 

that the team DLA has in place is the 

right construct for going forward, 

because collaboration between different 

organizations throughout the agency and 

with customers is vital. Correa, of DLA 

Aviation, agreed, noting that the Supply 

Chain Sustainability and Hazardous 

Materials Minimization Team has been 

fully integrated from the start, leading to 

many of its successes.

“This is a program that, to me, has 

been very unique because from the very 

beginning, it was fully integrated across 

the enterprise and across all the supply 

chains,” she said. “A lot of times, based 

on the uniqueness of our customers 

and the products that the supply chains 

support, we work separately from each 

other. And in this situation, even though 

we have some distinct differences, from 

the very beginning we partnered and 

decided the best way to do this is in an 

integrated fashion.” 

Two Airmen gather pharmaceutical supplies in

the Expeditionary Medical System during an

exercise at Camp Atterbury, Ind. One of the

projects the DLA Supply Chain Sustainability

and Hazardous Materials Minimization Team

has worked on with DLA Troop Support is

the Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor Reverse

Distribution Program, in which customers

return expired pharmaceuticals to manufacturers for proper disposal.

Air Force Airman 1st Class Samuel W. Goodman
20 www.dla.mil

A

s cybersecurity becomes more

crucial throughout the Defense

Department, the Defense

Logistics Agency has established

its Network Operations and

Security Center to combat cyber threats. 

The DLA NOSC, primarily located 

in Columbus, Ohio, provides centralized monitoring of critical information 

technology systems, facilitates situational 

awareness, provides decision making 

information, and improves the speed and 

accuracy of initial responses to IT issues.

The center oversees four functions: 

the DLA Computer Emergency Response 

Team, the Network Management Office, 

the service desk and enterprise services. 

The DLA Computer Emergency

Response Team is DLA’s certified

computer network defense service

provider, said Karen Schrieber, DLA

Information Operations Enterprise

Solutions deputy director.

The response team provides aroundthe-clock computer security monitoring 

and incident response. 

“The CERT diligently monitors 

DoD and Internet sources for threats 

and vulnerabilities that may impact 

DLA’s ability to support the warfighter,” 

Schrieber said. 

DLA NOSC personnel protect the 

confidentiality, integrity and availability 

of critical assets to support DLA’s global 

supply chain and customers through 

the use of automated tools and state-ofthe-art network appliances, said Robert 

Dunlap, NOSC director. 

“Computer network defense is enacted

through proactive measures that enable

effective detection, response and sustainment of the agency’s operations that are

reliant upon computing resources,” he said.

The second program the center runs

A

s cybersecurity

crucial

Department,

Logistics

its

Security

A

 Center

Story by Jonathan Stack

GUARDING

THE GRID

is the Network Management Office, 

which operates the DLA Enterprise

Telecommunications Network 24/7

year round.

“The agencywide telecommunications

network includes state-of-the-art cybersecurity features and provides more

direct access for DLA end users to DLA’s

online application systems,” Dunlap said.

The network is DLA’s portion of the

DoD Global Information Grid, a unified, 

end-to-end set of information abilities

for collecting, processing, storing,

disseminating and managing data on

demand to warfighters, policy makers 

and support personnel.

The NOSC’s third service, the

service desk, monitors the DLA

Enterprise Telecommunications

Network, as well as information

assurance intrusion controls and key

enterprise applications.
Loglines l March - April 2012 21

“The NOSC Service Desk provides 

situational awareness of the health and 

availability of DLA’s critical applications 

and services,” Dunlap said. “The service 

desk uses many tools to monitor DLA’s 

computers and networks.”

The HP Business Availability Center, 

one of the service desk’s flagship tools, 

can simulate users’ experiences, she 

said. The center manages application 

performance and availability and 

automatically generates reports and 

alerts when problems are encountered. 

It currently monitors 23 DLA business 

applications.

“When the BAC monitor indicates 

there is a problem, the service desk takes 

action to notify the appropriate offices 

that action is needed,” he said. “It is our 

goal to identify the problem before the 

end user does.”

The NOSC began operating enterprise 

services Sept. 30, providing centralized 

administration of information technology 

services that are used enterprisewide. 

“Not only did the NOSC take on 

a new mission, we also opened a new 

site colocated with DLA Information 

Operations New Cumberland, in New 

Cumberland, Pa.,” Dunlap said. “The 

alternate NOSC in New Cumberland also 

provides critical backup capability for 

the functions performed at the NOSC in 

Columbus, Ohio.”

With people who are intent on 

cracking into DoD communications 

systems always on the move, both NOSC 

locations’ primary goal is to manage that 

threat, Schrieber said. 

Doing that requires the NOSC and 

the DLA team as a whole to maintain 

vigilance, Dunlap said.

“Situational awareness is paramount 

to agency success, and we must continue 

to find ways to manage the cyberrelated 

challenges immediately and effectively,” 

Dunlap said. 

