DLA Energ

europe & africa

ENERGY SOURCE

Defense Logistics Agency Energy Summer 2015
2 www.energy.dla.mil 3

Front cover by: Jonathan Stack 

Back cover by: Jonathan Stack

Commander

Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod

Deputy Commander

George Atwood

Chief of Staff

Navy Cmdr. Jason Bridges

Public Affairs Officer

Irene Smith

Editor

Jonathan Stack

Writing Staff

Terry Shawn

Christopher Goulait

Elizabeth Stoeckmann

Layout/Design

Jonathan Stack

Address correspondence to:

ATTN: DLA Energy-DCA

8725 John J. Kingman Rd.

Suite 4950

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6222

Commercial: 703-767-4108

Address email to:

EnergySourceMagazine@dla.mil

Energy Source l SUMMER 2015

Energy Source is an official publication distributed by and for the Defense Logistics 

Agency Energy and energy-oriented clientele. Contents of this publication are not 

necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, Department 

of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency or Defense Logistics Agency Energy. 

Energy Source is prepared by desktop publishing applications. 

Photos not credited are courtesy of DLA Energy sources.

from the commander

Energy Source

Our organization has a proud and rich history, dating 

back to World War II and the then ‘Army-Navy Petroleum 

Board.’ The War Department granted us responsibility 

over bulk petroleum and facilities management way 

back in 1942 ... Over the next 73 years, the Defense Fuel 

Support Center became the integrated material manager 

(1973), and took on military construction (1985), natural 

gas (1991) and electricity responsibilities (1999). Shortly 

after that, the Defense Energy Support Center took 

ownership of missile fuel, was designated as the executive 

agent for bulk petroleum and changed our name to DLA 

Energy (2010). At each step, our evolving mission brought 

us closer to, and improved our support of, our customers. 

The time for our next leap forward may be coming soon; 

Energy SYNCHRONIZER for the Defense Department.

Today, a number of organizations (DLA, combatant 

commands and services) manage fuel capabilities and 

infrastructure for the DoD – each one looking for ways 

to increase warfighter capability and lower costs. As you 

might expect, the requirements of one don’t always align 

with the objectives of another. From an overall DoD 

perspective, we lack formal processes to address issues like 

forward positioning of fuel, environmental risk, resilience, 

commercial supply chain velocity, developing partnernation capacities and right-sizing government owned 

infrastructure. 

Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod, USAF

Defense Logistics Agency Energy

A great example of that 

started last October, 

when the Office of the 

Secretary of Defense 

Cost Assessment and 

Program Evaluation 

asked us to perform a 

study to validate DoD 

Sustainment Restoration 

and Modernization 

infrastructure funding 

requirements for 

fiscal year 2017. In 

completing the analysis, 

we determined that the 

DoD can save about $200 

million annually on SRM, 

and can significantly 

improve audit 

sustainment by adopting 

and expanding some of DLA Energy’s best practice 

processes (4-pillar SRM and MILCON programs). When 

you combine that with other groundbreaking initiatives 

like our work with COCOM fuel wargames, Defense Fuel 

Support Points established with Defense Working Capital 

Funds, new international agreements with allied partners 

and operational energy, the need for a single Energy 

Synchronizer becomes even more apparent – and who 

better to fill this important role for one of the most critical 

capabilities in the DoD, than the executive agent for fuel 

and infrastructure.

CONTENTS

Features

4 Sharing Their Findings

Overseas Tours

Crossing Borders

Strategic Use of Pipelines

Sections

Energy Expansion

One Face

Fighting Ebola

ENERGY

WE ARE DLA

8

12

16

24

28

31

24

4 22 Standing Alone
4 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 5

DLA Energy Europe & AFrica Sharing Their Findings

The Defense Logistics Agency Energy Europe & 

Africa petroleum laboratory in Germany is the team 

the region turns to for fuel sample analysis, but testing is just one part of the mission.

Five employees working out of the lab in the Rhine Ordnance Barracks in Kaiserslautern were the force behind 

1,350 tests and hundreds of hours of trainings and programs completed during fiscal year 2014.

The lab is one of four DLA Energy petroleum labs worldwide, and is responsible for the quality surveillance mission for 61 military units, as well as for secure fuel missions and investigative support said Supervisory Chemist 

Jacqueline Trevino. Aviation and ground fuels are primarily tested.

Other assistance includes the U.S. European Command, 

U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Central Command commercial into-plane fuel sample testing programs, which 

covers 59 locations in 42 countries. 

“We are also supporting the operations going on in Romania and Lithuania, and Operation Atlantic Resolve, as 

well as exercises taking place in Africa and the commercial 

into-plane contracts DLA Energy Europe & Africa has,” 

said Noncommissioned Officer in Charge Army Sgt. 1st 

Class Mandy Jo Allen.

The lab supports DLA Energy quality assurance representatives as well by providing analytical testing of commercial into-plane fuel samples.

Cooperating closely with customers is a regular part of the 

job, said Chemist Andrea Curtis.

“We work with our customers on a daily basis,” Curtis 

said. “We have a drop-off window for customers to drop 

off samples during working hours and a drop-off box to 

assist customers who travel to Kaiserslautern to drop off 

samples outside normal duty hours.” 

There are several things the team looks for when performing fuel tests.

“The quality of fuels is very important,” Allen said. “What 

we’re checking for when we test the fuels are the critical 

properties, contamination and deterioration. 

Examining those qualities is crucial because if the fuel has 

degraded too much, the lab could be the last step to check 

that DLA Energy and the customer spend their money 

wisely on appropriate quality fuel, she said.

“A good Laboratory Quality Assurance and Quality Control 

program is paramount to the precision and accuracy of 

analytical data,” Trevino said. “In addition, our goal is to 

analyze our customers’ samples and provide a test report 

within 24 hours,” she said. “We perform three reviews 

prior to sending them out.”

Customers turn to the lab for training as well as fuel analysis.

“In addition to our core mission, we provide petroleum 

testing training,” Allen said.

The lab hosts monthly training events to 21st Theater 

Sustainment Command units throughout Germany for 

fuels-related skills and the Quarterly Fuel Handler’s 

Course training. There is also a 15-day training event in 

partnership with the 21st Theater Sustainment Command 

for petroleum laboratory specialists deployed to Camp 

Bondsteel, Kosovo, as part of Operation Joint Guardian. 

The service members in this training event support the 

NATO-led Kosovo Force, also known as KFOR, and learn 

about tests required for the acceptance and surveillance of 

aviation and diesel fuels. Each of those training events are 

called “KFOR rotations.”

“We’re at the KFOR-20 rotation now. Sgt. 1st Class Allen 

received training as part of the KFOR-2 unit 15 years ago, 

and now she’s here leading the training for KFOR-20, 

which is pretty awesome,” Trevino said.

Opportunities for experience in the lab also extend past 

the military to the local community. Students attending 

local high schools in the Department of Defense Education 

Activity Europe who are interested in the science, technolBy Christopher Goulait

Yvonne Vom Eyser extracts chloride from jet fuel as part of an American Society for Testing and Materials study the Defense Logistics 

Agency Energy Europe & Africa petroleum laboratory in Kaiserslautern, Germany, participated in. Photos by DLA Energy Europe & 

Africa employee Jackie Trevino
6 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 7

DLA Energy Americas

ogy, engineering and mathematics fields serve as interns 

in the lab through the Career Practicum program.

“We currently have four [Advanced Placement] chemistry 

student interns who receive training in testing of aviation 

fuels while also acquiring administrative and technical 

skills needed in operating a petroleum testing facility,” 

Trevino said. 

More informal programs are also offered to students.

“We also participate in job shadowing day across the 

enterprise,” Curtis explained. “We provide a brief and a lab 

tour for elementary, middle and high school students. It’s 

educational and fosters interest in the STEM fields. Our 

lab is a big part of that. Many of the students who leave 

here have gone on to pursue STEM degrees at universities 

in the States as a result of coming through this laboratory.”

