Just over 25 years ago, the U.S. military was a Cold War force based in Europe. In the blink of an eye, it was deploying forces from there to Operation Desert Shield and then Desert Storm. Since then, the next generation of warfighters, especially those deploying to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, have regularly been sent to the theater from bases around the world.
In the future, military forces will likely deploy to theaters that are not as mature as Iraq and Afghanistan. As the Army realigns its footprint outside the United States and refocuses its mission sets to regional contingencies, setting the theater will require a more deliberate focus on regional support. The Army will continue to be the major force provider for the geographic combatant commander and will require responsive, integrated logistics partners to quickly set up the operational theater.
Our nation's response to the Ebola virus disease epidemic during Operation United Assistance (OUA) required that many organizations work together. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) was a key part of OUA and is a major theater enabler for future contingencies.
SUPPORTING THE ARMY
DLA is proud to be the combat logistics support agency of the United States. It is equally proud of its longstanding relationship with the Army. Although most of DLA's workforce is composed of civilian personnel (including a significant number of Army veterans), it also has 197 active duty Soldiers and 167 Army Reservists providing joint and combined forces with the full spectrum of logistics, acquisition, and technical services.
DLA's six primary-level field activities provide food, fuel, uniforms, medical supplies, and construction equipment worldwide. These activities supply, distribute, and reutilize more than 88 percent of the military's spare parts.
Working side by side with Army operators allows DLA staff to quickly respond to immediate needs. They also work closely with industrial partners to get the right support to the right place at the right time.
DLA brings experience working on whole-of-government projects and emergencies. It has partnered many times with agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Army Corps of Engineers to provide a total government solution to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief at home and abroad.
SUPPORTING OUA
Beginning Sept. 16, 2014, DLA teamed with the Army to support the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in OUA, a showcase of joint expeditionary operations. DLA demonstrated its ability to support a contingency operation. It successfully managed nine supply chains and nearly 5.3 million items daily.
The success in supporting OUA came from having teams in place with partners such as the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) and logistics providers in the military services and combatant commands. These partnerships let DLA plan and then establish favorable conditions to support the contingency.
DLA swung into action the day President Barack Obama announced that the United States would provide support to Liberia in its time of need. DLA worked with AFRICOM and TRANSCOM to establish a three-country, multimodal distribution network in West Africa.
By Sept. 24, three warehouses were secured and all classes of supply, less ammunition, were delivered shortly after. DLA deployed expeditionary teams from the United States and Europe along with the task force to pre-position critical materials so troops could quickly begin building 17 Ebola treatment units.
Executing contingency contracts during the first few days of the operation was a primary part of successfully supporting the mission. DLA's Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office (JCASO) is the on-call enabling capability that provides operational contract support coordination and integration during contingencies.
JCASO used its expeditionary contracting capability and the flexibility of the DLA's defense working capital fund to fill immediate contract needs until humanitarian assistance funds were made available to the Army contracting organization on the ground. JCASO and DLA expedited contingency contracts for medical equipment, construction supplies, and more to ensure the task force had what it needed to complete its mission.
DLA Troop Support coordinated the supply of equipment, which Army engineers used to build the treatment units, and coordinated the logistics to ensure materials brought from multiple countries and areas were compatible. When additional parts were needed, DLA Troop Support contractors tracked them down and expedited shipments to the area of responsibility.
DLA Energy personnel quickly established contracts to bring fuel into Liberia and the region. It hired trucking companies to deliver fuel and provided storage containers to ensure generators kept running at the camps where Soldiers lived and worked.
Members of the DLA Distribution expeditionary team rapidly deployed to manage, track, and inventory everything from food to medical equipment and personal protective gear. Working with agency partners, DLA processed more than 1.2 million liters of water and 16,000 prepackaged meals.
When elements of the 101st Airborne Division needed to dispose of 200 cots, a DLA Disposition Services team helped transfer them to another Army unit. The team also removed hazardous materials and created contracts with local companies that could reuse or dispose of unwanted materials.
DLA Aviation expedited support for critical rotary-wing aircraft spares, working tirelessly to replenish repair parts in a country with few primary roads. The entire agency, along with its network of partners, worked closely with the Army to make this very complex, time-critical expeditionary mission a success.
GLOBAL RESPONSIVENESS
The primary way DLA responds to the Army's worldwide requirements is through the DLA Land and Maritime and DLA Aviation weapons system supply chains. To support units engaged in international operations, DLA has dedicated readiness teams focused on expediting high-priority requisitions and executing emergency purchases of items that are difficult to procure or that require long lead times.
DLA Land and Maritime also has a team in its Land Operating Forces Support Division that is dedicated to closely monitoring requirements and quickly fulfilling orders for the Army's European activity sets. This continuous collaboration with the Army at several levels allows DLA to more accurately update forecasts to reflect rapidly evolving operational requirements.
DLA Land and Maritime and DLA Aviation, in coordination with other hardware chains, proactively support Army forward stocking initiatives ahead of demand in Europe, the Pacific, and Southwest Asia. This allows them to take less time to ship materiel, decreasing wait times for units participating in global multinational exercises and operations. In short, forward stocking the right parts increases combat readiness.
