LOGLINES

UNIQUE MISSIONS

OF THE DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MAY – JUNE 2011
DIRECTOR

At the Defense Logistics Agency, we 

are centrally focused on providing 

world-class warfighter support. 

As America’s combat logistics support 

agency, we understand what it takes to 

keep the nation’s armed forces ready 

during times of peace and during 

contingency operations. 

Coming into our sixth decade of 

service to the nation’s warfighters, we’re 

taking stock of our efforts to ensure we can 

continue to provide the full spectrum of 

logistics support to the armed forces in an 

era of increasingly constrained resources 

and changing mission requirements. 

Navy Vice Adm. Alan S. Thompson, SC, USN

Director, Defense Logistics Agency

from the

This year we have seen unprecedented pressure on Defense Department 

budgets and a steady increase in demand 

for our support. We continue to support 

the responsible drawdown in Iraq and 

sustain the larger force in Afghanistan, 

while also adjusting course to support coalition operations in Libya and 

humanitarian aid to our allies in Japan. 

DLA is agile, flexible and ready to 

shoulder these challenges to ensure 

warfighters stay mission-ready at 

stations around the world. And while our 

partners in the military services and our 

industry stakeholders are familiar with 

the highly visible parts of DLA’s global 

mission, within this great agency exist 

unique and varied activities that don’t 

always receive the spotlight. 

Operations like that of DLA’s 

parachute riggers, located at DLA 

Distribution Susquehanna, Pa., who are 

meeting increased demand for critical 

Headquarters, 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. Alan S. Thompson

DLA Vice Director

Mae E. DeVincentis 

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

Art Director Paul Henry Crank

Visual Information Specialist 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 DLA. Contents of this 

publication are not necessarily the official views of, or 

endorsed by, the U.S. government, the Department 

of Defense or the Defense Logistics Agency. 

Loglines is prepared electronically, using desktop 

publishing applications; no commercial typesetting costs are involved. Photos not credited are 

courtesy of agency sources. Submissions and correspondence may be sent to the following address:

LOGLINES

Official Flagship Publication of the Defense Logistics Agency

cargo parachutes used to airdrop needed 

supplies to warfighters in Afghanistan. 

Or the work of DLA Intelligence team 

members, who provide relevant, 

logistics-leaning intelligence so agency 

leaders can make informed, strategic 

decisions. And the contributions of DLA 

Energy defense fuel support point team 

members, who ensure warfighters have 

fuel when and where they need it.

There is important, real-time work 

taking place throughout DLA, both in 

the spotlight and behind the scenes, that 

spans the full-spectrum of logistics support. Our team members have a heightened awareness to protect, conserve 

and responsibly consume resources and 

fine-tune agency processes to ensure 

logistics excellence. 

We give best-in-class, end-to-end 

logistics service because we know 

that our performance is linked to our 

warfighting partners’ mission success. 

www.facebook.com/dla.mil

www.twitter.com/dlamil

www.dla.mil
Loglines l May - June 2011 1

CONTENTS

Rigger-ous Support 2

DLA Distribution’s Aerial Delivery and Textile Section makes sure 

cargo parachutes are ready for Afghanistan.

Worldwide Intelligence 6

DLA Intelligence delivers relevant, logistics-based intel and support 

to agency leaders and team members.

Stamp of Approval 8

The qualification program at DLA Land and Maritime ensures 

weapons systems get the military-grade parts they need. 

Fueling the Warfighter 12

Troops come to DLA Energy’s defense fuel support points anywhere 

they are to fuel up for crucial missions and training.

Feeding the Spirit 16

DLA’s chaplain helps manage the Ecclesiastical Supply Program, 

delivering spiritual items to DoD chaplains and the troops they serve.

Full Circle 18

A DLA Disposition services team is helping make sure the right gear 

comes home as troops withdraw from Iraq and the right gear is left 

behind.

Help Wanted: Vets Needed 20

Veterans are looking for jobs. DLA Human Resources has a number 

of programs that can help them find one.

Keep ‘em Training 32

DLA Energy Americas West fuels some of DoD’s biggest training events.

We are DLA 22

A Conversation with ... 26

DLA NewsWire 	 29

Money Matters	 30

I am DLA Back Cover

DEPARTMENTS

May - June 2011

pg 2

pg 12

pg 32

pg 18

UNIQUE MISSIONS

OF THE DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
2 www.dla.mil

F

Rigger-ous 

Support

2 www.dla.mil

Until last year, the riggers had to 

inspect and pack most of the cargo 

parachutes they shipped to customers 

in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, nearly 

all of the parachutes used for resupply 

missions in Afghanistan are newer versions 

designed for one-time use and are already 

packed by the manufacturer, so customers 

can immediately attach them to loaded 

containers and drop them from aircraft. 

The new parachute has removed 

some of the burden of packing thousands 

of parachutes each month, but the 

group also carries the responsibility for 

repairing cargo and personnel parachutes 

for the entire Defense Department. 

The Navy and Air Force especially rely 

on DLA’s help, Barnes said, because 

their rigger units don’t have standard 

maintenance sections like most of those 

in the Army.

Damaged equipment that comes 

into the warehouse is first spread out on 

a light table, where riggers can clearly 

inspect every inch and seam. 

“It takes at least an hour to inspect 

a personnel parachute and you need to 

have two people to do it. Multi-use cargo 

parachutes take three people three hours 

to inspect,” Barnes said. “There’s a lot to 

look at, and one flaw can affect how the 

parachute performs.”

The riggers then calculate a cost 

estimate that includes the number of hours 

needed to repair the parachute and the 

cost of labor and materials. The price of 

one parachute can range from $3,500 to 

$9,000 depending on whether it’s a cargo 

parachute or personnel parachute, so most 

customers prefer repair over disposal. 

Barnes referred to the recent 

modification of a specific type of parachute 

assembly as a good example of the repairs 

his team can make. The type of line called 

for in the original manufacturing contract 

made the parachutes difficult to pack.

To pack a personnel parachute for 

use, riggers stow the suspension lines 

back and forth through loops located on 

the harness. The lines being used, however, were too silky to easily pass through 

the loops’ rough material.

“I’m a pretty quick packer. I can 

pack a personnel parachute in about 10 

minutes or less, but it was taking me 45 

minutes to pack one of these, and it left 

me drenched in sweat,” he said.

 Many riggers also injured their wrists 

and shoulders from exerting so much 

force to get the lines through the stow 

loops, he added.

Deborah McNaughton, one of team’s 

fabric workers, spent months replacing 

the lines. “It took me all day to repair just 

F

or every cargo parachute his team 

supplies to troops in Afghanistan, 

Army Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin 

Barnes figures several lives are 

potentially saved. 

“Afghanistan is so remote and 

rugged that it doesn’t make sense to 

hazard Soldiers’ lives by putting them on 

convoys to deliver toilet paper or fuel; 

they’re likely to get shot at. It’s much 

easier to just airdrop the supplies in,” 

said Barnes, noncommissioned officer in 

charge of the Aerial Delivery and Textile 

Section at Defense Logistics Agency 

Distribution Susquehanna, Pa.

The unit is the only one of its kind 

in DLA and is responsible for receiving, 

maintaining and shipping cargo 

parachutes for use by all U.S. service 

members during contingency operations. 

“With two wars going on, we’ve 

been supplying warfighters with packed 

parachutes for 10 years now,” he said. 

The parachutes are in high demand 

in Afghanistan and are used to airdrop 

everything from ammunition to repair 

parts at secluded outposts where nearby 

roads either don’t exist or pose such 

dangers as roadside bombs. Recent troop 

increases in Afghanistan now require the 

team to supply more than 2,500 cargo 

parachutes each month. 

Story by Beth Reece
Loglines l May - June 2011 3

Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin C. Holmes 

inspects the lines of a personnel 

parachute for the Aerial Delivery and 

Textile Section at Defense Logistics 

Agency Distribution Susquehanna, Pa.

— Photo by Beth Reece

Loglines l May - June 2011 3
4 www.dla.mil

two of these, removing the old ... lines 

and putting new ones on,” she said. 

The team also gets occasional 

requests for help from neighboring DLA 

Distribution Susquehanna workers 

packing pallets of critically needed 

supplies that are headed straight for 

Afghanistan, added Army Chief Warrant 

Officer 3 Anthony Hall, chief of the 

Aerial Delivery and Textile Section. 

When orders for construction material 

peaked in 2010, the riggers helped pack 

about 200 air pallets, he said, sometimes 

working seven days a week.

The eight Soldiers on his team are 

often in the public spotlight, Barnes said.

“We’re like the rangers of the 

Quartermaster Corps, but we couldn’t get 

the job done without the 10 civilians on 

staff,” he said. 

The civilian team includes two fabric 

workers, one sewing-machine mechanic, 

four parachute packers, two warehousemen and a supervisor. 

The Soldiers are all parachute riggers 

who have undergone specialized training 

to pack, maintain and repair parachutes. 

Only a handful of Soldiers get the chance 

to serve as a DLA rigger, Barnes said. 

“Less than three percent of our career 

field has an opportunity to serve here 

during a 20-year career period. It’s really 

an eye opener,” he added. “In very few 

units do riggers have the opportunity to 

work with civilians, and nowhere else in 

the military are riggers responsible for 

$600 million of inventory.” 

Barnes and Hall were both handpicked 

for the job, and junior Soldiers are usually 

nominated based on their skill sets. 

To become an Army parachute rigger, 

Soldiers must first earn the Parachutist 

The parachutes are in high demand in Afghanistan and are 

used to airdrop everything from ammunition to repair parts at 

secluded outposts where nearby roads either don’t exist or 

pose such dangers as roadside bombs.

Fabric worker Deborah McNaughton replaces 

suspension lines on a personnel parachute.

DLA’s Aerial Delivery and Textile Section 

receives, maintains and ships cargo parachutes 

used to deliver food and other supplies to 

warfighters serving in contingency operations.