Programs like these, along with training and analysis, are 

only made possible through cohesive teamwork among the 

five members of the lab team, and everyone has an important part in getting the mission done, Trevino said. 

“We’re a diverse group,” she said. “We have two Department of Defense civilian scientists, myself and Andrea. We 

have two Army personnel, Sgt. 1st Class Allen and [Army 

Staff Sgt. Darius] Andrus. We also have a local national, 

Yvonne Vom Eyser.”

In addition to performing mission critical petroleum 

testing, each member of the team has their own area of 

expertise. Allen runs the training aspect of the group, 

while Curtis manages the Quality Assurance/Quality Control program for the calibration and maintenance of the 

equipment. Andrus performs environmental, safety and 

security noncommissioned officer roles. Vom Eyser leads 

the ASTM Correlation program and bridges language 

barriers on technical issues. The entire team ensures the 

laboratory performs good laboratory practices to achieve 

Audit Readiness. 

“We learn quite a bit from each other. I really enjoy 

brainstorming and getting every team member’s recommendations,” Trevino said.

Above: Army Staff Sgt. Darius Andrus performs distillation 

testing of aviation fuel during annual Kosovo Force training 

in support of Task Force Falcon at the Defense Logistics 

Agency Energy Europe & Africa petroleum lab in Germany.

Right: Army Sgt. 1st Class Mandy Jo Allen checks the flash point 

on Air Force One and Marine One aviation fuel samples in support of President Barack Obama’s G7 Summit visit held in Bavaria, Germany, June 8.
DLA Energy Europe & Africa

With military operations in Europe expanding, 

the efficient, effective use of the fuel pipeline 

systems on the continent by the U.S. in support 

of the warfighter and partner nations becomes more vital.

The strategic goals of the Defense Logistics Agency – 

warfighter first, financial stewardship and process excellence, all came into play as DLA Energy Europe & Africa 

improved its use of the expansive network of pipelines in 

their area of responsibility.

“Using our nine pipeline systems and multiple fuel exchange agreements with host nations within our region, 

DLA Energy Europe & Africa has the ability to access vast 

amounts of fuel with a high degree of efficiency,” said DLA 

Energy Europe & Africa Supplier and Customer Operations Director Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jason Hoftiezer. “Through 

this efficiency, we provide the highest degree of operational readiness to the warfighter by effectively fulfilling their 

fuel requirements in this vast AOR.”

DLA Energy Europe & Africa’s AOR is 55.8 million square 

miles and covers 103 nations, parts of Asia and North 

America and extends from 500 miles off the U.S. Atlantic 

coast to the Pacific coast of Russia.

“Pipelines are a great leverage of supply chain capability through our military-to-military process,” said DLA 

Energy Customer Operations Director Air Force Col. Todd 

Cheney.

With the NATO’s Central European Pipeline System and 

the Government Pipeline Storage System in the United 

Kingdom, these fungible supply chains enable DLA Energy 

to leverage commercial partnerships to increase velocity 

for demand surge or export volume in support of regional 

demands, he said.

“The fact that it is a fungible system, meaning freely exchangeable or replaceable, provides DLA Energy flexibility 

in our supply and logistics support to the warfighter,” 

Cheney said.

Changes in business were made in order to better support 

the warfighter, beginning at Defense Fuel Support Point 

Speyer in Germany, he added.

After analyzing the efficacy of renewing the current fuel 

Strategic Use of Pipelines 

By Terry Shawn

8 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 9

storage contract at DFSP Speyer, one of 38 storage depots 

along the CEPS, DLA Energy ended the 30-year relationship 

with the facility’s contractor.

“DFSP Speyer existed as a terminal storage contract with capabilities to load rail cars and tank trucks,” said DLA Energy 

Europe & Africa Inventory Management Branch Chief McCoy 

Greer. “The Energy team devised a plan to shift tank truck 

loading operations to the Bellheim CEPS tank farm and the 

railcar loading capability and the need to store JP8 jet fuel 

was no longer required,” Greer said.

By ending the contract with DFSP Speyer, DLA Energy accomplished three things – cost saving where applicable, 

maximize storage and minimized footprint, he said.

At DFSP Speyer, leasing railcars and cleaning fees cost the 

organization $423,000 annually. Now, DLA Energy has saved 

$3.3 million in overall contract costs since the 2014 closure.

Through coordination with the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and 

the Ramstein Air Base Fuels Management Flight team, DLA 

Energy relocated 7,000 gallons of DLA contingency fuel additives from DFSP Speyer to the hazardous chemical storage 

area at Ramstein Air Base. 

The shift of product improved the time it takes to fill warfighter fuel requirements, said former DLA Director Navy Vice 

Adm. Mark Harnitchek.

“Over the next five years, substantial savings in storage costs 

will result and reduce our customer’s lead time for additives 

from two weeks to a matter of days,” Harnitchek said, when 

recognizing DLA Energy Europe & Africa’s Speyer Services 

Termination team with the Director’s Strategic Goals award 

in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.

Efficient and effective use of the pipeline networks would also 

play a role as activities and U.S. air, land and sea presence in 

Central and Eastern Europe increased beginning in March 

2014.

As the U.S. support of Operation Atlantic Resolve expanded 

into Poland and the Baltic states with exercises that included 

Summer Shield, Flaming Sword, Baltops and Saber Strike, 

along with the European Command-hosted multinational 

exercise Combined Resolve II and NATO exercise Steadfast 

Jazz, DLA Energy relied on the network of pipelines in the 

Above: Connecting pipes link the storage tanks and the 

low pressure manifold at the Central European Pipeline 

System at the Zweibrucken, Germany, depot. The pipeline 

system provides large storage capacity and multi-modal 

venues such as into-truck, airfield and tanker, in support 

of the majority of U.S. European Command area of responsibility. 

Left: An electric high-pressure pump station at the tank 

farm Zweibrücken in Germany pumps Jet A1 jet fuel from 

the Central European Pipeline System-fed tank farm to 

Ramstein Air Base. Several points along the pipeline serve 

as storage and distribution locations. Photos courtesy of 

NATO
DLA Energy Europe & Africa

region to support the warfighter. 

The CEPS was originally built to serve the wartime military fuel requirements of eight nations: Belgium, Canada, 

France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the 

United Kingdom and the United States. Canada and the 

U.K. no longer participate. 

As the largest military user of CEPS, according to a NATO 

report on the pipeline system, the U.S. relies on the strategic use of the 3,418 mile pipeline system and the rest of 

the NATO Pipeline System to achieve mission success in 

Europe. 

CEPS stores and transports 75 million gallons of DLA 

product throughout a distribution network in countries 

to include France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg and 

vital points in Germany.

The pipeline system provides large storage capacity and 

multi-modal venues such as into-truck, airfield and tanker, 

in support of the majority of U.S. European Command 

area of responsibility, Hoftiezer said.

“It is our ’go-to’ system when supporting the warfighter in 

Europe,” he said.

The pipeline system directly supports Ramstein Air Base, a 

key air mobility hub for Western Europe, said DLA Energy 

Europe & Africa Director of Operations Daniel Schmidt.

“A significant portion of the personnel, equipment and 

supplies rotating in to support Operation Atlantic Resolve 

will transit Ramstein,” he added.

Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany is also one of 24 military 

air bases the pipeline directly supports.

“Spangdahlem [Air Base] also has an air mobility squadron that supports cargo and passenger traffic,” Schmidt 

said. “Spangdahlem’s air mobility mission is less than half 

the size of Ramstein’s mission, but still very important to 

the theater following the closure of Rhein-Main Air Base in 

2005.” 

Rhein-Main Air Base, in U.S. control for 60 years, was formally handed over to the German government as a result 

of a 1999 U.S.-German agreement.

In addition to CEPS, DLA Energy Europe & Africa use 

the Government Pipeline Storage System in the United 

Kingdom, the Spanish Pipeline in Spain, the Turkish 

NATO Pipeline System in Turkey and the Northern Italian 

Pipeline System in Italy.

In the United Kingdom, the GPSS was built in 1939 to 

establish an oil distribution network during World War II. 