When this goes well, average users 

will not even be aware of threats. When it 

goes poorly, critical business operations 

can be impacted, he said. 

“It is the job of the NOSC to ensure 

this is managed well and decisively,” 

Dunlap said. 

The DLA Network Operations

and Security Center oversees

four functions: the DLA

Computer Emergency Response

Team, the Network Management

Ofce, the service desk and

enterprise services.
22 www.dla.mil

any of the Defense Logistics

Agency’s customers, including military organizations

and industry partners, now

have an easier way to access

DLA’s business applications and work

with the agency.

The Enterprise External Business

Portal, which went live in April 2011, is

expanding to include more customers and

applications. This secure Web-enabled

interface allows customers to log on

once and access different DLA business

applications within the Enterprise Business

System. The release included the 339

Records Management System, formerly the

Product Data Management Initiative, and

demand data exchange collaboration. Phase

any

Agency’s

ing

and

have M

DLA’s business

Story by Sara Moore

A Single Place

for Business

2 of the portal implementation includes

Real Property in February and Reutilization

Business Integration in March.

The new portal provides a single 

access point for all of DLA’s external 

business applications, said Lawrence 

Gamble, DLA Tech Management supervisor in DLA Information Operations. 

“It provides a single sign-on capability,

meaning you only authenticate once to the

portal and then, [with] every application

that you are accessing, you don’t have to

log in over and over,” Gamble said.

The single sign-on capability not only 

reduces hassles for customers, but it also 

reduces the amount of account administration needed on DLA’s end, because 

customers have fewer opportunities to 

forget their passwords and user identifications, Gamble said. 

The new portal also gives customers 

an improved experience, making it 

easier for them to access and use DLA’s 

business applications, potentially 

improving the agency’s relationships with 

its customers, Gamble said.

“It’s just like any large company; you 

go on their website, and you can get anywhere in their company,” Gamble said. 

Phase 1 of the implementation 

included about 3,000 users, Gamble 

said, and the system has worked very 

well since it launched. This latest 

implementation adds about another 

The Defense Logistics Agency’s Enterprise External Business Portal is a secure Web-enabled

interface that allows customers to access the agency’s business applications.
Loglines l March - April 2012 23

40,000 users, he said, noting that this 

phase will be the system’s real test.

“Technically, we have a pretty solid 

platform,” he said. “We know that this 

platform can support all our users and 

applications. We just have to ensure 

that from the account administration 

and set-up perspective, that we are 

communicating all this information and 

get accounts set up in a timely manner.”

Raj Raheja, who leads the EBS and 

external portal team, said that his team 

is working with the human performance 

teams for each customer base to get the 

word out about the portal and encourage 

existing customers to create accounts. 

Also, when new customers want to access 

EBS applications, part of the approval 

process will include granting them access 

to the external portal, he said. 

Later this year, the implementation’s 

third phase will take place, integrating 

Energy Convergence – the EBS system 

that manages DLA Energy’s supply chains 

– into the portal and adding another 

potential 12,000 users, Raheja said. After 

that integration, he said, the external portal team will work to expand the system 

to even more business applications.

“One of the most important things 

about this portal is it kind of provides 

a platform for all the future projects to 

leverage it, so that they do not have to 

build their own authentication engine, 

their own single sign-on,” he said. “It’s 

almost like this is a service that’s out 

there, and other projects that are coming 

down the line are all going to leverage 

this service.”

Gamble and Raheja both observed 

that because this system is a universal 

platform that standardizes the technology 

and processes for accessing DLA’s 

business applications, it may have the 

potential to increase DLA’s customer base 

in the future.

“We are streamlining a whole bunch 

of things, so based on that, we do think 

that there is a very strong possibility that 

it will increase DLA’s profile and make it 

easier for external users to gain access,” 

Gamble said. 

“One of the most important 

things about this portal is it 

kind of provides a platform 

for all the future projects to 

leverage it, so that they do 

not have to build their own 

authentication engine, their 

own single sign-on.”

— Raj Raheja

Two Navy Seaman move supplies through the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W.

Bush. The Defense Logistics Agency’s Enterprise External Business Portal, which provides a

single Web-enabled point of access to agency business applications for external customers,

helps increase the agency’s efciency in delivering supplies to troops. 

Navy Seaman Jessica Echerri

The Enterprise External 

Business Portal can be 

found on the Web at:

https://business.dla.mil
A Conversation with . . .

24 www.dla.mil

What were some of DLA’s major 

accomplishments during your time 

as director?

We supported the

responsible drawdown from

Iraq and the surge of forces

and operations in Afghanistan.

The former involved extensive

planning and execution to

sustain remaining forces on

scene in Iraq while helping

with a massive reallocation

of supplies and equipment.

