ERBIL, Iraq- Tucked away in northern Iraq is a small group of Mississippi Army National Guard Soldiers dedicated to coordinating and fulfilling the essential logistics needed for warfighters.
Known as the Syrian Logistics Cell (SLC), hand-selected Soldiers of the Monticello, Mississippi-based 184th Sustainment Command leads the 25 member team for the 1st Theater Sustainment Command. For nine months, the unit has helped provide sustainment to U.S. forces and their allies in Syria.
"We provide commodities for sustainment to the outstations, fuel, food, repair parts to name a few," said Col. Cheryl Anderson, officer in charge. "We also track the materials to ensure the current needs of the warfighters in Syria are met."
The vital mission for the SLC team goes beyond moving food and water, and they also help move equipment and humanitarian aid. They coordinate convoys and have a contracting support officer that ensures all movement requirements are met. Everything that has moved in and out of Syria since their arrival in late December has involved precise and careful coordination.
"Everybody has a part. Everybody has a role, no role is no more important than the other, and I have several people that wear more than one hat, and they have gone above and beyond expectations," said Anderson.
During the mission, the team has successfully received hundreds of pieces of retrograde equipment and sent over sixty convoys with over 5,000 trucks to meet multiple logistics needs, which included over 3.5 million gallons of fuel, 863 pallets of humanitarian aid, and over 4,500 pallets of food and water.
"We had a great team, I think they did a great job, and even though we came into this location with a new team we have improved our sustainment footprint, and that will help with future missions," said Anderson.
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