Army Spc. Micah E. Clare

Beth Reece
Loglines

l May - June 2011

5

Badge at the U.S. Army Airborne School 

at Fort Benning, Ga. Airborne Soldiers 

must then jump quarterly to continue 

being airborne qualified. Hall said this 

staff jumps monthly.

Soldiers assigned to the Aerial 

Delivery and Textile Section must also 

be jumpmaster qualified, a status that 

requires more specialized training and 

is ordinarily reserved for experienced 

jumpers. Jumpmasters ensure safety 

by inspecting jumpers for equipment 

deficiencies and giving jump commands 

in the aircraft. 

“It’s a lot of responsibility because if 

anything goes wrong during the jump, 

you’re the one who is accountable,” 

Barnes added. “But the skills of a jump-

master come in particularly handy here, 

where we have such a small group and 

are required to do technical inspections 

of parachutes.”

The riggers pack the personnel 

parachutes they use to conduct their own 

jumps, and recently completed training 

on packing procedures for the new 

Maneuverable Canopy 6 parachute that 

they’ll soon begin using to maintain their 

jumpmaster status. 

Demetrios Paliometros joined the 

team in January after seven years as an 

Army parachute rigger at Fort Bragg, 

N.C. Now a civilian, Paliometros said the 

job allows him to continue enjoying the 

camaraderie he experienced as a Soldier.

“The team works well together, and 

this is a great work environment,” he 

said. “Plus, I still get to work with para-

chutes. What’s not to like?” 

Jesse Kiner packs a personnel parachute 

at the Aerial Delivery and Textile Section. 

The unit is responsible for repairing cargo 

and personnel parachutes for the entire 

Department of Defense.

Beth Reece
6 www.dla.mil

Story by Jonathan Stack

A

s the Defense Logistics Agency 

operates around the clock 

all over the world, the DLA 

Intelligence staff is responsible 

for ensuring agency employees 

have accurate, current knowledge and 

assessments of worldwide events.

The responsibilities of both the 

intelligence and security portions of DLA 

Intelligence were handled by various 

agency activities before the organization 

was established in September 2010. It 

became clear to DLA senior leaders that in 

order for them to better do their jobs, they 

needed a single organization whose focus 

was intelligence and security activities, 

said Fred Baillie, DLA chief of staff.

Stephanie Samergedes, director of 

DLA Intelligence, said the organization 

was also started to allow DLA Installation 

Support to focus on its core missions.

“We basically were stood up to allow 

DLA Installation Support to focus on 

their programs, and have an organization 

here that could actually focus on 

intelligence and sensitive program 

activities,” she said. 

The organization’s intelligence and 

counterintelligence specialists’ jobs are to 

make sure leaders have the threat information they need to protect their employees, Samergedes said.

“We have access to a gamut of information from the intelligence community through 

partnerships with various intelligence organizations and intelligence community databases 

and websites,” she said. 

The information DLA Intelligence 

gathers and disseminates is tailored to the 

compromises and other issues that can 

jeopardize execution of DLA’s mission. 

The other side of DLA Intelligence 

is security, which includes personnel 

security, information security, operations 

security and foreign disclosure.

“DLA Intelligence’s goal is to make 

sure policies are in place and employees have been trained on policy,” 

Samergedes said. 

To further this goal, DLA mandates 

that every employee completes annual 

online security awareness and operations 

security training and instructor-led counterintelligence training presented by DLA 

Intelligence. The training ensures personnel are aware of the key signs of potential 

threats to the Defense Department.

“If there is a security violation, it’s not 

because of a lack of policy or training,” 

Samergedes said.

Another important responsibility of 

the security staff is to ensure that employees have the necessary security clearances 

to perform their duties in support of the 

DLA mission, Baillie said. 

“[DLA Intelligence] ensures that 

people working in DLA are processed 

for the appropriate background 

investigations required by their position 

to access sensitive and classified 

information,” he said. 

Samergedes said she appreciates all 

the work her team does to ensure DLA employees have the intelligence resources and 

security they need to support warfighters.

“We’ve [all] been doing this for quite a 

while, and we have a great organization,” 

Samergedes said. 

agency and its interests, Samergedes said. 

She added that she has received feedback 

from DLA personnel that it’s a benefit 

when officials explain why certain matters 

are important to DLA.

“DLA Intelligence is important to 

DLA because the agency continues to 

be heavily involved in areas outside the 

United States,” Baillie said. “Many goods 

and services are provided by firms and 

individuals that are foreign nationals or 

outside the United States.”

For example, the Northern 

Distribution Network, a network of supply 

routes that runs from Western Europe 

to Afghanistan, involves relationships 

with a number of countries in order to 

ensure the transit of supplies to troops 

in Afghanistan, he said. DLA Intelligence 

provides agency employees with intelligence information about foreign actions 

and events along the NDN. 

“It is important for DLA employees 

to be aware of events and issues that are 

developing outside the borders of the 

United States in order to better support 

warfighters,” Baillie said.

Good security policy, procedures and 

training are key to preventing security 

A

Worldwide

Intelligence

The intelligence and 

counterintelligence 

specialists’ jobs are to make 

sure leaders have the threat 

information they need to 

protect their employees.
Loglines Loglinesl lMarch - April 2011 May - June 2011 7

DLA Intelligence was established in 2010 because 

a single organization was needed to focus on intelligence and personnel security activities. The 

intelligence and security portions of DLA Intelligence 

are responsible for counterintelligence, personnel 

security, information security, operations security and 

foreign disclosure.

— Photo Illustration by Paul Crank
8 www.dla.mil

Stamp of Approval

Story by Sara Moore

ith critical weapon systems 

used by troops in the field or 

space shuttles preparing to 

launch into orbit, failure is not 

an option. Failure of even the 

smallest component within a system could 

mean the end of a mission or loss of life. 

To help ensure these systems have 

the high-quality parts they need to 

function, Defense Logistics Agency Land 

and Maritime has a dedicated group of 

engineers and auditors whose job is to 

certify and qualify individual parts and 

DLA Land and Maritime’s Sourcing and 

Qualifications Division manages a known, 

good supplier base for military-grade parts 

to support many weapons systems, like this 

B-1B Lancer bomber, being worked on in 

Southwest Asia. 

W

Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Barney

manufacturers who make them before 

they reach the the next step in the 

assembly process.

The DLA Land and Maritime 

Sourcing and Qualifications Division 

maintains a known good-supplier base 

that meets military standards for performance, quality and reliability of parts. 

The division maintains this supplier base 

by using qualified products lists and 

qualified manufacturers lists. 

“Qualification is the process of auditing, examining, testing and approving 

a manufacturer’s products for stringent 

military applications prior to and 

independent of any contract,” said Joseph 

Gemperline, chief of the Sourcing and 

Qualifications Division.

As the name implies, qualified 

products lists detail individual parts and 

components that meet military specifications, Gemperline said. QPLs are usually 

intended for items with fairly stable 

designs that will be available for extended 

periods of time after being qualified, he 

said. Qualified manufacturers lists, on the 

other hand, include certified manufacturers and the processes and materials they 

use to build parts. QMLs are useful with 

technologies that advance rapidly, such as 

electronic microcircuits, where products 

change often and it would be difficult and 

expensive to qualify them individually. 

The Sourcing and Qualifications 

Division has four branches, with each 

covering a different range of technologies. The Custom Devices Branch covers 

monolithic microcircuits; the Hybrid 

Devices Branch covers hybrid microcircuits, fuses, circuit breakers, switches, 

relays and oscillators; the Electronic 

Devices Branch covers printed wiring 

boards, semiconductors, electron tubes 

and waveguides; and the Passive Devices 

Branch covers items like belts, resistors, 

capacitors, hoses and connectors. 

Between the four branches, DLA 

Land and Maritime manages 227 QPLs 

and QMLs, which include more than 800 
Loglines

l May - June 2011

9

manufacturers, 900 facilities and 120 

test laboratories, Gemperline said. The 

qualification lists cover roughly 30 fed-

eral stock classes and potentially millions 

of part numbers, he said. 

“This program is worldwide,” 

Gemperline said, noting that many of 

the manufacturers and facilities covered 

under the qualification lists are located 

outside the continental U.S. 

For a manufacturer to be listed on a 

QML or its products on a QPL, it has to 

go through a rigorous auditing process, 

said Mike Adams, chief of the Custom 

Devices Branch. First, the manufacturer 

submits pre-audit information to specify 

the type of products they are trying 

to qualify and show it meets military 

specifications and has a self-auditing 

process. If that information indicates the 

company has potential for being quali-

fied, an auditing team from the Sourcing 

and Qualifications Division will travel to 

its facility to perform a facilities audit, 

Adams said. 

Facilities audits are typically per-

formed by teams of two engineers and 

take three days or more to complete, said 

Jonnie Schneider, an electronics engineer 

who audits the hybrid microcircuits QML. 

The auditors review all aspects of the 

company’s design, materials, manufac-

turing and testing to ensure they meet 

military specifications, she said. 

“Our real purpose is to validate that 

they are meeting the requirements of the 

specification and of their customers,” 

Schneider said. “In order to do that, we 

have to look at a lot of different things.”

The auditors begin by reviewing the 

manufacturer’s quality systems, such as 

the design, calibration, document and 

Air Force Senior Airman Marc I. Lane

Air Force Airman 1st Class Adam Reinert, an 

aerospace propulsion apprentice with 28th 

Maintenance Squadron, inspects a B-1B 

Lancer engine at Ellsworth Air Force Base, 

S.D. DLA Land and Maritime’s qualified 

manufacturers lists and qualified products lists 

ensure aircraft and weapons systems have the 

high-quality parts they need to function.