We also worked with the

Department of State to

ensure adequate support of

their initial needs after U.S.

forces departed. To support

the surge in Afghanistan, we

developed additional in-theater

distribution and disposition

capabilities and contributed

to the establishment of the

Northern Distribution Network

in partnership with U.S.

Transportation Command. That

had a positive economic impact

in countries along the NDN.

The effort was led by Navy Rear

Adm. Ron MacLaren and the

Joint Contingency Acquisition

Support Office. Establishing the 

JCASO and building enduring

relationships with all the

combatant commands improved

contingency contracting

planning and support.

We improved performance

of the Enterprise Business 

System, which allowed

us to enhance customer

support across the majority

of our supply chains. We

implemented the initial phase

of EProcurement and moved 

forward with design work for

Vice Adm. Alan S. T

Former DLA Director Takes a Look Back at his Experience and Service to the Defense Logistics Agency

Energy Convergence, which is 

bringing DLA Energy into EBS.

We revitalized strategic

planning and execution

through the annual Director’s

Guidance process to drive

major initiatives. We updated

our robust agency performance

review process to refine our 

monitoring of critical metrics

and ensure progress on the

major initiatives. In that

vein, we overhauled all of

DLA’s governance forums and

processes, which allowed us

to achieve a greater level of

collaboration and teamwork

among the agency’s senior

leaders. As a result, we made

more informed and better

decisions.

We enhanced external

communications with our

stakeholders and customers

as well as our internal

communications with our

workforce. We completely

revamped DLA’s online

presence and increased our

media visibility. We executed

the We Are DLA initiative,

Navy Vice Adm. Alan S. Thompson

2008 - 2011

Defense Logistics Agency Photo
DLA Strategic Communications 

Loglines l March - April 2012 25

Thompson

which clarified the roles of the 

agency’s field activities and 

enhanced a single, integrated

enterprise approach across

DLA.

Implementing requirements

from Base Realignment and 

Closure 2005 on time was a big

accomplishment. BRAC allowed 

us to realize efficiencies in the 

procurement of depot-level

reparables for all of the services

and material support functions

at service depot-maintenance

activities.

We used a new Inventory

Management and Stock

Positioning capability to bring 

EBS to our added locations in a 

timely manner. We also brought

nearly 86,000 additional

consumable items under the

agency’s management. We

also became the major human

resources service provider

across DoD, providing support

beyond DLA to the Office of 

the Secretary of Defense staff

and a number of other defense

agencies.

We integrated a large

part of the former Business 

Transformation Agency into

DLA Information Operations as

directed in Defense Secretary

Robert Gates’ efficiency 

initiatives. This allowed the

segment of that agency’s

important mission of changing

the way DoD develops and

acquires new information

technologies to continue.

We re-energized our

workforce development

programs and focused on ways

to improve the agency’s cultural

climate. We held more frequent

culture surveys and followed

up on what we learned to help

improve leadership, culture and

performance across DLA.

What were some of the biggest 

challenges you faced?

The agency expanded

our primary focus beyond

warfighter support in U.S. Central 

Command’s area of responsibility

to also place major emphasis on

significant cost reduction. That 

shift was challenging but necessary

in a time when we are trying

to maximize the value of every

taxpayer dollar we spend, even as

warfighter support continued to be 

our highest priority.

There were some final BRAC 

implementation issues with the

military services, especially in

regard to industrial operational

support functions at shipyards

and air logistics centers that

came to the agency.

We also committed significant 

attention to developing,

supporting or refining potential 

logistics initiatives from DLA

and others in responding to

the secretary’s efficiencies 

focus. Several, such as Strategic

Network Optimization, will be

implemented in coming years

while others remain possibilities

for future enhancements.

Did you see the agency experience 

any growing pains during your 

tenure as things changed naturally 

with time? 

Yes, there were plenty.

Significant change is always hard. 

Implementing BRAC, including 

IMSP, was a tough challenge. 

Getting the then recently

completed EBS to really hum was 

not easy. Beginning to intensively 

focus on cost reduction, both

in our operations and in the

things we buy from industry, was

extremely demanding and will

continue to be a challenge. And,

as I discussed, ensuring we kept

warfighters well supplied in Iraq 

while simultaneously supporting

the withdrawal there and the

surge in Afghanistan was both

very rewarding and demanding.

What is your perspective on DLA’s 

history leading up to your tenure?

When I came to DLA as

director in 2008, I found a solid

logistics organization that was

very focused on the warfighter, 

especially in the USCENTCOM 

AOR, and this was all good.

However, the environment

was changing as we saw a time

beyond Iraq and Afghanistan

that included reduced defense
A Conversation with . . .

26 www.dla.mil

budgets. We worked hard to

prepare DLA to continue its great

support to the armed forces and

DoD in this new environment

while continuing to improve

near-term performance.

What was the relationship like 

between headquarters and the 

field activities when you were the 

director?

This was another area of focus.

We worked to get all elements of

DLA Headquarters and the field 

commands to work in a highly

collaborative, aligned manner.