The GPSS stores and transports 54 million gallons of DLA 

product in support of Lakenheath, Mildenhall and Fairford 

Air Force Bases. Products delivered by the pipeline system 

include Jet A1 jet fuel and Jet Propellant Thermally Stable, 

a high thermal stability, high altitude fuel, used in Air 

Force reconnaissance aircraft. 

“[The GPSS] is integral to supporting U.S. Air Force air 

bases that conduct missions throughout Europe and Africa. It can be supplied via tanker or United Kingdom refineries, providing robust capability to U.S. strategic missions 

originating in the United Kingdom,” Hoftiezer said. 

Originally owned by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of 

Defense, the pipeline was sold to a Spanish oil network 

operator in March 2015.

The pipeline contract protects the future supply of aviation 

fuel through the 2,000 km system to both military and 

commercial airlines in the United Kingdom, according to 

a U.K.’s Ministry of Defence news article from March 20, 

2015.

TNPS consists of the Western Turkey Pipeline System 

and the Eastern Turkey Pipeline System and is part of the 

NATO Pipeline System that was created to supply Allied 

forces with fuel during the Cold War, according to NATO.

The Turkish pipeline system stores and transports 21 million gallons of DLA-capitalized JP8 jet fuel. The Western 

leg of the TNPS services locations between Port of Antalya 

on the Mediterranean Sea and ports on the Straits of Bosphorus, while the Eastern leg services locations between 

Port of Mersin and Horasan in Eastern Inland Turkey. 

TNPS served as a fuel support line during Operation Iraqi 

Freedom, providing military specification fuel to operations in Northern Iraq.

Another pipeline system used by DLA Energy Europe 

& Africa is NIPS. The pipeline system in Northern Italy 

stores and transports 13.5 million gallons of DLA-capitalized JP8 and services seven bases across the Northern 

region of Italy, primarily Aviano Air Force Base.

Hoftiezer, who supplies bulk petroleum to all DoD activities in EUCOM, U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Special 

Operations Command areas of responsibility, said the 

pipeline is essential to the interoperability of Italian and 

U.S. forces in Northern Italy.

“It gives both countries the flexibility they need to meet 

mission requirements and conduct Fuel Exchange Agreements,” Hoftiezer said

Rounding out the multi-nation system is the Spanish 

Pipeline System that stores and transports 28 million gallons of DLA-capitalized JP8 between Naval Station Rota 

and Moron Air Force Base, a strategic hub in the EUCOM 

AOR. 

All these pipelines originating in multiple host nations 

and passing through several countries, as well as effective 

use of international agreements and contracts, provides 

DLA Energy with a network by which it can procure and 

provide jet fuel, natural gas, motor gas, marine fuel and 

more to the warfighters executing military operations with 

NATO and U.S. allies in the European AOR.

10 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 11

This facility in Bellheim, 

Germany, is one location where fuel from the 

Central European Pipeline 

is loaded into trucks for 

distribution. When Defense 

Fuel Support Point Speyer 

closed, tank truck loading 

operations transfered to 

Bellheim to better support the warfighter and 

decrease costs. Courtesy 

photo

A workman changes worn out filters on the high pressure microfilter at the Pfungstadt depot along the Central European 

Pipeline System. The filter cleans sediment out of the petroleum products transported through CEPS. Courtesy photo
DLA Energy Europe & Africa

12 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 13

When nations answer the call to support one 

another’s operations, international agreements 

come into play. 

With more than half of the Defense Logistics Agency Energy’s international agreements in Europe, many of those 

go through DLA Energy Europe & Africa.

The region’s International Agreements team and the 

agreements they facilitate are critical to the success of the 

region, said DLA Energy Europe & Africa Deputy Director 

Bill Brennan.

“Our European partners enable our forces through fuel 

support in both Europe and Africa,” Brennan said.

International agreements are military-to-military agreements negotiated between the Ministries of Defence of 

By Christopher Goulait

Crossing borders

foreign nations and the U.S. Department of Defense. 

These agreements state the logistics, supplies and support, 

including fuel, the parties to the agreement may provide 

to one another, said DLA Energy Europe & Africa Liaison 

Officer to the United Kingdom Navy Lt. Dale Lessner. 

Agreements used in the region include Fuel Support 

Agreements, Fuel Exchange Agreements or Direct Bill 

Agreements, all drawing their authority from a broader 

legal framework called an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing 

Agreement, he added. 

Partners in Europe make agreements especially relevant 

for DLA Energy, Lessner said.

“Of the 40 agreements DLA Energy has in place with nations around the world, 22 of them reside here in Europe,” 

he said. “Our fuel support agreements cover more than 

A fuels specialist with the 159th Logistics Readiness 

Squadron, Louisiana Air National Guard, pulls a 

fuel hose toward an F-15 Eagle for refueling as a 

part of Exercise Thracian Eagle 2015 at Graf 

Ignatievo Air Base, near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 

DLA Energy’s International Agreements 

team contacted the Italian air force to 

buy 118,000 gallons of excess fuel 

from the previous 2014 exercise 

through an international 

agreement. Photo by 

Master Sgt. Toby M. 

Valadie
card can pay off with huge dividends,” Lessner said. “This 

year, representatives from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland 

all attended. We currently have a Navy FEA with Poland 

and as we are working together to craft a new joint FEA to 

cover all grades of fuel, Latvia and Lithuania became interested. Both Baltic states, and Estonia as well, are currently 

supporting U.S. forces by way of ACSA order coverage.”

The simplicity of the agreement, along with the reduced 

manpower and administrative costs, piqued their interest, 

Lessner said.

The International Agreements team also stood out last 

year for their role in supporting the U.S. and Bulgarian 

Exercise Thracian Eagle.

“When the only aviation fuel refinery in the area required 

a minimum lift guarantee right before the start of the 

exercise, DLA Energy had no other option but to estimate 

low and hope for good weather to keep flying hours up and 

demand high,” Lessner said.

When the exercise ended 118,000 gallons of fuel under 

the estimate, DLA Energy Europe & Africa International 

Agreements immediately began calling all contacts in partner nation’s air forces to see if any NATO members were 

planning to exercise in Bulgaria in the near future. 

Agile and creative business solutions allowed the team 

to broker a sale to the Italian air force for the remaining 

amount of the refinery’s minimum lift requirement, saving 

more than $400,000, he said.

In support of Operation Unified Protector, DLA Energy 

was able to leverage two agreements with the French air 

force and the Italian air force.

“DLA Energy has FSAs for the Central European Pipeline 

System and the Northern Italian Pipeline System,” Lessner said. “When the French air force owed the Italian air 

force fuel but could not ingress a tanker into the NIPS due 

to customs restrictions, we acted as the intermediary.”

“We paid the French air force debt to the Italian air force 

in gallons out of our stocks in the NIPS,” he added. “The 

French air force then repaid us from their stocks in the 

CEPS. The Italian air force was paid, the French air force 

saved on transportation costs, and ultimately we saved the 

U.S. taxpayer by consolidating our next eventual delivery 

to one stop in the NIPS, generating $1.2 million in net 

revenue for the Defense Working Capital Fund.”

Any country collocated on a pipeline system with another 

nation might see the potential advantage with using the 

U.S. and DLA Energy as a tool to conduct business and 

provide support to their neighbors during joint military 

exercises and operations, Lessner said.

14 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 15

DLA Energy Europe & Africa

4,000 miles of pipeline and nearly half a billion gallons of 

storage across the theater, the majority of which is either 

held in or delivered by host nation pipeline systems. If 

the warfighter in Europe is using fuel, chances are it was 

delivered by way of an FSA.”

Another example is DLA Energy’s agreement with France’s 

service des essences des armées, or SEA. An FEA is used to 

reconcile balances between the DoD and SEA by offsetting routine in-flight refueling charges of an equal dollar 

amount.

“SEA has been an invaluable partner in the heart of Africa 

for non-routine U.S. missions requiring small amounts of 

[aviation gasoline] necessary to power [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] platforms,” Lessner said.