Loglines

l May - June 2011

9
10 www.dla.mil

change control, self-auditing, and environmental controls for clean rooms, she 

said. The team also reviews the materials 

used for manufacturing and how the 

company procures these materials. The 

team then evaluates the manufacturing 

process. Manufacturers are required to 

have documents that travel with products 

as they are assembled and record each 

step in the assembly and the internal 

procedure used for that step. 

Within each step, critical parameters 

must be identified and demonstrated, 

she said. For example, if a company is 

going to put a lid on a package and seal 

it, it would need to have steps laid out 

for cleaning, vacuum baking, sealing and 

testing the seal. The auditors would verify 

each of these steps and the processes 

used, such as the time, temperature and 

calibration of the oven used for prebaking the item before it is sealed. They 

also look at the actual tooling used for the 

process and ensure it is documented and 

identified, she said. 

Throughout the audit process, 

auditors not only review the documented 

people, the framework, the operation, 

and then we prove that the processes and 

materials and products that they’ve put 

together are, in fact, reliable.”

Once a manufacturer passes an audit, 

it is certified and can begin its qualification production lot to qualify its processes 

and materials, Gemperline said. After 

rigorous qualification testing is completed, the company sends DLA Land and 

Maritime a test report and if it passed all 

the necessary testing using the approved 

equipment, manufacturing processes, 

and quality systems, it will be listed on 

the QML. For a QPL, the process works 

the same up until that point, but the 

qualification focuses more on individual 

products than the processes and materials used, he said. 

All manufacturers listed on the QMLs 

or QPLs are subject to periodic re-audits 

to ensure they still meet the requirements, 

Gemperline said. The interval between 

audits depends on the performance of 

the manufacturers, he said. If a company 

has a history of good performance and 

effective self-auditing, the interval could 

be widened. However, if a company 

makes major changes without notifying 

DLA or doesn’t conform to specifications, 

the interval may be narrowed. There are 

times when the manufacturer is required 

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chris Cassidy, (right), practices 

docking the space shuttle with his shuttle commander and pilot in a virtual reality simulator at 

Johnson Space Center. Many of the parts supported by DLA Land and Maritime’s QML and 

QPL programs are used by the space program. 

processes and test procedures, but they 

also interview employees performing the 

operation and watch them perform their 

tasks, Schneider said. They then review 

the testing used to ensure products meet 

the confidence level necessary, whether 

they will be used for a space program or 

military operations. While this testing is 

important, she said, the main emphasis 

of the audit is on the front end of the 

process, where the products are designed 

and built.

“The real quality and reliability in the 

product is really coming in at the design, 

at the materials and at the manufacturing,” she said. “Once you’ve done that, 

your product is whatever it’s going to be. 

You can’t make it better by testing.”

The audit process is intense and comprehensive, Schneider said, noting that 

the auditors end up speaking to people 

at all levels of a company, from operators 

and technicians to engineers to contracting representatives. She stressed that 

passing an audit does not necessarily give 

the entire company a “seal of approval,” 

but only certifies the specific materials 

and processes reviewed. 

“We can’t promise a company will do 

something, but we can assure someone 

that they have the capability,” she said. 

“We know they have the facilities, the 

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique M. Lasco
Loglines l May - June 2011 11

to stop shipments of military products 

and issue a Government Industry Data 

Exchange Program alert because an actual 

or potential quality or reliability issue with 

the products has been found. In extreme 

cases of nonconformance or when there is 

a lack of cooperation by the manufacturer, 

the company and its products could be 

removed from the qualification list, he said. 

Having flexibility with the audit 

intervals helps Gemperline manage the 

workload for his team of 43 auditors who 

travel around the world to validate that 

requirements are being met and to keep 

qualifications current for all the facilities 

and products on the qualification lists. 

“We mitigate the risk by looking at 

our schedule each year, making sure we’re 

doing the highest priority audits first and 

the most critical items first,” he said. 

The qualification program covers 

about 30 percent of the products DLA 

Land and Maritime buys. But, in addition 

to DLA Land and Maritime, virtually 

every military service and every original 

equipment manufacturer buys QPL/

QML products or uses the military 

specifications and leverages off the audits 

performed by the qualifications group, 

Gemperline said. The program has 

myriad benefits, he said, including saving 

money by qualifying products upfront, 

independent of contract awards; eliminating the need for additional testing 

once an item is procured; and increasing 

availability of critical items. 

Having a centralized qualifying activity 

eliminates the need for every procuring 

activity to form its own specifications, 

which would be very expensive and 

time-consuming, Gemperline said. It also 

improves availability and procurement 

lead times because the products have been 

tested and are ready to be shipped.

“The QPL and QML parts become like 

off-the-shelf products. There’s no need to 

do additional testing or evaluation,” Adams 

said. “These are already qualified manufacturers and products, and they can just be 

ordered without having to do testing.”

The program also improves the availability of items and customer support, 

because it forges a partnership between 

the manufacturers and DLA, Gemperline 

said. Multiple sources are usually available for each item because it is standardized to one military specification, he 

said, and if an issue arises with a part, 

DLA Land and Maritime officials have an 

avenue to get assistance.

“It’s a long-term partnership with 

these guys. They tend to support [the 

Defense Department] for many years,” 

he said. “They give us advance notice if 

they’re going to be going out of production on an item. It’s a much better system 

DLA Land and Maritime’s Sourcing and 

Qualifications Division supports many different 

weapons systems, like this F/A-18F Super 

Hornet aircraft being inspected aboard the 

aircraft carrier USS Enterprise under way in 

the Atlantic Ocean.

Navy Seaman Jared M. King

“The QPL and QML parts become like off-the-shelf products. There’s no need to 

do additional testing or evaluation.”

— Mike Adams

than you have any other way.”

Gemperline said he is proud of how 

actively his team manages the qualification program at DLA Land and Maritime. 

The program deals with many complex 

products, such as microcircuits, connectors and many other high-reliability parts 

for critical weapon and space systems, 

but the QML/QPL parts have very few 

problems with reliability because of the 

qualification process, he said.

“We do a good job working with our 

manufacturers and making sure those 

QPLs/QMLs are up to date, that manufacturers aren’t just closing plants, moving or changing critical processes without 

our approval,” he said. “We take a lot of 

pride in that, that if you buy one of our 

QPL/QML products from one of our 

sources, you can rest assured that we’ve 

been working with these companies to 

ensure they are capable of meeting the 

qualification requirements and that their 

qualified listings are current.” 
12 www.dla.mil

W

Fueling the Warfig

Story by Christopher Goulait

hen it comes to providing 

warfighters with the fuel 

necessary to keep operations 

up and running, defense fuel 

support points are a critical 

part of the Defense Logistics Agency’s 

distribution operations. 

Continuous quality fuel support is the 

goal for the hundreds of DFSPs managed 

by DLA Energy around the world to 

provide fuel the troops need. Because 

the fuel is owned by DLA right up to the 

moment it is issued to an aircraft, ship 

or motor pool, DFSPs must be located 

nearly everywhere warfighters are. 

“A DFSP is a fuel storage terminal 

that receives, stores, issues and accounts 

for all Department of Defense-owned 

fuel,” said Keith Stedman, deputy director of DLA Energy DFSP Management.

“DLA Energy provides oversight for 628 

DFSPs domestically and abroad,” he said.

Christopher Goulait is a writer for DLA Energy Public Affairs.

Because the fuel is 

owned by DLA right 

up to the moment it is 

issued to an aircraft, 

ship or motor pool, 

DFSPs must be located 

nearly everywhere 

warfighters are.
Loglines l May - June 2011 13

hter

Loglines l May - June 2011 13

Defense Logistics Agency Energy clay 

filtration pipes and vessels outside Nellis 

Air Force Base, Nev. 

— Photo courtesy DLA Energy Americas
14 www.dla.mil

efficiently and that taxpayer funds are 

not wasted, Kephart said. “DFSPs range 

from small gas stations to big terminals 

like Craney Island, Va., or Pearl Harbor, 

Hawaii. Those bigger ones have very 

large tanks,” said Rocky Krill, director of 

DLA Energy DFSP Management. “The 

intermediate ones are often found at air 

stations, and then you have the very small 

ones that are like regular gas stations.”

No matter the size of a DFSP, each 

one is more than just a gas station for 

the services to use, Stedman said. They 

are reliable and regulated support points 

tailored to the needs of the area and the 

services that use them. Whether the fuel 

is used for vehicles or generators, a DFSP 

is structured to supply products directly 

to the end user’s needs.

Kephart said DLA Energy personnel are 

constantly looking for more efficient means 

of transporting and supporting fuel.

“In addition to the day-to-day 

services called for in supporting energy 

needs at DFSPs, we perform short-term 

and long-term research to plan, establish 

and maintain the optimal DoD storage 

and transportation infrastructure needed 

to support our customers,” Kephart said. 

He elaborated on the evolving nature 

of DFSP management, stating that each 

new DFSP undertaking or modernization 

project provides valuable experience that 

can be applied to enhancing support at 

other support points.

“Everything we learn, we apply to 

our current and future projects to make 

sure that our fuel support is that much 

more comprehensive for the warfighter,” 

Stedman said. 

Such experience has proven invaluable in the areas of planning, budgetThe ownership and operation of the 

support points varies by location, said Air 

Force Col. Steve Kephart, DLA Energy’s 

director of operations.

“These support points are governmentowned and -operated, contractor-owned 

and -operated, or government-owned and 

contractor-operated,” he said.“One example 

of this will be the DFSP on Okinawa, Japan, 

which will be both government-owned and 

government-operated.” 

Kephart said that DLA uses land 

provided by the customers it is supporting 

in a given location.

“It’s important to note that the 

[agency] doesn’t actually own any of the 

real property of a DFSP, the services do,” 

he said. “We do, however, remain the 

owners [of the fuel] until it is placed in 

the services’ tanks.”

DLA Energy’s management of 

the DFSPs helps ensure they are run 

An aerial view of the facilities at a defense fuel 

support point at Point Loma, near San Diego. 