Through revised governance forums,

improved communications and many

other efforts, I think we substantially

enhanced the relationships and

increased the level of trust between

headquarters and the field. 

What do you think were the most 

significant changes DLA went 

through during your tenure?

Sustaining solid warfighter 

support while really moving out

on cost reductions to prepare

for a leaner financial future was 

a major change. Implementing

BRAC 2005, including the human 

resources BRAC, on schedule 

and integrating nearly 6,000 new

DLA team members, brought

substantial change to the agency.

Initiating EProcurement, 

which standardizes contract

writing for the entire agency, was

changing a lot about the way we do

business.

We improved DLA’s reputation

across DoD and the military

services through improved

performance and enhanced

communications. Implementing

the We Are DLA initiative also

fundamentally changed the way

we saw ourselves inside DLA

and how we were viewed by our

customers and stakeholders.

And by increasing the 

frequency of the culture climate 

survey process that originally 

started under Navy Vice Adm. 

Keith Lippert, I think we further 

demonstrated DLA’s commitment 

to continuous workforce 

development and support. 

How much of a role did DLA play 

with humanitarian missions? 

Our role following the 2010

earthquake in Haiti and 2011

earthquake and tsunami in Japan

was significant and immediate, 

and it perhaps demonstrated DLA

at its very best. Some of the first 

U.S. forces to arrive in Haiti were

DLA personnel. We substantially

augmented U.S. Southern

Command’s J-4 staff and worked

seamlessly with many other

participants in relief efforts.

DLA moved more than 163

tons of medical items, water and

food to support service members

and Japanese citizens affected

by the disasters in Japan. During

those crises, we got the right

things to the right places at the

right time, around the clock and

around the globe.

What do you feel have been DLA’s 

greatest strengths throughout the 

years? 

DLA’s workforce is its greatest 

strength; there is no finer team of 

logistics professionals. DLA team 

members demonstrate relentless 

focus on customer satisfaction 

and always look for better ways 

to provide support. Traveling the 

world and meeting a large part of 

the DLA team in action, whether 

forward with warfighters, working 

with maintainers or everywhere 

DLA serves, was the highlight of 

my tenure as DLA’s director. Our 

workforce has proven it can and will 

successfully deploy new technology 

and processes to enhance 

performance and reduce costs. 

From your perspective as a DLA 

employee and customer, how did 

you see the agency evolve throughout the years? 

DLA has always been on the

leading edge of needed change in

the defense logistics community.

The continued focus on end-toend supply chain management

is the right path in DoD, and I

was pleased to see this move well

forward during my tenure. DLA

has also been a source of great

cost reduction over the years, and

I know this will be expected, once

again, in the next few years. 

What are your thoughts on the 

state of the agency today? 

DLA is well postured for

the future. The workforce is

superb. We have a very modern

support infrastructure, whether

it’s information technology

capabilities or facilities. DLA

consistently receives and

effectively manages the financial 

resources needed to accomplish

the mission. The DLA leadership

team, both at the headquarters

and in the field, is superb, and 

there are no finer senior leaders 

than Navy Vice Adm. Mark

Harnitchek, Mae DeVincentis

and Ted Case at the top. I am

confident they will lead DLA to 

an even higher level of support

that will meet the warfightersupport and cost-reduction

challenges ahead. With all of this

in place, I think DLA has a very

bright future.
Loglines l March - April 2012 27

A program to bring the Defense Logistics 

Agency’s technology backbone to DLA 

Maritime in Norfolk, Va., officially came 

online Jan. 31.

Inventory Management Stock

Positioning brings the Enterprise Business

System to DLA employees there.

 “Together we have reached a major 

milestone with the much-anticipated 

IMSP go-live event,” DLA Land and 

Maritime Base Realignment and Closure 

Office Director Don Schulze said. “With 

the activation of IMSP, we will be able to 

better meet the needs of the U.S. Navy.”

IMSP will bring DLA’s inventory 

network to bear in filling customers’ 

Program Brings

EBS to Norfolk

Detachment

requirements at the shipyard, Schulze said.

“This program will give us the ability

to leverage the DLA inventory network

worldwide to support our customers’ 

requirements and give us the capability to

see industrial retail requisition demand

patterns, which will greatly improve our

ability to forecast customer requirements.”

The Norfolk detachment became

DLA’s first shipyard detachment when it 

joined DLA Land and Maritime in May

2009 as a result of BRAC 2005 decisions.

It supports Norfolk Naval Shipyard, in

Portsmouth, Va., which repairs, overhauls

and modernizes ships and submarines.

IMSP’s goal is to support the military 

services’ depot maintenance activities 

with improved customer-level inventory

management. Spiral 1 of IMSP brought Air

Force sites that came to DLA under BRAC

2005 into EBS. Spiral 2 is doing the same

for Navy sites. It has four objectives:

— Improve demand-planning accuracy.