DLA field activities continually search for urgent emerging needs, partnering with organizations like the Army Materiel Command to anticipate and stock DLA items to support Army authorized stockage lists for repair parts.
One major DLA contribution to the Army's global expeditionary capability is its support to Army pre-positioned stock (APS) locations. The Leghorn Army Depot in northwest Italy provides a strategic port for European and African regional missions. It is one of two APS locations in Europe and one of five worldwide used for the storage, maintenance, and shipment of APS for units in the U.S. European Command, U.S. Central Command, and AFRICOM.
Over the next two years, the depot will reset roughly 1,000 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles by ensuring they are shipped from combat theaters and returned to APS. This is one example of DLA's continuous work with the Army to increase readiness--whether it is for combat, training, or a future mission in a pre-positioned location.
DLA's forward-positioned customer support representatives (CSRs) are the eyes and ears out front; some might call them the readiness trip wires. CSRs are located with key stateside Army combat divisions.
By keeping abreast of the units' operating tempo for training and deployments, a CSR detects and resolves problems, filling critical repair parts requirements before they affect readiness. These CSRs ensure rapid support for expeditionary continental United States-based units.
By serving as the on-site points of contact, CSRs provide urgent response, quietly taking care of problems before most people realize a problem existed. They are critical to the operational readiness of the Army's expeditionary combat units.
DLA Distribution continues to support U.S. efforts to bolster the security and capacity of Eastern European allies and partners by helping train land forces in Poland and the Baltics during Operation Atlantic Resolve. This operation is critical to demonstrating the U.S. commitment to the security of NATO and to regional stability.
DLA Distribution in Europe has shipped truckloads of sustainment cargo in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve since April 2014. It provided the first sustainment cargo push to elements of the Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment. To sustain the participating units, DLA Distribution set up a dedicated truck route with weekly service to Poland and the Baltics.
DOMESTIC DISASTER RESPONSE
The wide range of DLA's expeditionary logistics support can be seen in its partnership with FEMA. After Hurricane Sandy damaged parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, DLA quickly leveraged its logistics experience and industry partnerships to meet the needs of FEMA, the Department of Defense, and the states affected by the storm.
Working closely with TRANSCOM, Active component forces, and the National Guard, DLA provided more than 6 million meals, 4,000 cots, and 9 million gallons of fuel for first responders and enough blankets to cover Yankee Stadium six times over.
DLA's advantage in a natural disaster is its ability to leverage relationships with commercial partners to provide rapid support and humanitarian assistance. For Hurricane Sandy, DLA placed liaisons with FEMA, Joint Task Force Civil Support, and the governors of New York and New Jersey.
This created a seamless route for its 45 embedded professionals to use in delivering 500 sets of cold-weather clothing, 44,000 feet of power cables, and contracting services for trash and hazardous materials removal, power generation, dewatering operations, and port restoration.
Hurricane Sandy's devastation was the ultimate test of the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve; it was the first time emergency withdrawals were made. Immediately after the president ordered the transfer of the emergency fuel, DLA Energy personnel began loading fuel from the reserve stocks in Connecticut onto trucks and barges to bring the fuel to state, local, and federal first responders in New York and New Jersey. They moved about 4 million gallons of heating oil to prevent fellow Americans from freezing.
At most fuel terminals in New York Harbor, the storm caused heavy water damage and power loss, causing the fuel terminals to close. As a result of the fuel shortage, the Department of Energy created the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve. Once again, DLA Energy provided support with the rapid acquisition of storage service contracts in the Northeast so gasoline could be delivered.
Working with the Army Materiel Command, DLA is planning a series of rapid deployment training events to prepare for future domestic disasters. DLA will provide two teams on 60-day on-call rotations to coordinate humanitarian assistance with local law enforcement. These scenarios will focus on the Cascadia subduction zone and the impact of a possible tsunami in the Pacific Northwest resulting from a major earthquake.
DLA's main mission is to provide effective and efficient global solutions for warfighters and other valued customers. As new missions arise around the world, remember DLA during the planning stages. It provides a broad range of logistics and supply-chain capabilities by applying industry best practices to ensure customers receive what they need, when they need it.
Through early and meaningful engagement with the Army, DLA can balance the requirements and trade-offs needed to develop the right solutions. It has supported deployed troops in every major conflict and contingency operation over the past five decades and looks forward to continuing to support in the future.
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Lt. Gen. Andrew E. Busch, USAF, is the director of the Defense Logistics Agency. He earned his commission in 1979 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is a logistician with a core background in fighter aircraft maintenance and has experience in supply, transportation, and acquisition issues at the wholesale logistics level.
The Defense Logistics Agency is America's combat support agency. It provides the Army with the full spectrum of logistics, acquisition, and technical services. For information about another Defense Logistics Agency Activity, please read "DLA Troop Support Supplies Army Expeditionary Logistics" by Brig. Gen. Charles Hamilton.
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This article was published in the March-April 2016 issue of Army Sustainment magazine.
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