Dave Wilkins

Defense fuel support points are reliable and regulated 

support points tailored to the needs of the area and the 

services that use them.

A ship is positioned at a single point mooring 

“monobuoy” at the defense fuel support point 

on Okinawa, Japan. 

Photo courtesy 505th Quartermaster Battalion
Loglines l May - June 2011 15

ing and overseeing the transportation, 

storage and retail activities associated 

with the fuel supply chain. Applying that 

experience ensures there is a continuous 

supply of high-quality, dependable fuel 

available to those who require it. 

“If you have a base where we have 

aircraft flying a mission, you need to 

make sure they’re mission-capable,” Krill 

said. “And without that DFSP, they’re not 

going to be mission-capable.”

DLA Energy also centrally manages 

the Defense Department’s sustainment, 

restoration and maintenance funds 

for fuels infrastructure. The program 

ensures priority and emergent 

deficiencies in DFSP infrastructure are 

identified and projects are funded so the 

services can properly maintain the fuel 

points, Krill said. Central management 

ensures effective inspection programs 

and that SRM projects are scheduled to 

ensure critical defense missions can be 

fueled while the projects are ongoing, 

he said. 

Quality Assurance Specialist Trent Buck 

(standing) records data as NuStar Energy’s 

Roberto Siguero takes fuel volume and 

temperature measurements at Defense Fuel 

Support Point Baltimore. 

Photo courtesy DLA Energy Americas
16 www.dla.mil

A

Story by Beth Reece

vendor, said Maryann Bonk-Santos, 

customer account specialist.

The roughly 10 percent of ecclesiastical items that DLA keeps in stock are 

those manufactured to meet the military’s unique needs, such as the chaplain’s 

consumable kit, which contains basic items 

needed to provide services for a range 

of religions away from a church or 

synagogue.

“This is a popular go-towar item. Chaplains are told 

this is what they need when 

deploying, and every item in 

the kit has its own (national 

stock number) and can be 

ordered separately. So let’s 

say a chaplain needs more 

rosaries, ... he can order 

them individually instead of 

buying the entire kit again,” 

Bonk-Santos said. 

Other religious supplies 

made specifically for the military 

include the chaplain’s logistics 

support package, a plastic cube 

that can be configured into 

Today, Young serves as the Defense 

Logistics Agency command chaplain 

and helps DLA Troop Support supply 

more than 800 items that make up 

the Ecclesiastical Supply Program. 

The items range from hymnals and 

rosaries to Muslim prayer rugs and 

Hanukkah candles. 

Ecclesiastical items 

generally fall into six categories:

 Christian, Jewish, Muslim, 

furniture, portable items and 

wine. DLA Troop Support 

manages a long-term contract 

for each category, and 90 

percent of the items are 

delivered directly by the 

Feeding the

SPIRIT

rmy Chaplain (Col.) Carl Young 

was more accustomed to wooden 

pews and stained glass windows 

when he gave his first religious 

service to Soldiers in the 

field. He’d just joined the military 

chaplaincy after five years as a 

civilian Baptist minister and 

had only an Army-issued 

chaplain’s kit to lead the 

service.

“The kit had everything 

I needed, including the 

linen for my altar, a cross, 

stand for my Bible and 

communion plate. That 

really struck me. It helped 

me see that the United States 

military is serious about 

providing the necessary 

supplies so service members 

can freely exercise their 

religious faith, whether 

they’re in a garrison 

environment 

or deployed,” 

Young said.
Loglines l May - June 2011 17

a desk or an altar. It also has enough 

storage space to transport chaplains’ 

supplies during deployment. 

The field immersion baptismal liner is 

another item designed for military chaplains who need to perform baptisms. 

“When Soldiers want to be 

baptized in the field, they dig 

a hole and put this plastic 

liner in it. Then they place 

sandbags around it to hold 

it in place and fill it with 

water,” Bonk-Santos 

said. “From there, the 

chaplain and Soldier 

can get inside for the 

baptism ceremony.”

Being deployed 

to places like Iraq 

and Afghanistan 

often inspires service 

members to contemplate 

their spirituality and 

beliefs, Young added.

“When they come to 

you wanting to be baptized, you’ve got to find a way to make it 

happen and in a clean, safe environment 

that’s portable,” he said. “No matter 

what the person’s faith is, it’s up to us to 

make sure they have the items to observe 

their faith in a meaningful way, just as 

they would back home in a synagogue or 

temple.”

Reoccurring liturgical cycles make it 

easy to predict the demand for ecclesiastical supplies, but there are challenges, 

said Ted Edwards, who supervises the 

ecclesiastical supply team at DLA Troop 

Support. Supplying palm fronds for the 

Christian observance of Palm Sunday is 

difficult because they stay fresh for only 

about 14 days, for example. 

At the same time 

Edwards’ team 

is supplying 

palms, they’re 

also providing 

Seder kits for the 

Jewish holiday 

of Passover. 

Jewish followers 

traditionally 

eat kosher for 

Passover, so 

they refrain from 

rice, legumes and 

leavened baked goods such as bread and 

cakes. The food they eat can’t have been 

in contact with non-kosher ingredients, 

so manufacturers go through a laborintensive process to guarantee customers 

receive true kosher items.

“The manufacturing plant has to take 

apart all of its machinery and clean it 

before processing Passover items. A rabbi 

who is certified by his federation is also 

present to witness the cleaning, and he 

puts a stamp on the package saying that 

he’s witnessed the process and the item is 

truly kosher,” Bonk-Santos said. 

Getting service members the items 

they need to observe their religious faith 

is serious work that Young said his teammates handle with great care.

“This is not just any supply chain. 

Whether it’s a rosary, a cross or a prayer 

rug, our customers treat these items with 

a certain sacredness, and they expect 

them to arrive at their location and be 

handled the same way,” he said.

 While some might consider 

ecclesiastical supplies to be non-essential 

comfort items, Edwards and BonkSantos agree that they’re crucial to 

service members’ spiritual well-being and 

morale.

“I feel it gives them hope when 

they’re out in the field or at war,” she 

said. “It gives them a sense of security 

that whoever they believe in is behind 

them or alongside them, that they’re 

not alone.” 

While some might consider ecclesiastical supplies to be non-essential comfort items, Edwards 

and Bonk-Santos agree that they’re crucial to service members’ spiritual well-being and morale.

Loglines l May

— Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James R. Evans
18 www.dla.mil

Full Circle

Story by Jonathan Stack

fter a more-than-eight-year 

campaign that has involved 

countless operations, the last of 

50,000 U.S. troops are due to 

leave Iraq by the end of 2011. 

The Defense Logistics Agency is working 

to ensure their excess equipment isn’t 

left behind. 

DLA Disposition Services is providing 

disposition and disposal support to assist 

with the drawdown of forces in Iraq. 

“[We] are reducing the amount of 

unserviceable and scrap property in 

theater,” said Army Col. Juan Arcocha, 

DLA Disposition Services deputy director. 

“We’re probably right about the 60 percent 

mark. We started with about 120,000 

containers, and right now there are about 

50,000 containers left.”

About 25 expeditionary disposal 

remediation personnel, mostly military 

reservists, work at DLA Disposition 

Services sites at camps Al Asad and 

Victory, Forward Operating Base Speicher 

and Joint Base Balad.

“We receive property that is excess to 

the military services and ensure it follows 

the proper procedures for being reutilized, demilitarized or mutilated.,” said 

Heidi Heuser, a DLA Disposition Services 

logistics management specialist. 

The disposition services team goes out 

18 www.dla.mil

An employee of the Iraqi company 

F-JAN removes a scrap air conditioner 

during cleanup of a scrap yard in Iraq. 

DLA Disposition Services is providing 

disposition and disposal support to 

assist with the drawdown of forces 

in Iraq. 

— Photo by Army Sgt. Chad Menegay

A
Loglines l May - June 2011 19

and screens items before they are put into 

containers, separating serviceable items 

from unserviceable, Arcocha said. They also 

screen items that could pose a hazard to 

untrained personnel for demilitarization. 

Those that do not require demilitarization 

and mutilation are scrapped and sold to a 

series of Iraqi contractors.

 “A benefit for the scrap we sell in Iraq 

is the money is returned back to the [U.S. 

Treasury Department],” Arcocha said. 

“It’s ... around $1 million a month.” 

Demilitarizing the items that would 

pose a threat in the wrong hands protects 

warfighters and the Iraqi populace, he said.

“A lot of items military forces use can 

be dangerous and have special technology like our [Mine Resistant Ambush 

Protected vehicles],” Arcocha said. “If 

we were to let that go on the economy as 

scrap, the enemy could use it to determine how our systems work and reverse 

engineer it to hurt us.”

There are some items, such as copper 

wire, that one might not think could have 

a military use, but do.

“Early in the war, there were a lot of 

shaped charges [improvised explosive 

devices], and one of the sources was the 

copper from the copper wire that the 

military left as we were [constructing] 

buildings,” Arcocha said. 

DLA Disposition Services collects 

all the copper and sends it to Kuwait for 

disposal, ensuring it doesn’t return to the 

Iraqi economy, where it could be used 

against U.S. and Iraqi forces. 

The timers found in microwave ovens, 

and washers and dryers are another example of seemingly innocuous items that 

could be used against American and Iraqi 

warfighters. They can be used as triggering devices for IEDs, Arcocha said.

“We recognized this in 2005 and instituted a policy stating before we sold off 

washers and dryers as scrap, we remove 

the timers,” he said.

Items with value to the enemy that 

can be used against U.S. warfighters are 

given demilitarization codes stating they 

have to be demilitarized before they can 

be sold for scrap. 

“The stuff requiring demilitarization 

is physically mutilated so it doesn’t pose a 

danger to the public, and the remainder is 

sold off as scrap,” Arcocha said. “We will 

go and chop it up or cut it with a torch so 

it can’t be militarized.”