— Provide expedient order processing to 

maintain uninterrupted support to depot 

DLA Disposition Services Engages in Texas Horse Trading

maintenance customers.

— Integrate consumer and wholesale 

inventory networks into a single model.

— Protect local material from worldwide 

availability and consolidate retail and 

wholesale inventory management.

DLA Maritime in Norfolk Deputy 

Director Joe Long said team members 

continue to be optimistic about IMSP and 

expressed his appreciation for the effort 

that went into making it happen.

“We have had a great support group

from the Navy, DLA Headquarters

and Columbus (Ohio) along with (DLA

Information Operations) experts, and most

(were) on the ground for go live,” he said.

Schulze said teamwork between 

DLA, Naval Sea Systems Command and 

Norfolk Naval Shipyard were crucial to 

making the integration successful.

(Note: Information taken from

a DLA Land and Maritime BRAC

Office article.)

— DLA Strategic Communications

When a favorite horse in the caisson

unit at Fort Sam Houston, Texas,

didn’t measure up to his fellows, DLA 

Disposition Services helped find him a 

new home.

The caisson unit there performs more

than 100 military funerals a year. Just

like their human counterparts, the horses

in the unit need to be of similar heights.

Tommy, described by members of the

unit as a great horse to ride, didn’t grow 

to that height. Still, he was a favorite of

the Soldiers, and the Army decided he

needed a new home.

When that decision was made, DLA

Disposition Services at San Antonio

was contacted. David Craft, a disposal

services representative there, said the

organization uses its website to advertise

horses like Tommy to potential riders.

“This is the third horse we have

done receipt-in-place for from Fort Sam

Houston,” Craft said. “The horses are

placed on our website with photos and a

brief description of the horse.”

Tommy was only on the website for

30 days when the Yuma County, Ariz.,

Sheriff’s Office picked him up. The Fort 

Sam Houston caisson Soldiers were

present when Chief Deputy Leon Wilmot

took Tommy to his new home.

“All of the officers and sheriff’s 

posse members have to fund their

own equipment and maintain our own

equines,” he said. “Tommy is owned by

the sheriff’s office and assigned to me as 

my designated mount.”

While Tommy may have been too

small for his Army mission, Wilmot said

his new steed is a little larger than the

other horses his office has, but the horse 

is fitting in with the others, he added.

“He has been a great mount. I look

forward to using him in the upcoming

details,” Wilmot said.

— Jeff Landenberger

DLA Disposition Services

Chief Deputy Leon Wilmot of the Yuma

County, Ariz., Sheriff’s Ofce, Tommy the

horse, and David Craft from DLA Disposition

Services at San Antonio.

NewsWire DLA Strategic Communications 
28 www.dla.mil

Money Matters

Gold Mine ines aren’t the only places 

precious metals can be found. 

Gold and other precious 

metals are recovered and 

recycled from out-of-use 

and retired military items through the 

Defense Logistics Agency Disposition 

Services Precious Metal Recovery 

Program, at Battle Creek, Mich.

Gold is contained in items such as 

lapel pins, uniform emblems, buttons, 

badges and soldering alloys. Silver is 

contained in batteries, photographic 

paper, radar antennae and other items. 

Platinum and palladium are contained in 

items such as aircraft relay contact points 

and breakers, semiconductors, resistance 

alloys, and telephone switchboards.

The program conserves taxpayer 

Navy Petty Ofcer 3rd Class Kenneth Abbate

Story by Jonathan Stack

M

and retired military

dollars by selling precious metals to the 

military services at rates lower than their 

market prices, said William McCormick 

III, DLA Disposition Services Precious 

Metals Program contracting officer 

representative.

DLA is able to keep prices low 

because it sets them one year at a time 

rather than allowing them to fluctuate 

daily, said Linda Stonelake, DLA Troops 

Support supply planner.

“Commodities market prices 

fluctuate daily, and DLA’s don’t because 

they are set for an entire fiscal year,” 

Gold and other precious metals are recovered

and recycled from out-of-use and retired

military items, such as circuit boards, through

the DLA Disposition Services Precious Metal

Recovery Program, at Battle Creek, Mich.

— Courtesy Photo

A Sailor performs maintenance on a radar

antenna. Once the antenna reaches the end of

its lifecycle, it will be sent to DLA Disposition

Services Precious Metal Recovery Program’s

rener to be recycled into silver bars.
DLA Strategic Communications

Loglines l March - April 2012 29

Navy Petty Ofcer 3rd Class Johndion Magsipoc

Stonelake said. 

Per ounce, DLA sells gold for about

$665, silver for $3.97, platinum for $1,296

and palladium for $337 in fiscal 2012. 

On Jan. 22, the market prices for those

precious metals were $1,663.70, $31.93, 

$1,525 and $674 an ounce, respectively. 

“We are able to do that because we 

don’t buy, sell or trade,” Stonelake said. 