Without the SEA and their resident knowledge of the area 

and existing support networks, DLA Energy would have 

required weeks or months to commercially procure and 

transport such small amounts, or it would have required a 

designated and costly special Air Force mission, he added.

In order to realize these benefits, a formal agreement has 

to be in place. Agreements pass through several offices for 

coordination and revision before they are finalized, but 

their first stop is with the DLA Energy Europe & Africa 

International Agreements team, which has a role throughout.

“When an agreement is due for a revision, we are the 

first to chop on it,” Lessner said. “Once it begins to route 

through the various legal counsels and divisions at [DLA 

Energy Headquarters], we monitor its progress to ensure 

that necessary language is included, or that irrelevant provisions are omitted. Furthermore, we are here to engage 

with the partner nation to address their concerns.”

Other coordination can include the combatant command 

Joint Petroleum office and DLA Energy’s Inventory Management and Supplier Operations teams deciding how an 

agreement would affect inventory levels in the theater, 

as well as DLA Energy’s Quality/Technical Support and 

Finance teams concluding that conditions in an agreement 

are satisfactory to ensure the warfighter is getting what 

they are requesting for a fair price, Lessner said.

On top of that, host nations may have to route the agreements through their own parliaments or defense cooperation offices to ensure engagement is occurring through the 

correct foreign military and political channels, he added.

“Simply put, for an agreement to be implemented, it 

requires a cast of characters, within and outside of DLA 

Energy – too many to name them all,” Lessner said.

Nations also work together and develop relationships beyond the formal agreement development process.

“Every year, DLA Energy Europe & Africa holds FEA meetings,” Lessner said. “In doing so, it isn’t just DLA Energy 

Europe & Africa that gets to interact with other NATO 

members; all of the attendees begin to exchange ideas and 

compare and contrast their parent organizations’ structures and processes.”

As a result, DLA Energy has been a role model, especially 

to developing nations, in adapting to new information 

technology systems and command and control structures, 

he said. 

“Most importantly though, just handing out a business 

With the legal framework called an Acquisition and 

Cross Servicing Agreement in place, Fuel Support 

Agreements, Fuel Exchange Agreements or Direct Bill 

Agreements are possible. DLA Energy Europe & Africa 

Liaison Officer to the United Kingdom Navy Lt. Dale 

Lessner explains the differences in agreements used in 

the region.

Fuel Support Agreements

FSAs are very precise, technical arrangements that 

give access into pipeline systems and large storage 

systems. They stipulate how the host nation is to be 

paid for the service they provide, what quality measures are expected when their personnel handles DLA 

Energy fuel, and any logistical requirements pertinent 

to transportation or delivery.

Fuel Exchange Agreements

FEAs are more widely used, and in essence allow 

DLA Energy and partner nations to trade fuel back 

and forth throughout the year and at different locations. They can be incredibly flexible and used in 

conjunction with an FSA to the benefit of both parties 

involved. For instance, a U.S. Air Force C-17 could 

land and take on fuel in the Ascension Islands and we 

could repay the United Kingdom in their Government 

Pipeline Storage System in England via a book transfer. Likewise, if an Italian navy vessel were to steam 

south and lifted marine fuel in Greece and then again 

in Djibouti, they could repay DLA Energy with aviation fuel adjusted for price differences in the Northern 

Italian Pipeline System at a later date.

Direct Bill Agreement

DBAs are the simplest agreement. Countries that 

infrequently request fuel or prefer to settle balances 

monthly are attracted to DBAs. 

No agreement?

If DLA Energy doesn’t have a formal agreement in 

place, the agency uses individual ACSA orders for both 

purchase and sale. Often, ACSA orders operate in the 

same fashion as a DBA; however, they include limitations such as shorter invoicing or payment periods, 

and some rigidity in settlement options. As U.S. 

military operational focus shifts to Eastern Europe, 

where less-developed infrastructure and supply chains 

exist, ACSA orders have become a major tool for the 

International Agreements team in building militaryto-military partnerships.

An airman prepares 

to insert an inflight refuel tester into an F-15 

Eagle at Graf Ignatievo 

Air Base, near Plovdiv, 

Bulgaria, in support 

of Thracian Eagle 

2015. When the 2014 

exercise used less fuel 

than the area’s refinery 

would support under 

a minimum lift guarantee, DLA Energy’s 

International Agreements team used an 

agreement to allow the 

Italian air force to buy 

the remaining amount. 

Photo by Master Sgt. 

Toby M. Valadie

Know your agreements
16 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 17

DLA Energy Europe & Africa

For those looking to broaden and diversify their 

career expertise, an overseas tour at Defense 

Logistics Energy Europe & Africa may be just the 

answer.

“There are 60 civilian positions at DLA Energy Europe 

& Africa headquarters at Kaiserslautern, Germany,” 

said DLA Energy Civilian Support Branch Manpower 

& Workforce Management Program Analyst Linda 

Taetsch. “The initial tour length is typically 36 months, 

and 24 months in Turkey.” 

There are 48 civilian and 12 local national positions. 

Billets at DLA Energy Europe & Africa include administrative program specialist, budget analyst, chemist, 

contracting officer, contracting officer representative, customer account specialist, deputy commander, 

director of operations, distribution facilities specialist, general supply specialist, inventory management 

specialist, logistics management specialist, management analyst, NATO representative, petroleum liaison 

officer, physical science technician, quality assurance 

specialist and traffic management specialist.

“Since October 2014, there have been approximately 

seven losses and seven gains in the Europe & Africa 

office,” Taetsch said. “So on average, rotations into 

Europe & Africa occur about once a month.” 

For those interested in pursuing an overseas tour, 

advance career planning and tracking of billets are 

necessary, Taetsch added.

“The requirements are essentially the same as applying 

for a job here at headquarters,” Taetsch said. “Depending on the position, federal overseas workers must 

meet various requirements such as a physical, security 

qualifications, tour of duty and any special qualifications.”

An individual selected for an overseas position in 

Germany will generally have to sign a transportation 

agreement and the overseas tour is approximately 36 

months, she added. 

Once personnel are filling an overseas position, they 

By Irene Smith

Overseas Tours

A KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing refuels a 354th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II above Ramstein Air Base, Germany. DLA Energy Europe & Africa’s mission is to supply the Department of Defense 

and other government agencies with comprehensive energy solutions in the most effective and efficient manner possible in its 

area of operations. Photo by Air Force Senior Airman Damon Kasberg
can renew their tour. Renewal tours are usually 12 

months or 24 months.

“In Europe, a standard tour is 36 months,” said Management and Program Analyst Trista Holmberg, who 

tracks Energy employees assigned overseas and works 

with the regions on processing their renewal tour 

extensions. “The first renewal tour can be 24 months, 

which puts them at five years. After five years, they can 

extend up to seven years.” 

Anything after seven years requires approval by DLA 

Human Resources Director Brad Bunn. 

Holmberg said Energy employees who want to do an 

overseas tour need to stay current with what is being 

offered on E-workplace. 

“Periodically check to see what potential vacancies are 

coming up and apply for the job, if interested,” she 

said. 

Several DLA Energy leaders have served in overseas 

billets and gone on to positions of increased responsibility including the DLA Energy Deputy Commander 

George Atwood.

DLA Energy Deputy Commander George Atwood is a 

proponent of the career broadening opportunities offered at DLA Energy Europe & Africa. He served as the 

DLA Energy Europe & Africa deputy director in Kaiserslautern, Germany, from May 2008 to August 2010. 

“I was looking for a promotion opportunity to work 

outside of headquarters and work in execution of a 

mission delivering fuel,” Atwood said. “I already had 

headquarters contracting experience and I wanted to 

get broader experience working directly in the theater 

supporting the combatant commands.”

As the deputy director, Atwood assisted in the execution of DLA Energy’s mission to support storage, transportation and distribution of bulk petroleum products 

for all U.S. forces and U.S.-supported missions in the 

European and African theaters. 

“The regional offices are where we execute the daily 

mission of delivering fuel,” Atwood said. “From quality assurance oversight to the day-to-day working with 

customers, planning requirements, overcoming obstacles and resolving differences in the field, these are all 

elements found working overseas.”