Not all items turned into DLA 

Disposition Services are unserviceable, 

and the organization attempts to make 

those that are serviceable available to 

other units in theater for reuse. 

For example, an Army unit had excess 

construction material and turned it into the 

DLA Disposition Services site at Al Asad , 

Arcocha said. The disposition personnel 

contacted Army units in Afghanistan – 

knowing forces were still building there – 

and asked if they wanted the material. 

“Rather than disposing of it and buying it in Afghanistan, we simply repackaged it, did the transportation movement 

request and moved it to Afghanistan for 

use,” he said. 

Troops in Iraq can also use the DLA 

Disposition Services sites to find parts for 

systems they are using. If a unit needs a 

carburetor for a vehicle and it will take 

too long to order, it can send troops to the 

site to see if they can get it from an unserviceable vehicle, said Randy Schmitz, 

a DLA Disposition Services property 

disposal specialist.

“We get battle-damaged vehicles,” he 

said. “The property is there for them to 

come and try to salvage.” 

Iraq is distant from DLA’s normal 

supply chains, so many things that are 

required there have to be purchased 

in the U.S. and shipped to warfighters, 

Arcocha said. 

“When we get something that is 

serviceable, we make it available to [warfighters],” he said. “It saves the Department of Defense money. Last year, $220 

million worth of items were reutilized out 

of Kuwait alone.”

Arcocha said the DLA Disposition 

Services staff is completely committed to 

the organization’s mission of disposition 

and disposal support. His deployed 

employees interact with warfighters 

firsthand and see how much the military 

services appreciate his organization and 

what it’s doing in Iraq. 

“That makes my business probably 

the best business in DLA,” he said.

Loglines l May - June 2011 19
20 www.dla.mil

HELP WANTED:

Story by Jacob Boyer

giving them experience, and if we have 

jobs, we can bring them on using a 

noncompetitive hiring authority.”

One problem many veterans face 

when applying for federal jobs in general 

and DLA jobs in particular is properly 

translating valuable military experience 

into terms the average human resources 

specialist understands, said Kathy Martin, 

a resources specialist with DLA Human 

Resources. This can lead to a strong 

resume being overlooked.

“Normally, their level of responsibility is tremendous. They’ve been 

responsible for millions of dollars’ worth 

of equipment, but they cut themselves 

short,” she said. “One thing they have 

to be conscious of is that some of the 

terms they used in the military may not 

be familiar to a civilian human resources 

specialist. When they write that resume, 

they have to make sure that human resources specialist is going to understand 

that level of responsibility and use terms 

that she would understand.”

Martin said it is important for veterans 

looking for federal employment to start 

early. Some job announcements are only 

open for a few days, and if veterans have 

not prepared themselves ahead of time, 

they may not have the time needed to complete an application. Because setting up 

an account and resume with USAJobs, the 

website most government agencies use to 

announce vacancies, can be time consuming, Martin said doing the homework ahead 

of time makes it far easier when it comes 

time to actually apply for a job.

“There’s no obligation to hire. Some of 

them just do it for the experience while 

they’re waiting to return to active duty.”

Operation Warfighter is just the tip of 

the iceberg when it comes to internship 

opportunities at DLA, Holmes-Carter said. 

The agency has its own Corporate Intern 

Program, and it interfaces with the Department of Veterans Affairs for internships 

and on-the-job training opportunities. 

The Corporate Intern Program brings 

employees on board at the GS-7 level for 

two years, Holmes-Carter said.

DLA works with the VA by 

communicating openings for interns 

and on-the-job training that the VA can 

then make open to veterans looking for 

employment.

“It’s a win-win situation, because 

veterans learn about DLA and what we 

do and they get federal work experience,” 

she said. “For us, we have the opportunity 

of placing them, working with them, 

VETS NEEDED

eterans looking for their first 

federal job can face a sometimes 

daunting process, but the Defense 

Logistics Agency has multiple 

approaches available for them to 

find a way to continue serving.

The Defense Logistics Agency has 

more than 8,700 veterans among its 

civilian employees, more than 1,300 of 

them hired in 2010 alone. Hettie HolmesCarter, program manager for corporate 

recruitment in DLA Human Resources’ 

Human Capital Program Development 

Branch, said veterans’ experience and their 

innate understanding of what the agency 

does makes them attractive recruits.

“Usually, veterans have the experience. 

They are dedicated employees. They are 

familiar with what DLA supplies,” she said. 

“With the experience they’ve had in the 

military,when they come on board, they are 

usually ready, willing and eager to work. 

There isn’t as much of a training period.”

Veterans who would like to work 

for DLA can pursue multiple avenues, 

Holmes-Carter said. In addition to 

normal veterans hiring authorities put 

in place by the federal government, 

the agency uses multiple internship 

programs to reach out to veterans. One, 

Operation Warfighter, gives wounded 

warriors a chance to get experience with 

the agency while they are rehabilitating. 

The program is open whether they are 

planning to leave military service or not.

“They come in and get work experience, 

and once they finish the program, if we have 

a position, we can [hire them],” she said. 

One problem many veterans 

face when applying for 

federal jobs in general 

and DLA jobs in particular 

is properly translating 

valuable military experience 

into terms the average 

human resources specialist 

understands.

V
Loglines l May - June 2011 21

“The system they have to use is a 

challenge when they’re first starting out. 

I always recommend that they go now 

to USAJobs, establish an account, and 

build a resume, so when they find that 

dream job, they have a foundation they’ve 

established,” she said. “Then they can 

just tweak their resume so it applies to a 

vacancy. Some of our positions are going 

to have a lot of applicants, so we only have 

them open for three days. If you’ve just 

found that and you only have one day and 

don’t have a resume established, you’re 

under a time crunch to get it done.”

Another reason it’s important to have 

a resume and account set up before hearing about a particular job is that it makes 

it easier to tweak a resume for a given job, 

Martin said. Service members typically 

go far beyond their normal duties and 

may not have a particular task listed in 

a resume that they performed numerous 

times.

“You have to look closely at what 

they’re looking for [in job announcements],” she said. “What are the major 

duty statements? When we use the 

system, we always have a questionnaire. 

Look closely at the questions. What is it 

they’re looking for? What do they want to 

know about you? Go back to your resume. 

If you have the experience or education in 

performing those tasks, then you need to 

include that in your resume.”

Veterans applying for a job needs 

to make sure they have the appropriate 

paperwork easily accessible. A Defense 

Department Form 214, which establish 

Special Appointing Authorities 

for Veterans

past military service, is required for any 

applicant declaring veteran’s preference 

in the hiring process, and a VA letter 

establishing military disability is required 

for anyone seeking that preference.

Martin said that while the federal 

hiring process can seem daunting to 

someone using it for the first time, there 

is always someone who can help when a 

veteran applies to DLA.

“One thing I’ve always pointed out 

to people is there’s always the name of 

the human resources specialist posted in 

our vacancy announcements,” she said. 

“If they don’t understand something 

in the major duty statement or how 

to equate it to what they did in the 

military, they should call that human 

resources specialist. In essence, they’re 

our customers, ... we want to get the best 

qualified person in that vacancy for that 

selecting official.” 

Veterans Recruitment Appointment Authority: 

An agency can, if it wishes, appoint eligible veterans without competition to positions 

at any grade level through GS-11 or equivalent. After two years of satisfactory service, 

the agency must convert the veteran to career or career-conditional appointment, as 

appropriate. Eligible veterans include:

• Disabled veterans;

• Veterans who served on active duty in the armed forces during a war or in a 

campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized;

• Veterans who, while serving on active duty, participated in a U.S. military 

operation for which an Armed Forces Service Medal was awarded; and

• Recently separated veterans.

30 Percent or More Disabled Veterans: 

An agency may give a noncompetitive temporary appointment of more than 60 days 

or a term appointment to any veteran:

• Retired from active military service with a disability rating of 30 percent or more; or

• Rated by the Department of Veterans Affairs since 1991 or later to include disability 

determinations from a branch of the armed forces at any time, as having a 

compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more. 

Disabled Veterans Enrolled in a VA Training Program:

Disabled veterans eligible for training under the VA vocational rehabilitation program 

may enroll for training or work experience at an agency under the terms of an agreement 

between the agency and VA. While enrolled in the VA program, the veteran is not a federal 

employee for most purposes but is a beneficiary of the VA. Upon successful completion, 

the host agency and VA give the veteran a certificate of training showing the occupational 

series and grade level of the position for which trained. The certificate of training allows 

any agency to appoint the veteran noncompetitively under a status quo appointment, 

which may be converted to career or career-conditional at any time.

Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998:

An agency must allow preference eligibles or eligible veterans to apply for positions 

announced under merit promotion procedures when the agency is recruiting from outside 

its own workforce. A VEOA eligible who competes under merit promotion procedures and 

is selected will be given a career or career conditional appointment. Veterans’ preference is 

not a factor in these appointments.
22 www.dla.mil

We are DLA

E

d Visker calls Defense Logistics 

Agency Distribution Susquehanna, 

Pa., one of the best-kept secrets 

in south-central Pennsylvania. 

Even its customers worldwide 

don’t always recognize it as the Defense 

Department’s largest strategic distribution 

platform for military supplies.

“At times we get compared to Wal‐Mart,

but their enterprise only manages about 

130,000 different items. ... We carry up to 

890,000 items, and that number is steadily 

growing,” said Visker, DLA Distribution 

Susquehanna’s deputy commander. 

The activity carries more than a 

third of DLA’s distribution load by 

receiving, storing and shipping material 

to customers everywhere in the world but 

the Pacific. The work is done from two 

locations. The Eastern Distribution Center 

at New Cumberland, Pa., serves as the main 

hub for incoming and outgoing material. 

All but about 600 of DLA Distribution 

Susquehanna’s 2,300 employees work 

at the EDC. Military members have been 

receiving supplies from this location since it 

opened in 1918 to support forces in Europe 

during World War I. 