“It’s a recycling program, which allows us 

to keep our prices down, and it’s a huge 

savings.”

The precious metals and items 

containing precious metals are collected 

at more than 100 sites around the world, 

then consolidated and sent to a refiner to 

be recycled, McCormick said.

Military services turn items into DLA 

Disposition Services, and if they contain 

recoverable amounts of precious metal, 

the primary-level field activity transports 

them to a refinery.

“Say I have 20,000 pounds of 

material, ... it goes to our one refinery 

that does all the work,” McCormick said. 

“The refinery will break it down and send 

it to DLA Troop Support to be stored.”

For example, the refinery will burn 

radiographic film, which contains silver, 

melt it and form the remaining silver into 

bars, he said. 

Some items are 

considered hazardous 

materials, and there 

are specific processes 

to get them to the 

refinery. 

“If it’s hazardous, 

such as batteries, then 

I have a contractor 

arrange pickup, 

because they can 

get environmentally 

regulated trucks cheaper then we can,” 

McCormick said. “I send a task order 

to the contractor, and they are able to 

contact the site and schedule a pickup.” 

If the item isn’t hazardous, 

McCormick will arrange for local 

transportation to the 

refinery, he said.

 Once DLA Troop 

Support receives precious 

metals from the refinery, 

the military services can 

requisition the metals for 

use at a price reflecting the 

cost of recovery. 

“I handle the supply,

storage and issue part of

the program,” Stonelake 

said. “All the military

services submit requisitions

to me when they award

a government contract

that calls for governmentfurnished material.” 

Stonelake then 

issues the raw precious 

metals from one of two 

warehouses DLA Troop 

Support manages to a 

vendor with a contract to 

use the item, she said.

Once an item has 

reached the end of 

its lifespan, Defense 

Department and 

participating federal civil 

agencies must turn in 

all fine precious metals 

and precious metalbearing property to DLA 

Disposition Services.

“It’s a mandatory

requirement that all

services participate in

the program,” said Toni 

Acosta, DLA Disposition

Policy logistics management specialist.

Acosta and his team

at DLA Headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Va.,

set policy, enforce it and assist the activities and customers, he said.

“If there is an interpretation that needs

to be rectified, we are involved,” he said. 

“We also have oversight of the program.”

The team also publicizes correct

procedures, informs customers about

the program’s intent, and gives them the

overall DoD perspective of precious metal

recovery, said Terry Simpson, DLA Asset

Management and Disposition Policy chief.

DLA has been responsible for the 

management of precious metals since 

1974 under the Precious Metals Recovery 

Program. The DLA Disposition Services 

Precious Metal Recovery Program saved 

the Defense Department $17 million in 

2011 and more than $235 million over the 

past 25 years. 

A Sailor prepares to work on a radar antenna.

Radar antennae and other items containing

precious metals are collected at more than

100 sites around the world, then consolidated

and sent to a rener to be recycled. The DLA Disposition 

Services Precious Metal 

Recovery Program helps 

conserve taxpayer dollars 

by selling precious metals to

the military services at rates

lower than market prices.
We are DLA

30 www.dla.mil

By Land,

Sea or Air

By Jacob Boyer

ocated on the northern edge of 

the San Joaquin Valley, Defense 

Logistics Agency Distribution San 

Joaquin, Calif., covers distribution 

services for an area far vaster than 

its namesake region. Warfighters from 

the east coast of Africa to the western 

banks of the Mississippi River benefit 

from the supplies that move through its 

locations in Tracy and Lathrop, Calif.

“DLA Distribution San Joaquin is the

Defense Department’s western strategic 

distribution platform and DLA’s primary 

distribution point to the western United

States and forces operating in and around

the Pacific and Indian oceans,” said DLA 

Distribution San Joaquin Commander

Marine Col. Adrian Burke. “We coordinate

global material distribution and other

logistics activities in support of U.S. forces

worldwide.”

What today is DLA Distribution 

San Joaquin’s primary site came into 

service as the Tracy Sub-Depot of the 

Quartermaster Depot in Oakland, 

Calif., in 1942. In the 70 years since, it 

has supported U.S. warfighters in every 

conflict, Burke said. The distribution 

center, one of 26 in DLA Distribution’s 

global distribution network, stores items 

with nearly 790,000 different national 

stock numbers valued at more than $8 

billion. In fiscal 2011, it shipped about 

3.2 million items valued at more than 

$27 billion to customers worldwide.

Two primary methods are used to

ship items to customers, Burke said.

Warfighters in and around the Pacific and 

Indian oceans are supported through the

Consolidation and Containerization Point,

where freight is consolidated into seagoing vans or air pallets from distribution

centers, government agencies, independent vendors and DLA Distribution San

Joaquin’s stock. 