DLA Energy Europe & Africa Budget Analyst Krista 

Ludwigsen has been in Kaiserslauten, Germany, for 

almost three years. A military veteran and DLA Energy employee, Ludwigsen previously handled finance 

accounts payable at DLA Energy headquarters in Fort 

Belvoir, Virginia, and worked at DLA Energy Pacific in 

training and command resource management.

“Being in multiple positions, in multiple locations has 

taught me how to be a customer service, people-oriented person,” Ludwigsen said. “With constant moves, 

you learn quickly how to make yourself known to those 

you will be working with for the next few years and establish the groundwork of a great working relationship 

while you are in your position.” 

Overseas jobs offer unexpected professional and per18 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 19

DLA Energy Europe & Africa

sonal benefits. 

“There is always someone you have met along the way 

that can help you if you have questions about a certain 

subject,” Ludwigsen said. 

“I think that most of all my experiences have taught me 

to maintain those working relationships even when you 

leave one place and move onto another.” 

For Ludwigsen, one of the challenges faced in taking 

on an overseas position is communication.

“The challenge with an overseas position is understanding what the customer is asking for,” Ludwigsen 

said. “The terms we use, the military uses or a foreign 

national uses can all vary while meaning the same 

thing. I think that is the most difficult challenge that I 

face.”

Ludwigsen arrived in Germany as a result of being 

married to an airman.

“My husband is active duty Air Force so he is actually 

the reason we moved to Germany,” Ludwigsen said. 

“They told us where we were going and we embraced 

the opportunity. We love it here so much we extended 

for another year. The jobs, the schools and the friends 

we have made are all amazing and we enjoy what we 

are doing and are grateful that this is where we were 

sent.”

For Ludwigsen, the opportunity to live in Germany 

has been rewarding and enriching for both her and her 

family.

“There is always something positive about where you 

have been and where you will be going,” she said. “For 

us, DLA Energy Europe & Africa has allowed me to 

continue my career as an Energy employee, while allowing me to also be the military spouse and supporter 

that I am.”

This assignment has afforded her children a great 

education with the Department of Defense Education 

Activity Europe, as well as amazing life experiences 

that she personally would have never dreamed of when 

growing up, Ludwigsen said. 

“It is truly a remarkable place to work and live,” she 

added. 

For military officers assigned to DLA Europe & Africa, 

the opportunity to retire and stay in Europe can be a 

highly sought after opportunity.

As an Air Force major, Rob Lyon spent his last four 

years on active duty in the Air Force as the DLA Energy 

Europe & Africa Operations Center chief. Now retired, 

he works as a customer account specialist covering the 

Air Force and Army and Air Force Exchange Store accounts throughout Europe. 

“I was very fortunate to have been able to transition as 

a civilian within DLA Energy,” Lyon said. “I have never 

worked at DLA Energy headquarters as I was hired locally upon retirement from the Air Force.” 

My past experience as a former enlisted petroleum, oil 

and lubricants troop and logistics readiness officer was 

instrumental in helping to stay in Germany as a civilian, Lyon said. 

Previously, Lyon handled wholesale bulk fuel support 

at the operational and strategic levels, including supply, transportation and logistics fuel planning.

“In my current job, I assist in planning and ensuring 

support mechanisms are in place to execute operations 

and exercises throughout the European and African 

theaters,” Lyon said. “My previous four years in the 

Operations Center have given me in-depth knowledge 

of regional capabilities and our customer base and allowed me to forge working relationships with our customers and the folks back at Fort Belvoir, [Virginia,] 

who supports us here.”

For Lyon and his family, living outside the United 

States is normal. His family and he have been overseas 

now for 11 years, having been assigned in Japan prior 

to Germany. 

“For my kids, the [U.S.] is a foreign country. Two of 

them are in college and when there are in the U.S., 

they really miss life here,” he said. “We enjoy traveling and take advantage of going to [festivals,] culinary 

events and Christmas markets, along with lots of outdoor activities Germany has to offer.”

It’s absolutely gorgeous here with quaint little towns 

that have a charm of their own that make for a nice day 

trip, Lyon added. There are lots of opportunities, and 

if you’re here on a three-year assignment, you’ll find 

once you begin taking advantage of what Germany offers, three years simply isn’t enough time.

For some individuals, Germany is almost like a second 

home. DLA Energy Europe & Africa Operations Director Dan Schmidt and his wife have spent 14 of the last 

19 years overseas in Europe between his Air Force and 

DLA Energy careers.

“I’ve worked for DLA Energy Europe & Africa and DLA 

Energy Americas at San Pedro, California,” Schmidt 

A church in Wernigerode, a town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wernigerode is one of the many towns 

in Germany DLA Energy Europe & Africa employees can 

visit while stationed there. Courtesy photo
DLA Energy Europe & Africa

20 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 21

The biggest surprise in moving to Germany was the welcome we received, 

and how much you feel at home when you move here. Everyone had 

been very welcoming and they continue to be. For some people, moving 

overseas, if you have never been, can be a cultural shock, but embrace the 

changes and the challenges.

Look at a move as a chance to learn something new, experience something 

new, a way to round yourself out, and to better understand the bigger 

picture and your individual role in it. 

– DLA Energy Europe & Africa Budget Analyst Krista 

Ludwigsen

I’ve always enjoyed living overseas and experiencing new cultures, sights 

and food. 

As with any move to a foreign country, you have to adjust to the culture 

and their laws, which may be different from what we have in the U.S. For 

example, in Germany, you have to recycle, stores are not open late like in 

the U.S. and things may move a little slower than we are accustomed to, 

but the opportunities that are available while living in Europe make the 

challenges well worth it. 

Other things to consider are what to bring and what not to bring, from 

large appliances to small kitchen and electronic devices since the voltage 

in Germany is different. 

As always when moving, you get rid of things on one end and then have to 

replace them when you get to your new location ... that’s one drawback. 

Another challenge is trying to provide continuity for my kids in school 

and not uproot them every few years. I’ve been lucky with that thus far. I 

had lived in Germany before so the transition wasn’t difficult. Everything 

just requires advance planning and preparation.

– DLA Energy Europe & Africa Customer Account Specialist 

Rob Lyon 

You are a representative of the United States in Germany. You are an ambassador. You will be afforded countless opportunities to make a positive 

impression. 

One way to make an immediate positive impression is to learn and use 

the language. Even though I don’t consider myself to be remotely fluent in 

German, the experience is much richer when you can comprehend what’s 

going on around you and communicate. Even just trying to communicate 

in German is appreciated by the Germans and makes a positive impression. 

– DLA Energy Europe & Africa Director of Operations Dan 

Schmidt 

Shared Insights

said. “This is my fourth tour of duty in Germany and 

my third tour with DLA Energy Europe & Africa in 

Germany.”

Schmidt’s first tour was as an airman working with 

Defense Energy Supply Center Europe in Wiesbaden.

“I was a mid-level U.S. Air Force major and chief of 

the Operations Division,” Schmidt said. “Between 9/11, 

Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Task Force Restore Iraqi Oil, a deployment to 

Baghdad, Iraq as the Defense Energy Support CenterIraq commander and the establishment of the Northern Iraq ground line of communication in Turkey, I 

experienced a tremendous amount about how this 

great organization works and rises to any challenge.” 

As a result of his Air Force time, Schmidt knew he 

wanted to return to DLA Energy as a civilian employee. 

“My wife has accompanied me on all my European 

tours,” Schmidt said. “Even though we really enjoyed 

San Pedro, California, and DLA Energy Americas, we 

were kind of homesick for Germany and the entire 

European experience and lifestyle. We enjoy the fact 

we can jump in the car and be in France, Belgium, 

Luxembourg or Holland in 1 to 2 hours or jump on a 

high-speed train or a plane and be virtually anywhere 

in Europe in a few hours. Each country has its own 

unique character and offers a wide-range of different 

experiences.” 