The rest of the organization is located 

at the Naval Inventory Control Point in 

Mechanicsburg, Pa. There, DLA fills 38 

warehouses with industrial construction 

materials, as well as back up stock and 

slower-moving stock like out-of-season 

clothing. 

Together, the two sites give 

Susquehanna 58 warehouses that take 

up 10 million square feet of storage 

space, Visker said. And this summer, 

New Cumberland will open two new 

warehouses to store additional items 

that DLA will stock as depots in Norfolk 

and Richmond, Va., and Tobyhanna, Pa., 

downsize their stock. 

Between 18,000 and 22,000 orders 

are processed at Susquehanna every day. 

“Add that to about 3,500 receipts a 

day,” Visker added, “and you can see this 

is a very busy place with an awful lot of 

workload to keep track of.” 

The operation runs 24 hours a day, 

WORLD-CLASS 

DISTRIBUTION

Defense Logistics Agency Distribution 

Susquehanna, Pa., is the largest of DLA’s 

26 distribution centers, with facilities in 

New Cumberland and Mechanicsburg, Pa. 

The Eastern Distribution Center at New 

Cumberland serves as the main hub for 

incoming and outgoing material and covers 

as much ground as 30 football fields.

DLA DISTRIBUTION SUSQUEHANNA

Story and Photos by Beth Reece
Loglines l May - June 2011 23

DLA Strategic Communications
24 www.dla.mil

We are DLA

Monday through Friday and on a limited 

schdule during weekends. One of the 

busiest areas is the Consolidation and 

Containerization Point, where material 

arrives from Susquehanna warehouses, 

U.S. manufacturers, and other depots 

and installations before being sorted 

and packed into sea containers or on air 

pallets for overseas shipment. 

“We have priority freight that comes 

in from all over. We build it on air pallets 

that are shipped mostly to [Joint Base 

McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.] or Dover 

Air Force Base [Del.], and from those 

locations, the pallets are shipped direct 

to troops wherever they are,” said Damon 

Oliver Ellis, a packer who works at the 

Container Consolidation Point, builds an air 

pallet with supplies destined for Afghanistan.

Robinson, a Container Consolidation 

Point work leader.

It takes one person about two hours 

to build one pallet, so each of the eight 

employees normally on shift build about 

four a day, Robinson said. Many of his 

team members have had to work overtime 

to keep up with the demand for supplies in 

the U.S. Central Command region. Before 

operations kicked off in Afghanistan 

and Iraq, employees built about 610 air 

pallets per month. Today, that number has 

climbed to between 2,000 and 3,000.

“In just the past five or six months, 

the guys on the daylight shift have been 

working 10- or 12-hour days, seven days 

a week to get construction material out 

for the troops in Afghanistan. There were 

times you couldn’t see the other end of 

the warehouse because we had freight 

stocked to the ceiling,” Robinson said. 

Loading pallets is similar to the game 

Jenga, where players stack wooden blocks 

into a tower, he added.

“You really have to be good at puzzles, 

because you’re figuring out how to 

capture as much material on the pallet as 

possible without going over 96 inches or 

9,000 pounds.”

DLA Distribution Susquehanna also 

uses dedicated truck deliveries to support 

stateside customers at 140 locations on 

48 military installations.

“It’s a lot cheaper for them because if 

they don’t order it through our dedicated 

truck service, they’re probably going to 

ask for it to be delivered by small parcel 

carrier, and that’s going to be much 

more expensive than our prescheduled 

deliveries,” said Sherre Mitten-Bell, a 

public affairs specialist who gives about 

three tours of the facility each week. 

A section called the Active Item Walk 

and Pick helps distribution workers quickly 

grab any of 8,000 items considered fast 

movers, such as washers and gaskets.

“Having our most active items all 

in one location makes this job more 

manageable,” said Ron George, work 

lead. “Every 90 days, our stock position-
Loglines l May - June 2011 25

DLA Strategic Communications

ing people take a close look at the things 

being ordered so we can switch items out 

if others suddenly have higher demand.”

No matter what part of DLA 

Distribution Susquehanna employees 

work in, most say they’re there to support 

warfighters.

“When I come in the door here, it’s 

like I’m at war, too, because the work 

we do supporting the warfighter is very 

important,” George said.

The typical employee at DLA 

Distribution Susquehanna is a “hard-working American and a high school graduate,” 

Visker added. Many of them worked at the 

New Cumberland and Mechanicsburg sites 

before they were transferred to DLA in 

1991 after 74 years of being known as New 

Cumberland Army Depot. 

James Urrutia, a distribution process 

worker, has worked there for 34 years.

“This is the only job I’ve ever had. I 

graduated from high school and the next 

day I started working here,” he said. 

George has worked there for 39 years, 

and can recall when the EDC building 

first opened. 

“We didn’t have all this automation 

that we’ve got now. And if you needed a 

pallet back then, you had to go to the saw, 

cut your own wood and put it together 

with a nail gun,” he said. “Things are a 

lot different today, and we’ve got a whole 

new generation of employees coming in.”

Veterans currently make up about 37 

Distribution process worker Gloria Shultz 

packs items at the Active Item Walk and Pick, 

where 8,000 of the most commonly ordered 

items are stored for quick retrieval.

James Urritia is one of hundreds of Defense 

Logistics Agency Distribution Susquehanna, 

Pa., employees who worked at the New 

Cumberland site before it was transferred 

to DLA in 1991. For the previous 74 years, it 

was known as New Cumberland Army Depot.

percent of workforce. Personnel experts are 

reaching out to the Department of Veterans 

Affairs in hopes of attracting veterans of the 

wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“One of the things we’re working on 

for future warehouses is determining how 

we can set up a warehouse that’s geared 

toward employing disabled employees, 

with the goal of hiring disabled veterans 

and other persons with disabilities so 

they can find meaningful employment,” 

Visker said. 
26 www.dla.mil

A Conversation with . . .

DLA’s mission is serving as America’s 

combat logistics support agency, 

but a wide array of tasks goes into 

making that mission successful. How 

does the diversity of these tasks make 

the agency stronger?

DLA is a complex organization 

performing a very complex mission. We 

have long since passed the time when 

any one office can perform all the tasks 

needed to support our warfighters. It 

takes demand planners, supply planners, 

procurement specialists, material 

handlers and disposal specialists – along 

with many others – to fulfill our supply 

chain duties. In addition, there are 

“support to the support” functions that 

assist those in DLA directly providing 

goods and services to our warfighters. 

Only when all these diverse functions, 

organizations and tasks are working in 

a coordinated, consistent and focused 

manner can we truly provide worldclass support. For example, our DLA 

police, fire, safety and environmental 

professionals ensure we have safe, secure 

and healthy places in which to perform 

our work. We do not have to be distracted 

from our primary missions with concerns 

about safety in our worksite, owing to the 

DLA people who protect us 24/7/365. 

What makes the relatively new 

DLA Intelligence Directorate such 

an important asset to the agency? 

How does DLA Intelligence make the 

agency’s employees better prepared 

to deal with the people and issues they 

may encounter around the world?

DLA is truly an around the clock, 

around the world organization. Wherever 

Fred Baillie

DLA’s Chief of Staff Provides Insight into the Agency’s Intelligence and Accountability Efforts 

Diversity Intelligence World Events DLA Inspector General Office Audit 

our nation’s warfighters are, DLA is there 

with them to provide logistics support. 

This means DLA requires accurate, timely 

and readily accessible information on 

current issues in the international arena 

that impact our ability to support the 

customer. In addition, our use of and 

access to classified communications has 

also grown. Recognizing these needs, 

DLA leadership established a standalone 

DLA Intelligence organization to focus 

our efforts, including having standard, 

documented procedures that apply 

across the DLA enterprise. Having a 

separate organization concentrating on 

the protection and obtaining of such 

critical information has paid off as 

recent inspections of our DLA classified 

information handling procedures 

have found full compliance with all 

requirements. 

In addition, as DLA has expanded our 

operations outside the continental United 

States, we have used the informationgathering capability of DI to ensure leadership has the most current and accurate 

assessment of worldwide situations that 

could impact DLA operations. 

Defense Logistics Agency Photo

Fred Baillie
Loglines l May - June 2011 27

Investigation Accountability Price Reduction Savings Engineers Chief of Staff

by DLA Strategic Communications

What insights can DLA’s leaders 

and employees gain from seeing 

intelligence that is oriented 

specifically to logisticians?

DLA has always had access to 

intelligence from various government 

sources. However, what we lacked 

until DI was formed was a dedicated 

professional cadre of analysts who 

could take this information and tailor 

it specifically for how it impacts DLA 

operations in various parts of the world. 

As a worldwide combat logistics support 

agency, DLA needs to understand how 

various world events and actions impact 

our ability to support our customers. If 

developing political unrest closes roads or 

borders, it could mean DLA supplies may 

not reach our warfighters when they need 

them. Having a dedicated intelligence 

gathering and analysis capability allows 

DLA leadership, in partnership with 

other DoD and federal agencies like 

the Department of State, to develop 

alternatives and options to ensure 

continued customer support. 

In addition, DI analysts are aware 

of ongoing intelligence gathering by 

other countries that could impact DLA 

employees as they travel OCONUS in 

support of the warfighters or as they 

host foreign visitors. Travel briefings are 

designed to provide situational awareness 

of the threats posed by foreign intelligence 

services, international terrorists, and 

computer intruders, and ensure awareness 

of ways to identify and protect vital DLA 

information and the DLA travelers from 

such intelligence gathering tactics and 

unauthorized disclosures. 

How will the establishment of an 

Inspector General’s Office help the 

agency better perform its missions? 

Establishing a DLA Inspector 

General’s Office is the next step toward 

an enterprisewide focus on early and 

aggressive detection and prevention of 

fraud, waste and abuse and ensuring 

programs work as designed and meet 

established criteria and proper internal 

controls are in place and working. 