“Items from other distribution 

centers, government agencies and 

independent vendors account for 

approximately 50 percent of the material 

shipped from the CCP,” Burke said. “On 

a monthly average, the CCP will ship 

more than 500 seavans and nearly 150 air 

pallets to customers stationed in Alaska 

or around the Pacific and Indian oceans.”

The Dedicated Truck Program 

serves customers in the continental 

United States. More than a third of the 

depot’s shipments leave on dedicated 

trucks, Burke said. The program features 

customized delivery schedules, reduced 

transit times and customized packing. 

Customers on the West Coast receive 

their deliveries either on the same day 

or overnight, Burke said, and those as 

far away as Pennsylvania can be reached 

within 72 hours.

“This process serves the warfighter 

and those who support the warfighter,” 

Burke said. “By arranging scheduled 

deliveries, our customers know how to 

staff their organizations accordingly for 

incoming freight. DLA Distribution San 

Joaquin is afforded the same luxury, as

we know when the trucks are scheduled to

arrive to pick up freight to the day and the

hour and can plan staffing to that schedule. 

It’s definitely a win-win effort that supports 

ocated

the

Logistics

Joaquin,

services L

its namesake region. Warfighters from 
Soldiers pull a tab to activate a unitized group

ration-express. DLA Distribution San Joaquin

is the sole provider for UGRs.

Aerial photo of DLA Distribution San

Joaquin, Calif.

— Photo by DLA Distribution Public Affairs

DLA Strategic Communications

Loglines l March - April 2012 31

Sarah Underhill

both parties and is a service that has become

very important to our customer base.”

In addition to supporting broad 

distribution missions, DLA Distribution 

San Joaquin assembles and is the sole 

provider for unitized group rations, 

heat-and-serve meals used by units 

around the world daily, said Lueathel 

Seawood, division chief for the Inventory 

Management Division there. Three types 

of meal are assembled there: The UGR-B, 

UGR-Heat and Serve, and UGR-Express. 

The first two serve 50 warfighters and 

require field kitchens for preparation. 

The UGR-E, which provides a full meal 

for 18, heats the food in 30 to 45 minutes 

with the pull of a tab. More than 246,000 

UGRs were shipped in fiscal 2011.

“The gives us a sense of being a part 

of the effort for the troops in the field by 

providing them quality food,” Seawood 

said. “We try to do that on time, every 

time, which is what we stand for.”

The former Sharpe Army Depot in 

Lathrop came into the DLA family in 

1990, and operations there and at Tracy 

and Oakland were consolidated into 

Defense Distribution Region West shortly 

after, Burke said. DLA Distribution San 

Joaquin received its new name as part of 

the We Are DLA initiative. Six other DLA 

tenants share the remaining locations 

in Tracy and Lathrop: DLA Installation 

Support, DLA Information Operations, 

DLA Transaction Services, DLA 

Disposition Services, DLA Document 

Services, and DLA Land and Maritime’s 

Western Region Product Test Lab.

DLA Distribution San Joaquin 

received the Occupational Safety and 

Health Administration’s Star Site designation in 2011 as a national Voluntary 

Protection Program participant, an honor 

Burke said was the result of cooperation 

between DLA activities there.

“San Joaquin is the first DLA industrial 

site to receive this prestigious designation,”

he said. “This accomplishment was reached

through the cohesive whole-of-agency

team, known locally under the ‘One Site,

One Flag, One Team’ marquee.”

Burke said the team at DLA 

Distribution San Joaquin is proud of its 

support to warfighters.

“We take our responsibility as 

a strategic distribution platform, 

supporting the whole of the Department 

of Defense and the interagency 

governmental mix of customers and 

support requirements, very personally,” 

he said. “San Joaquin is proud that we 

are able to support the DLA Distribution 

global distribution network and to play 

our part in meeting the needs of our 

nation’s men and women in uniform 

anywhere around the world.” 
32 www.dla.mil

The DLA Conference Team attends

three Marine Corps events, four Army

events and several National Guard,

Navy and Air Force events annually.

Representatives from the agency’s 

primary-level field activities join the 

team at most events.

“Depending on the event, the DLA 

booth will typically be staffed by representatives from DLA field activities and 

various headquarters program offices,” 

Hammond said.

Olivia Kortuem, a DLA Logistics 

Operations communications assistant, 

compiles a master calendar that lists 

all the events she is aware of from DLA 

Headquarters’ perspective and sends it 

to the agency’s field activities. They let 

her know if they are going to staff the 

DLA booth or have their own booths at 

these events. 

Hammond said this coordination 

helps lessen confusion for customers.

ttendees at a number of military 

conferences and trade shows 

across the United States are 

likely to see the Defense Logistics

Agency display.

The DLA Conference Team gives the

agency a face for customer outreach at the

events. The team attends events associated with specific military services and 

joint-service events. Team members also 

attend non-Defense Department events

such as law enforcement events since DLA

is able to provide support to local and

state first responders, said Les Hammond, 

DLA Logistics Operations Corporate Event

program manager.