The challenges working overseas in Germany can be 

many, Schmidt said.

“Be prepared to engage on a wide-variety of everchanging issues, the sheer variety of issues one encounters working with our NATO and European allies 

and emerging partners in Africa constantly challenges 

one to learn something new every week,” Schmidt said.

“There’s a huge amount of history and context to 

comprehend behind every challenge. Understanding 

these challenges within a historical context is the key 

to developing solutions.” 

Schmidt offered the following advice for those thinking 

about an overseas tour.

“Be prepared to be part of the high-performance 

team,” Schmidt said. “Everybody 

that’s here volunteered to be here. 

This basic fact results in exceptionally 

high-performing, enthusiastic team 

players.”

Collaboration with headquarters is 

crucial, he said.

“Be prepared to collaborate extensively with DLA Energy headquarters 

within a foreshortened business day,” 

Schmidt said. “Nothing happens in 

isolation. Virtually all of DLA Energy 

headquarters business units contribute to the progress and success of DLA 

Energy Europe & Africa.”

Schmidt, Lyon and Ludwigsen all 

agree that there is a degree of cultural 

adjustment when living in Germany.

For Schmidt, living overseas has 

become easier with technological 

advances. 

With a high-speed Internet connection, various social media platforms 

and relatives and friends visiting 

Germany, Schmidt said he and his 

family experience a much greater 

sense of connectedness than back in 

the 1990’s. 

“Between our families and our U.S. 

German and international friends, we 

host and enjoy a constant stream of 

visitors,” he said.

For Schmidt, living in Germany continues to surprise him.

“The Germany my wife and I experienced in the mid-1980’s as exchange 

students at the University of Trier at 

the height of the Cold War, are distinctly different than the Germany 

of today; yet, the Germans remain 

grounded in their traditions, festivals, 

seasons and general way of life.”

DLA Energy six month and 12 month 

overseas vacancy job information can 

be found on E-Workplace at https://

eworkplace.dla.mil/sites/c12/N536/

Pages/DLA_Energy_Jobs.aspx.

People walk the streets of the historical center of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Germany offers friends and family of 

DLA Energy Europe & Africa employees a place to visit and experience a different culture. Courtesy photo
“QARs are on-site whenever an ocean-going tanker delivers product to the facility.”

In addition, the Regional Inventory Management team is 

responsible for working with the contractor to properly 

record and document fuel inventories, shipments, receipts, 

sales and other transactions, he added. 

The Inventory Management team is the primary customer contact point to lift fuel from the DFSP. Customers 

include Defense Department customers, as well as foreign 

militaries with Fuel Exchange Agreements or other arrangements with DoD. 

“Through the FEA program, DLA Energy has provided fuel 

to France, Canada, Japan, Germany, Spain, Turkey and 

the U.K.,” Cook said. “In addition, DLA Energy has also 

supported Sweden and Ukraine through an Acquisition 

Cross Servicing Agreement.”

The Inventory Management team coordinates delivery of 

fuel for the customer with the terminal, Bekele said.

Another team is the region’s contracting team. 

It acts as the primary contact for contract interpretation 

issues and to interface between the contractor and the 

chief of Bulk Petroleum Supply Chain Services at DLA 

Energy headquarters, he added.

“The contract is awarded and administered back at Fort 

Belvoir, Virginia, and [as a contract specialist] when there 

are specific issues with the administration of the contract 

that’s where I get involved,” said Bekele. “I will go and discuss with the [contractor] about things like payment issues 

and other issues.” 

Overall, DFSP Djibouti plays a big role in the overall DLA 

Energy mission because of its location and there is a lot of 

activity in the Horn of Africa where it is located. 

“The location is considered very strategic because it’s close 

to the Red Sea, and it’s on the crossroads of major shipping lanes,” Bekele said.

22 www.energy.dla.mil www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 23

DLA Energy Europe & Africa

Standing Alone

Standing alone, Defense Fuel Support Point Djibouti 

is the only intermediate fuel point on the continent of 

Africa. 

The DFSP is a commercially owned-commercially operated terminal, and its mission is to receive, store, protect 

and ship F76 and JP5 in the Port of Djibouti, said Samuel 

Cook, DLA Energy Europe & Africa liaison officer to United 

States Africa Command. 

“We have total of four tanks there,” said Samuel Bekele, 

DLA Energy Europe & Africa contract specialist. “There are 

two for F76 and two for JP5.” 

During calendar year 2014, 30 million gallons of F76 and 

1.3 million gallons of JP5 were issued from DFSP Djibouti 

to U.S. allies.

“DFSP [Djibouti] primarily supports the U.S. Navy’s fleet 

requirements in the Horn of Africa,” Cook said.

The terminal started operations in September 2005 just 

after construction was completed. The performance period 

for the current DLA Energy contract is February 23, 2011 

through February 22, 2016. 

The facility stores 600,000 barrels of DLA Energy-owned 

fuel and receives fuel from ocean going tankers, barges, or 

U.S. Navy fleet oilers. In addition, the facility ships fuel to 

ocean-going tankers, barges, U.S. Navy fleet oilers or other 

fleet vessels. Lastly, the facility provides tank truck loading capability to transport JP5 by ground to locations in 

Djibouti. 

This facility is an intermediate fuels storage depot and 

is part of a worldwide network of DFSPs that support 

warfighter fuel requirements which contributes to the 

overall success of DLA Energy’s mission, Cook said. 

“Overall, the terminal is a key part of the commercial market in East Africa and is the import point for Djiboutian 

and Ethiopian domestic fuel markets,” Cook said. 

DFSP Djibouti is located on the Bab el Mandeb strait, 

which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

By Jonathan Stack

“This area is critically important to global oil transit and is a 

crossroad of major shipping lanes,” Cook said. “The facility 

lies near the AFRICOM and [United States Central Command] boundary lines and provides maritime fuel support 

to support both [combatant commands’ requirements] as 

well as maritime support for transiting vessels to and from 

[United States European Command] area of responsibility.”

In order for the DFSP to support the COCOMs in accomplishing its mission, LNOs play a role. 

“As a LNO, my role with the DFSP is to help our customers 

understand the terminal’s capabilities so that information 

can be integrated into plans to meet requirements associated with missions, activities and exercises,” Cook said. “On 

the opposite side, my interaction with [contractors] helps 

ensure they understand customer requirements and to 

facilitate greater cooperation overall between the terminal 

and DLA Energy. 

Other employees also have functional roles within the 

DFSP. 

“For example, our quality assurance representatives have 

direct quality surveillance oversight to ensure the contractor maintains the quality of DLA-owned fuel,” Cook said. 

Navy sailors from Coastal Riverine Squadron One patrol the waters of East Africa, providing security for service members 

supporting Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, in Djibouti, Africa. The Navy uses Defense Fuel Support Point Djibouti as one option for its fuel needs in the region. Photo by Air Force Senior Airman Alexandra Minor
We are DLA

24 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 25

Lanny Collums had been in Liberia less than a week 

when he saw her. She laid helpless at a bus stop 

half a mile from his temporary quarters, where he 

was lucky if he got five hours of sleep before resuming the 

search for fuel direly needed by those fighting the deadly 

Ebola virus in West Africa. Five days later, she was still 

there.

“We drive by every day and hope that there is a change 

but not so far. Approximately 50 beds become available 

every day at the Ebola treatment units here, but there 

are 150 to 200 people outside the fence needing a bed. It 

will get worse before it gets better,” he wrote in a Sept. 30 

Facebook post updating friends and family on the Defense 

Logistics Agency’s push to get critical supplies into the 

country.

On the 10th day, the woman’s lifeless body was removed 

and the bus stop decontaminated. For Collums, it underscored the urgency of Operation United Assistance, the 

Defense Department operation supporting the U.S. Agency 

for International Development-led effort to end a virus 

that had already killed thousands.

DLA’s mission was to pre-position material so troops could 

start building 17 Ebola treatment units as soon as they arrived. The agency worked with U.S. Army Africa Command 

officials and federal partners like USAID with such speed 

and scale that initial supplies were on the ground by early 

October. Overall, the agency provided building materials 

such as plumbing and electrical gear, lumber and fencing, 

as well as personal protective equipment, maps, tents, cots, 

water, food and fuel. 