Prior to 2007, when the Accountability 

Office was formed, audit and criminal 

investigation functions at headquarters 

were separate. The Accountability 

Office combined those functions into 

a single organization which resulted 

in synergy between the professions. 

Many combined audit and investigation 

actions have since taken place, with the 

unique skills and abilities of both groups 

contributing to identifying significant 

process weaknesses and criminal activity. 

This allowed DLA leadership to take 

immediate action to correct the processes 

in a number of critical areas, including 

nuclear weapons related material, small 

arms storage, classified item storage and 

distribution, and disposition operations 

including the Law Enforcement Support 

Office. The change to a DLA IG will 

better identify the purpose of the office, 

both within DLA and with outside 

organizations. The federal inspector 

general community is widely known for 

its enhancement of integrity and ethical 

behavior. Establishing a DLA inspector 

general will more closely identify the 

DLA organization with these groups and 

their goals. There is no question in most 

people’s minds what the mission of an 

IG office is; it often took some explaining 

to describe the role of the Accountability 

Office. 

How will the new IG office differ 

from the DLA Accountability 

Office?

The new DLA IG will be the single 

office for DLA-wide audits, criminal 

investigations, hotlines and vulnerability 

assessment. This will ensure a standard 

set of policies, procedures, skills and 

training are applied to these areas, 

producing high-quality products focused 

on high-risk areas. The Accountability 

Office used a matrix relationship with 

the primary-level field activities’ internal 

review offices to conduct some enterprise 

audits. This required a balancing of 

resources between local and enterprise 

work. The DLA IG organizational structure 

ensures PLFA commanders can focus their 

local internal review resources on issues 

of importance to the PLFA while the DLA 

IG knows the resource base it has to apply 

to enterprise audits. The DLA IG will 

also do more vulnerability assessment 

functions, like “red-team” efforts, than 

the former Accountability Office. This 

will address the need for an aggressive 

and proactive approach to identifying 

fraud, waste and abuse and process 

weaknesses across DLA. 
28 www.dla.mil

A Conversation with . . 

Diversity Intelligence World Events DLA Inspector General Office Audit 

In the current environment of 

constrained resources, what steps 

is DLA taking to ensure the best 

quality items at the best value for 

America’s military? 

Vice Adm. Alan Thompson committed 

a year ago to pursue a 10 percent 

reduction in pricing for the contracts we 

let to support our customers. 

To date, our DLA acquisition professionals have achieved $194.8 million in 

savings by working with our suppliers to 

ensure the lowest price while maintaining 

high-quality items. Across DLA, we have 

achieved $10.2 million in long-term contract savings, $85.8 million in Aviation, 

$34.7 million in Land and Maritime, $22 

million in Troop Support and $24.6 million in Energy. This is an ongoing effort 

and we expect the price reduction savings 

to continue. In addition, the director has 

set in motion a number of initiatives to 

identify and eliminate counterfeit parts 

and other forms of procurement fraud. 

This is a team effort involving legal, 

acquisition and logistics employees at 

the headquarters and in our PLFAs. DLA 

criminal investigators have also joined 

a number of governmentwide groups 

working on counterfeit parts issues. This 

is a perfect example of how many different 

skills and organizations across DLA have 

come together to address a complex and 

critical issue on many different fronts.

In your career with DLA, what are 

some of the unique missions you’ve 

dealt with?

Just in my organization, there are 

almost too many to mention: the Equal 

Opportunity, Small Business, Legislative 

Affairs and yes, even Strategic Communications Offices. Our installation support 

team has environmentalists, engineers, 

safety and health specialists, firemen, 

police officers, child development specialists, security specialists and many more. 

If I reach back to my days in the field, I 

have seen parachute riggers who pack 

the chutes used to drop supplies to our 

troops; unit and set assemblers who pack 

everything from individual first aid kits to 

self-contained MASH-like field hospitals; 

packers who use dry ice and dye markers to ensure medicines remain at set 

temperatures throughout the shipping 

process to our customers; and veterinary 

inspectors who monitor the safety of the 

food we provide. 

More recently, in the Accountability 

Office I have been privileged to work 

with criminal investigators who risk 

their own safety to get the facts about 

alleged criminal activity, including using 

camouflage suits to get telephoto pictures 

of crimes in progress. 

Our mission may sound simple when 

we say that as America’s logistics combat 

support agency, we provide effective and 

efficient worldwide support to warfighters, 

but as I said, it takes many different skills 

and abilities to make that happen.

How has the role of chief of staff 

evolved since you moved into the 

office? 

The chief of staff’s job is so new 

that I think it will continue to evolve for 

some time to come. Recognizing that 

the unique roles in the COS area needed 

regular oversight and guidance, Vice 

Adm. Thompson established the office 

only a few short months ago. Before me, 

the COS was a one-star general, most 

recently Brig. Gen. Margaret Boor. One 

of the key goals the director had for the 

COS was to impart a sense of focus and 

coordination among DLA’s diverse staff 

functions, to integrate them more into 

the daily, ongoing DLA operations. The 

director recognized that these diverse and 

unique functions were a very necessary 

part of successfully accomplishing our 

overall mission. As such, I sit in on many 

of the daily operational meetings with 

the directorates and PLFAs. This allows 

me to both become aware of issues that 

need to be communicated back to the 

individual COS functions and also to be 

the advocate for the various individual 

functions with the agency’s leadership. 

How do you envision it changing in 

the future?

As the COS organization becomes 

more stable with time, I expect that 

the individual functions will become 

more seamlessly integrated, not only 

among themselves but throughout the 

operational functions across DLA. In 

the areas of EEO and small business, we 

are working to move from a compliance 

mentality to a return on investment 

approach, where we all recognize the 

benefit to the mission through seamlessly 

integrating these functions into all we do. 

Our goals for strategic communications and legislative affairs are very 

similar. We need to help others understand that early involvement in both 

these areas in our daily operational 

actions can actually save time, effort and 

adverse impacts later on. The intelligence 

function has not yet reached the full 

potential we can get from it. We are just 

now starting to see how our operational 

areas can benefit from early and active 

involvement with the intel community. 

We can help our leadership become 

aware of situations around the world that 

have the ability to impact us in performance 

of our mission. Such knowledge will allow 

us to find alternatives and options to avoid 

disruption to our mission. 
Loglines l May - June 2011 29

DLA NewsWire DLA Strategic Communications 

The Defense Logistics Agency immediately stepped in to assist U.S. forces in 

providing humanitarian relief as part of 

Operation Tomodachi following March 

11’s devastating earthquake and resulting 

tsunami near Sendai, Japan.

The U.S. Defense Department 

provided fuel to Japanese helicopters 

conducting search and rescue operations 

from the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, 

said Navy Capt. Kevin Henderson, DLA 

Energy Pacific commander. Fuel was also 

supplied to a sewage plant in Yokosuka 

to avert an emergency, and efforts were 

made to ensure American bases in 

northern Japan still had access to fuel.

“Our main concern right now is 

making sure our military customers in 

northern Japan get the fuel they need 

to support operations and take care of 

families.” Henderson said the week of the 

disaster. “We are working parallel paths to 

ensure the uninterrupted supply of fuel.”

Defense Logistics Agency Energy team 

DLA Providing Fuel, Rations to Relief Efforts in Japan

members also worked to provide needed 

ground fuel support to the Japanese.

Misawa Air Base, located in northern 

Japan, stores a number of DLA-owned 

products, such as jet fuel, gasoline and 

diesel. The base opened its Army and Air 

Force Exchange Service gas station to let 

Japanese citizens acquire gas they could 

not on the local economy.

“Ground fuels have limited availability. The tsunami wiped out everything 

in its path, significantly impacting our 

... contractor’s capability to respond to 

Misawa customer demands,” Defense 

Logistics Agency Energy Director of 

Operations Air Force Col. Steve Kephart 

said the following week. “DLA Energy 

is doing everything in our power to help 

provide ground fuels to the people who 

need it.” 

DLA Energy Pacific’s Japan office 

also contracted for 31 trucks from central 

Japan to deliver fuel to Misawa. The 31 

trucks were expected to deliver roughly 

170,000 gallons of fuel to help people 

affected by this disaster.

Beyond that, DLA Pacific was largely 

concerned with making sure it was ready 

to distribute emergency relief supplies as 

soon as they were requested. 

“Two C-130s with meals ready to eat and 

food from DLA Troop Support’s subsistence 

prime vendors were delivered to Misawa 

Air Base, and additional deliveries of water, 

MREs, diapers, blankets and medical 

supplies [were] prepared for immediate 

delivery,” said Navy Cdr. Jason Bridges, 

DLA Troop Support Pacific commander. 

“There is a more robust [operations 

tempo] supporting the ongoing relief 

operations in Japan. This ultimately results 

in increases in our routine business. We are 

properly positioned to provide supplies and 

ensure we can have them in the right place 

at the right time,” Army Col. Sheila Bryant, 

DLA Pacific commander, said.

— Jacob Boyer and Susan Lowe

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
30 www.dla.mil

Money Matters

COMMON FOOD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Standardized Savings

Nick Sistrun works for DLA Troop Support Public Affairs.

Story by Nick Sistrun and Sara Moore

A

s further proof that the Defense 

Logistics Agency is doing its 

part to contribute to the Defense 

Department’s push for increased 

efficiencies, a DLA Troop Support 

subsistence team was recently recognized 

by DoD for its work in implementing a 

new food ordering system that will save 

millions of dollars every year.

Subsistence personnel received the 

2010 Defense Standardization Program 

to review more than 100,000 food items 

and related products in the cataloging 

system. The team worked daily, reviewing 

items and coordinating with vendors and 

customers to gain consensus on proposed 

changes from their findings. 