“We’re exhibiting at approximately 

20 events annually,” Hammond said. 

“Most of them are military-service 

related, and they are all related to our 

core logistics mission. We are increasing 

awareness of DLA’s mission and the 

supplies and services we can provide.”

Story by Jonathan Stack

“It’s my responsibility to ensure we 

have adjoining booths so DLA has one 

face at the event,” he said. “We do not 

want DLA spread throughout an exhibit 

hall.” 

Attendees typically know ahead of 

time who the exhibitors are and where 

they are located, and customers can come 

to the booth if they have DLA issues. 

“Due to our mission, customers seek 

us out with questions regarding support 

issues that can relate to any of the DLA 

supply chains,” he said. “Others have 

questions about the services we provide, 

whether that be distribution, logistics 

information, document processing or 

disposition. Still others have questions 

about various programs such as our 

Green Procurement Program or our 

Industrial Plant Equipment Program.”

Hammond said potential suppliers 

can also get their questions answered at 

the booth.

ttendees

conferences

across

likely

Agency A

The DLA

TRAVELING

BILLBOARD
Loglines l March - April 2012 33

“We’re exhibiting at approximately 20 events annually. Most of them are military-service 

related, and they are all related to our core logistics mission. We are increasing awareness 

of DLA’s mission and the supplies and services we can provide.”

— Les Hammond

”We’ve seen an increase in the number 

of suppliers visiting the booth over the past

year with questions concerning how to do

business with DLA, how to get national

stock numbers assigned, and how to get

their items onto the DoD EMALL,” he said. 

“We provide that information, including

specific small business information, 

when applicable and also invite them to

the DLA industry conference. My intent

is to make sure we have the right people

staffing the booth at each event to ensure 

we are providing the best possible customer

outreach,” Hammond said.

For example, a customer might 

have a question about finding an item 

through DoD EMALL, the military’s 

online shopping center, and having 

a DLA Logistics Information Service 

representative present means the correct 

information can be found quickly for the 

customer, Kortuem said. Team members 

make sure they have handouts and 

brochures relevant to the event and the 

people who come to the booth. 

“I think our efforts are a great way 

to put a face to the agency,” she said. 

“It helps to better identify the agency 

and build better relationships with 

our customers and suppliers. As DLA 

representatives interacting with trade 

show attendees, it is up to us to make 

DLA ... feel personable and ensure open 

lines of communication.”

Establishing face-to-face 

relationships is an important part of the 

program, Hammond said. He noted that 

people he met several years earlier still 

send him emails if they need something. 

“You should never underestimate the 

value of creating a face-to-face relationship,” he said. “For many attendees this 

may be the only face-to-face contact they 

have with someone from DLA.”

The conference team also partners 

with other DoD organizations at different 

events by sharing their booths.

“We are partnering with the DoD

Domestic Preparedness Support Initiative

Office, in the Office of the Assistant 

Secretary of Defense for Homeland

Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs,

with respect to first-responder events,” 

Hammond said. “We have a really good

partnership with them.”

DLA Conference Team personnel 

have also reached out to U.S. 

Transportation Command because of 

the close relationship between the two 

organizations, he said.

“We’ve offered them a spot in our 

booth at some events,” Hammond said. 

“Looking at partnership opportunities 

with other DoD organizations is an 

important initiative for us.”

Overall, the program increases sales

and the number of vendors doing business

with DLA, which increases competition

and can reduce prices, he said.

Upcoming events at which DLA is 

exhibiting can be found at: http://www.

dla.mil/pages/events.aspx. 

Les Hammond, DLA Logistics Operations

corporate event program manager, and

Olivia Kortuem, DLA Logistics Operations

communications assistant, discuss outreach

at the agency display at the DLA Industry

Conference and Exhibition in Columbus,

Ohio. They travel with the display and provide

customer outreach at various trade shows and

conferences where other exhibitors are present.

Heather Athey
I AM

Andre E. Johnson

My name is 

Andre E. Johnson 

I am 

A supply technician at DLA Distribution San Joaquin, Calif.

Describe my job in a sentence: 

I take care of incoming supply discrepancy reports, which are 

complaints from our customers when material they receive does not 

meet their requirements.

How long have you worked for DLA?

 I started working for DLA five years ago on Aug. 21, 2006.

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA?

I like keeping the communication lines open with my fellow 

veterans.

What is your best memory of working here?

I like knowing that my job supports warfighters in 

getting what they need, when they need it in a timely 

manner.

How do I make a difference to warghters?

Having spent 30 years in the United States Marine Corps 

from 1972 to 2002 and retiring as a master gunnery sergeant, 

I exhibit energy, initiative and passion while performing my 

assigned duties daily. My extensive amount of knowledge in the 

logistics field helps me to serve our warfighters in getting the 

material to them in a timely manner to accomplish their missions 

wherever they are located.