Collums, who has been a quality assurance representative 

for DLA Energy in Europe and Africa since 1984, said supporting OUA was “one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done.” 

By Beth Reece

“The biggest challenge was trying to do a miracle in a short 

timeframe,” he said. “Once you came up with a solution for 

one problem, there were five or six people waiting to drop 

even more needs on you. We just never stopped.”

DLA Europe & Africa Commander Army Col. Elizabeth 

Delbridge-Keough was the first agency representative on 

the ground. She was already on a plane heading to Liberia 

with USAFRICOM officials when President Barack Obama 

announced the plan to send 3,000 troops there. Other 

DLA Europe & Africa employees were just days behind 

her.

“It allowed DLA to be flexible and responsive. We’re such 

Fighting

Ebola

a big animal, and we’re usually not first into the theater,” 

she said.

Randy Scharberg, a logistics planner for DLA Troop Support stationed in Rota, Spain, deployed to ensure building materials coming into country were what engineers 

needed to build ETUs. He compared the units to makeshift 

camping areas with six to eight buildings used for everything from medical treatment to showering. 

Architectural designs for the ETUs were created in the 

1970s when Ebola was first identified. Although they were 

never completed, the designs called for more than 400 different items. Many of them were wrong. 

“Army engineers who were actually doing the building were 

beating us up daily because they were getting stuff in the 

wrong dimensions or getting parts that just weren’t suitable 

for an ETU. Every time a patient was cured in one of the 

buildings, for example, it would have to be washed down 

and sanitized, so all the switches had to be waterproof. That 

wasn’t in the original plan,” Scharberg said.

Airmen assigned to the 633rd Medical Group begin construction on the Monrovia Medical Unit site in Monrovia, Liberia. 

DLA provided building materials such as plumbing and electrical gear, lumber and fencing. Photo by Private 1st Class Craig 

Philbrick
18,000-gallon containers that were shipped to Liberia 

aboard the MV Vega. The Vega is the first commercial 

cargo vessel ever chartered by DLA and was used to send 

690 20-foot containers of supplies to the area.

DLA Disposition Services also contributed to OUA by 

helping service members get rid of excess equipment 

and hazardous items such as antifreeze and oil. Air Force 

Master Sgt. Jessica Kiser was the first from the activity to 

arrive in Liberia, where she was responsible for finding a 

location to set up disposal operations and for letting units 

know services were available. 

Kiser was followed in November by Army Sgt. 1st Class 

Tirso Sepulveda, who helped create contracts with local 

companies that could properly dispose of hazardous material. He also served as a bridge between units with excess 

equipment and those who needed it. 

“For example, the 101st Airborne Division contacted me to 

say they had 200 cots they wanted to get rid of. After confirming they weren’t broken or contaminated, I had another 

unit come to me because they were in need of cots, so I put 

them in touch with each other,” he said. 

OUA began without an end-date, but the response from international aid workers was so great the number of Ebola 

cases dropped before troops were able to build all 17 ETUs. 

Officials reduced the ETUs to 10, and in February, Pentagon officials announced that nearly all DoD personnel 

would be home by the end of April. On March 5, The New 

York Times reported that the last known Ebola patient in 

Liberia had been discharged. 

26 www.energy.dla.mil Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 27

We are DLA

The treatment units were built and turned over to USAID 

on schedule, he added, but only because DLA Troop Support contractors quickly found the right parts in Dubai or 

the United States and had the shipments expedited.

Getting food and water to numerous locations in Liberia 

from Senegal, where it was delivered via C-747s or C-17s, 

was another challenge. The airfield in Liberia is too small 

to accommodate those aircraft, so shipping containers had 

to be transferred to much smaller C-130s for movement to 

Liberia. 

“It takes about 10 C-130s to carry what a C-747 can hold, 

so we had pilots flying back and forth continuously to get 

containers off the tarmac in Senegal and over to those who 

needed it in Liberia,” Scharberg said.

Driving it to customers scattered across 10 locations in 

Liberia was even harder.

“Looking at a map, you’d expect it to take two or three 

hours to get a 20-foot container from one location to 

another, but if a driver left the warehouse at 8 or 9 a.m., he 

might not get there until the next day. Most of the roads in 

Liberia are made out of mud, so every time it rained, the 

road would wash away,” he added.

Collums arrived in Liberia already knowing the mission 

would be unlike others he’d supported, because contingency plans hadn’t been completed by the time DoD 

personnel began arriving. He also knew that fuel would be 

in high demand because with no working power grid in the 

country, it would be needed to feed hundreds of generators that kept treatment facilities and military operation 

centers running. 

“When we got down there, we immediately started trying 

to figure out what the infrastructure in the country was, 

what we were going to be needing and how we were going 

to get around the constraints that were there,” he said. 

Contracts bringing fuel into the country were established 

within days, but Collums and Navy Lt. Dale Lessner, also 

with DLA Energy Europe & Africa, found themselves 

scouring local communities for storage containers. Although the camps where soldiers lived and worked required 20 to 30 generators, most units didn’t have a way of 

storing fuel to power them.

“They brought 1,000 gallon bags with them, but those 

could hold only enough fuel to run two generators for twoand-a-half or three days before they needed to be refilled. 

And unfortunately, they didn’t bring any trucks or soldiers 

to do that,” Collums said.

DLA Energy hired a local trucking company to deliver 

fuel to camps seven days a week, while DLA Europe & 

Africa employees in Kaiserslautern, Germany, found 30 

The Gbediah Ebola treatment unit was the last ETU to be built by Joint Forces Command–United Assistance. DLA began 

prepositioning material in September so troops could build treatment units as soon as they arrived. Army Staff Sgt. Terrance 

Rhodes

Service members and civilians deployed to Liberia to support Operation United Assistance enter a tent that was delivered to 

the country by DLA. Courtesy photo of the Army

An Air Force Mobile command and control technician from 

Joint Task Force-Port Opening conducts a preventive maintenance inspection on an antenna during Operation United 

Assistance. DLA relied heavily on aircraft such as C-130s to 

get equipment from the tarmac in Senegal to service members’ locations in Libera. Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Sara 

Keller

When the operation began, Keough predicted DLA would 

have people on the ground for at least a year. That timeline has shrunk, but her employees will continue to support missions throughout the continent. 

“Africa is a critical place in the world today. We’ll continue 

to have a strategic mission there far into the future,” she 

said. 
28 www.energy.dla.mil

Energy Expansion

By Sara Moore

Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 29

Energy

Even as Defense Logistics 

Agency Energy participated 

in the headline-grabbing fight 

against Ebola in Africa, it supported 

a vital training and exercise expansion in Europe aimed at increasing 

regional stability. 

DLA Energy has been using its years 

of experience supporting U.S. forces 

in Europe to participate in Operation 

Atlantic Resolve, a series of exercises that began in April 2014 and is 

expanding to various sites in Eastern 

Europe and the Baltic states. The 

exercise is part of the European Reassurance Initiative, which started in 

March 2014 and is aimed at reassuring allies of the U.S. commitment to 

security and stability in the region.

“This shift to Eastern Europe is essentially the cutting edge focus of what 

we’re doing right now,” said Daniel 

Schmidt, director of operations for 

DLA Energy Europe & Africa. “This is 

definitely the combatant command’s 

priority.”

DLA Energy has supported Operation 

Atlantic Resolve since the beginning, 

but the activity began expanding its 

support in September 2014 as the 

exercise moved north into Poland and 

the Baltic States of Lithuania, Estonia 

and Latvia, said Army Maj. Stefan 

Bandas, director of the customer 

operations center for DLA Energy Europe & Africa. DLA Energy supported 

four fuel sites until March, when it 

added another site in Latvia. Later 

that month, additional sites were 

stood up in Romania and Bulgaria to 

provide fuel support to forces there, 

he added. 