“The Subsistence Cataloging & 

Standardization Branch had an enormous 

challenge: to review every food item 

in the system and modify each to be in 

compliance with the stringent CFMS 

standards,” said Catherine Capriotti, a food 

technologist at DLA Troop Support who 

Air Force Senior Airman DeAndre Curtiss

Outstanding Achievement Award for 

reducing yearly maintenance costs by 

more than $81.5 million by archiving or 

cancelling 54,500 duplicative or obsolete 

catalog items. The team then put the 

remaining 53,000 items through an 

exhaustive standardization process across 

all the military services, allowing for the 

implementation of DoD’s new Common 

Food Management System.

To prepare for implementation of 

the new system, DLA Troop Support 

formed the CFMS Standardization Team 
Loglines l May - June 2011 31

DLA Strategic Communications

worked on the CFMS Standardization Team. 

DoD is implementing CFMS in June as 

a pilot program to streamline processes and 

look for more efficient means of buying food. 

It will be a universal food ordering system 

that replaces the individual systems each 

service uses. DoD officials agree that these 

systems are outdated and noncompliant 

with information assurance and electronic 

data interchange. The DoD Joint Food 

Policy Council has directed that one 

standardized ordering system replace these 

Senior Airman James Battocletti, 49th Force 

Support Squadron, serves customers on the 

main line during lunch at Holloman Air Force 

Base, N.M. DLA Troop Support Subsistence’s 

new Common Food Management System will 

streamline food ordering processes across the 

Defense Department.

Marine Corps Sgt. Jesse J. Johnson

existing unique food management systems. 

The DLA Troop Support team 

consisted of Capriotti, Carolyn Dempsey, 

John Robinson, Scott Koch, Jeffrey 

Nienstedt and Carol Willey, from the 

U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, 

Development and Engineering Center. 

In addition to standardizing the food 

items, the team also defined new criteria 

and developed new standard operating 

procedures for future item reduction 

efforts. Their work also improved menu 

planning, recipe maintenance and 

nutritional analysis, Nienstedt said.

“The work that was done to reduce the 

number of stock items and to standardize 

the ones that remain is a huge plus to the 

customer. It will help reduce billing errors 

caused by non-standardized items and 

allow our customers to expect the same 

package sizes for items no matter where 

they are in the world,” he said.

Developing a standardized ordering 

system will give DLA a more streamlined 

process to produce consistent, reliable 

results, Koch said. The new system will 

reduce item redundancies and mismatched stock numbers and will better 

enable DLA to enforce contractual pricing 

agreements, he said.

“Warfighters win with improved value 

for their dollar and standard item properties that help enforce nutritional criteria 

so that each valuable serviceman or 

woman receives a healthy, square meal,” 

he said. 

U.S. Marines unload pallets of meals ready to eat during a resupply to their patrol base near Combat Outpost Ouellette in Helmand province, Afghanistan. 

A DLA Troop Support subsistence team was recently recognized for their efforts in implementing the Common Food Management System, which will 

improve the way food for warfighters is ordered.
32 www.dla.mil

Keep ‘em 

Training! Story by DLA Energy Americas West Staff

Because there are no local refineries 

in the region supporting the Defense 

Department and other contract specifics 

can differ from year to year, “award patterns can be quite elaborate,” explained 

Lee Oppenheim, AMW’s deputy 

commander.

“The supply pipeline is different in 

each case, and timing is everything, so 

and Green Flag exercises.

“These are the big three training and 

force projection facilities in the world,” 

said DLA Energy Americas Commander 

Army Col. Bill Keyes, “and supporting 

them creates many fuel challenges.”

Once fuel contracts are awarded 

through DLA Energy business units at 

Fort Belvoir, Va., AMW makes sure clean, 

on-specification products reach the training 

facility. Two of DLA Energy America’s 

primary inventory managers, Keith Embree 

and Dave DeHoag, work together to 

schedule delivery to the training facilities.

D

efense Logistics Agency Energy 

plays a big part in supporting 

the combat training that gives 

America’s warfighters the edge 

they need.

Realistic combat training requires a 

steady diet of fuel. DLA Energy Americas 

West, responsible for supporting DLA 

Energy customers west of the Rocky 

Mountains, keeps three of the military’s 

premier training programs fully fueled: 

the Army’s National Training Center, the 

Navy’s Fighter Weapon School, called 

Top Gun, and the Air Force’s Red Flag 

D

Two F-16 Aggressors playing the role of hostile 

forces fly in formation over Eielson Air Force 

Base, Alaska, as part of Red Flag-Alaska. 

DLA Energy Americas West makes sure fuel 

requirements for the exercise are met. 

— Photo by Air Force Senior Airman Willard E. Grande II

32 www.dla.mil
Loglines l May - June 2011 33

Army Spc. Ben Hutto

planning begins at about 60 days prior to 

the start of an exercise,” Oppenheim said.

JP8 aviation jet fuel is the primary 

fuel used throughout the training programs, and not just for air operations, he 

said. The team places orders with suppliers using current contracts, then a local 

quality assurance representative inspects 

and assures both the quality and quantity 

of fuel purchased.

Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., one of the 

bases served by DLA Energy Americas 

West, has more than 12,000 square miles 

of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land. 

With 1,900 possible targets, realistic 

threat systems and an opposing enemy 

force that cannot be replicated anywhere 

else in the world, Nellis provides combat 

air forces with the ability to train together 

in a realistic combat environment.

Red Flag and Green Flag exercises are 

held there throughout the year to 

train aircrews from the 

United States, 

NATO 

partners and other 

allied countries in combat situations.

“The exercises almost pull fuel faster 

than we can give it to them,” said Bo 

Swenson, distribution manager. “It’s very 

challenging, and the trick is to frontload 

the system with fuel because these exercises use more fuel in one day than most 

commercial airports do,” he explained.

During Red Flag exercises, the base 

consumes 6,000 to 8,000 barrels of fuel 

per day. To ensure adequate stock for the 

exercise, the team ensures a supply of fuel 

is available ahead of time.

“Just prior to any exercise, Embree 

works mightily to make sure all the available tankage is full,” AMW Commander 

Air Force Lt. Col. Tam Gaffney explained.

By fueling the Army’s National 

Training Center and the support battalion 

at Fort Irwin, Calif., DLA Energy supports 

the training of the Army and other U.S. 

forces. NTC training is often supported by 

air assets from Nellis, as well.

NTC focuses on the battalion task 

force and brigade combat team levels 

to provide “tough, realistic joint and 

combined arms training,” according to 

its website. Rotational combat exercises 

are held throughout the year to support 

Army, Air Force, Marine, Navy, NATO 

and allied forces.

During each two-week exercise, 

Defense Fuel Support Point San Pedro, 

Calif., ships about 50,000 gallons of fuel 

to NTC. Quality assurance representatives provide product quality surveillance 

and take product samples for analysis 

in order to meet product specifications. 

They also provide customer support 

to the Fort Irwin fuel group for issues 

related to upkeep and maintenance of the 

fuel distribution system.

Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev., is the 

only U.S. naval facility where advanced 

integrated carrier air wing strike training 

can take place, combining realistic flight 

training in electronic warfare, air-toground, air-to-air weapons delivery, special 

weapons delivery, and enemy evasion 

tactics. Military aircrews from the Navy, 

Air Force, Marine Corps, and Nevada Air 

National Guard train at NAS Fallon, located 

70 miles east of Reno. The Naval Fighter 

Weapons School, called Top Gun, is also 

located there, providing strike planning 

and execution training opportunities 

in a dynamic, realistic, scenario-driven 

simulated wartime environment.

Last year, DLA Energy provided about 

525,000 gallons of fuel per month to NAS 

Fallon. This supported all traffic at NAS 

Fallon, both directly fueling the aircraft 

for Top Gun training and other aircraft 

used to transport personnel and material 

associated with the training exercises.

“We estimate this year’s consumption 

will increase significantly,” Oppenheim 

said. “There are, on average, 2,200 

refuelings per month performed by the 

base fuels personnel.”

Gaffney said she is proud of her 

team’s support to its customers.

“Because the Americas West professionals strictly adhere to detail and 

maintain superior technical knowledge 

of the products, we have never purchased 

off-specification fuels for our customers, 

and we deliver products to them on time,” 

she said. 

JP8 aviation jet fuel is the primary fuel used 

throughout the training programs, and not just 

for air operations.

Four Abrams tanks assigned to 3rd Infantry 

Division line up on the firing line before a 

qualifying range at Fort Irwin, Calif. The 

JP8 aviation jet fuel the tanks operate on is 

provided by DLA Americas West. 

Loglines l May - June 2011 33
I AM

My name is: 

Heidi Heuser

I am: 

A DLA Disposition Services logistics management specialist.

Describe your job in a sentence: 

As a logistics planner in the Contingency Operations Directorate, I provide 

strategic-level support to DLA Disposition Services’ internal and external 

customers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

How long have you worked for DLA? 

One year as a logistics planner, four years prior to that as a contractor.

What is your favorite thing about working for DLA? 

I love knowing that what I do makes a difference to our civilians and military 

personnel deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and other contingency locations.

What is your best memory of working here? 

I volunteered to go to Iraq for 60 days to support our planning efforts there. 

I had the opportunity to work with other logisticians in real time, in the real 

place. It was very eye-opening to experience what we ask our deployers 

to do, and I have a greater appreciation of the mission and how 

DLA as an enterprise fits into that mission. As a bonus I had the 

opportunity to meet and work with other wonderful people who 

are also supporting the mission. 

How do you make a difference to warfighters? 

This is what I do, sometimes in the smallest of ways. It may 

mean providing information, Sometimes it means putting together 

briefings that capture information and tell a story. Sometimes it 

means bouncing ideas off of each other to facilitate more meaningful 

thought. My team works together to solve problems. We come up 

with plans for how to best support the warfighter. This is what the 

Contingency Operations Directorate does, and I am happy and proud to be 

a part of this team.