At all these sites, DLA Energy provides fuel through a variety of mechanisms, Bandas said. In some locations, DLA Energy uses host-nation 

support, in which DLA identifies and 

forecasts product volumes and the 

host nation provides the product, 

helping to build partnerships, he said. 

Other options are direct-delivery 

contracts or simply transporting 

DLA-owned fuel from one location 

to another location where a training 

event is occurring. 

“Our mission is to fulfill the warfighter’s requirements, regardless of where 

it is,” Bandas said. “We find a way to 

bridge the gap based on their requirements and capabilities so that they 

can accomplish their mission.”

Although they represent only a fraction of the $1.75 billion of fuel contracts DLA Energy Europe & Africa 

issues each year, the direct delivery 

contracts that support these exercises 

represent some of DLA Energy’s most 

vital and challenging work, Schmidt 

said. The exercises usually require 

much smaller amounts of fuel than 

Energy routinely provides to the 

major operating bases in the region, 

he noted, but it must be delivered to 

countries that often don’t have the 

infrastructure or resources to support 

delivery and storage. In Eastern Europe in particular, DLA does not have 

an established defense fuel support 

point to draw from, and the sources 

for military-specification fuel, or JP8 

jet fuel, are limited. 

To overcome these challenges, DLA 

Energy often works with the host 

nations to keep U.S. and host forces 

supplied, Schmidt said. In some countries, like Poland and Lithuania, the 

host nations are able to help support 

U.S. forces in addition to their own, 

he said. In other cases, international 

fuel exchange agreements allow the 

U.S. and host nations to trade fuel 

back and forth as the need arises. The 

exchanges under these agreements 

usually balance out by the end of 

the year, he said, and they allow for 

a quick way to keep forces supplied 

during an exercise.

“It’s just a method that we don’t have 

to go out and procure or acquire a fuel 

source within a country when there’s 

already a host-nation support structure there for us,” he said. 

A recent development in contractor availability could soon help DLA 

Energy overcome the challenge of 

providing military-specification fuel 

to forces in Eastern Europe, Schmidt 

said. The agency is working with a 

new contractor who is able to take 

commercial jet fuel, which is readily 

available in the region, and inject the 

necessary additives to bring it up to 

military specifications, and deliver 

it on a destination basis throughout 

Eastern Europe. 

“We’re getting that contractor stood 

up right now, and we’re extremely 

hopeful that this will be a major turning point in supporting Eastern Europe, with JP8 virtually on demand,” 

Schmidt said. 

In addition to supporting the exercises under Operation Atlantic 

Resolve, which are part of the 50-70 

exercises DLA Energy supports in the 

region each year, DLA Energy Europe 

& Africa supports four major combatant commands, manages 59 DFSPs, 

is embedded with 28 NATO nations 

and participates in five major 

pipeline systems to move fuel. The 

partnership with NATO is a longestablished one and includes not 

only cooperation on the ground 

during exercises, but also policy 

and administration support at 

NATO headquarters. 

Hank Tomlin, the DLA Energy 

liaison officer embedded at NATO 

headquarters, works closely with 

the organization’s petroleum committee on petroleum-product policies. He is also part of the contingent that represents the U.S. to the 

Central European Pipeline System, 

the largest of 10 NATO pipeline 

systems, which serves five nations 

and U.S. facilities in Germany. The 

U.S. is the largest military customer 

of CEPS, using it to move fuel to its 

major installations in Germany, and 

also contributes financially to keep 

the system running, Tomlin said. 

Using the CEPS is vital to keeping fuel running quickly through 

Europe without major disruption 

to transportation infrastructure, so 

it’s important for the U.S. and DLA 

Energy to have representation on 

the various committees that manage its maintenance, infrastructure, 

engineering and business, he said. 

“Without the CEPS, DLA Energy 

would have to contract for tanker 

trucks, and it would probably be 

impossible to move these volumes 

of fuel via trucks or barges without causing massive traffic jams,” 

Tomlin said. “The impact on the 

local communities, the environmental issues with moving fuel in 

trucks like that would make it very 

unpopular in Europe. The viability of DLA Energy supporting the 

An Air Force Thunderbolt II aircraft participates in a theater security package at RAF 

Lakenheath, England. Theater security packages are Air Force deployments of aircraft 

and personnel in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. A challenge DLA Energy faces 

in Eastern Europe is finding sources of military-specification jet fuel. Photo by Air Force 

Airman 1st Class Trevor McBride
We are DLA

30 www.energy.dla.mil

Energy

Energy Source l SUMMER 2015 31

One Face

The face of Defense Logistics Agency Energy ...

Mission: To assist military customers in the 

procurement of DLA fuel products via bulk, direct 

delivery or contingency contracting sources. Operations 

officers in the Joint Logistics Operations Center provide 

operational oversight with all fuel missions within 

the United States European Command and United 

States Africa Command areas of responsibility while 

the customer account specialists continue customer 

support with ordering and invoicing assistance with 

all non-capitalized fuel products, ensuring successful 

petroleum, oils and lubricants support to the 

warfighters.

Customer Operations

DLA Energy Europe & Africa

Germany

U.S. military mission in Europe relies 

on using the CEPS.”

DLA Energy partners with NATO in 

many other ways, including through the 

NATO Support Agency and at the headquarters level for maintaining standards for fuel and lubricant quality and 

equipment handling and installation, 

Tomlin said. In all these interactions, 

he said, collaboration and understanding different processes and needs is 

important. 

Schmidt echoed Tomlin’s sentiment, 

noting that working with each nation 

can bring different challenges, but 

the U.S. forces benefit greatly from 

operating with the foreign services, so 

DLA is committed to keeping those 

partnerships strong.

“They learn to operate together and 

when they exercise together, they 

learn each others’ ways, and the U.S. 

forces learn how to function with their 

respective army, air force and navy,” 

Schmidt said. 

As the European Reassurance Initiative and Operation Atlantic Resolve 

continue, Schmidt said he anticipates 

maintaining and even expanding 

DLA Energy’s support in the region. 

And with international partnerships 

that grow stronger with each exercise 

and a potential new contractor for 

military-specification fuel, the future 

looks bright for DLA Energy in Europe, he said.

“I’ve dealt with exercises in Eastern 

Europe for well over 10 years now, 

and they’ve always been challenging, 

but we’re very hopeful with this new 

contract that we have ... it’s going to 

be a huge step forward for us,” he 

said. 

An Army Stryker armored vehicle moves to an objective during a combined live-fire exercise with members of the Latvian Land 

Forces at the AĀdaži Training Area in Latvia as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. DLA Energy Europe & Africa is supporting 

Europe-based U.S. Army units that were deployed to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to conduct bilateral military exercises and reinforce NATO security commitments to the host nations. Photo by Army Staff Sgt. Pablo Piedra

A soldier checks the engine of a 

Stryker armored vehicle during 

Operation Atlantic Resolve in Mihail 

Kogălniceanu, Romania. DLA Energy 

Europe & Africa is supporting U.S. 

forces participating in OAR. Photo by 

Army Sgt. William Tanner

International Agreements

DLA Energy Europe & Africa

Germany

Inventory Management 

DLA Energy Europe & Africa

Germany

Mission: The International Agreements team is the 

interface between DLA Energy Europe & Africa and 

partner nations’ fuels specialists, host nation fuel 

system management and Department of Defense and 

Department of State missions across Europe and Africa. 

International Agreements integrates and synchronizes 

pipeline and storage systems owned and operated by 

foreign nations into DLA Energy’s European supply 

chains via Fuel Support Agreements. 

Mission: The Inventory Management branch develops, 

coordinates and implements the DLA Energy Inventory 

Management Plan that supports the petroleum logistics 

management, including supply accountability, quality, 

facility, inventory, transportation and distribution 

management for DLA-owned fuel throughout Europe 

and Africa. The branch oversees 450 million gallons 

of Defense Working Capital Fund petroleum product 

stored in five major pipelines systems and 448 fuel 

tanks throughout the area of responsibility.
DLA Energy

2014 Factbook

Available now at

www.energy.dla.mil