DLA Troop Support gets fresh food delivered to troops in Afghanistan

Photo By Lance Cpl. Robert Carrasco | U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Robert J. Baker, left, and Sgt. Joseph W. Meccico, both crew chiefs with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 264, eat chow prior to a heliborne flight extraction operation out of Camp Bastion in Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 25. VMM-264 conducted heliborne flight extraction operations for troops on a routine basis in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Robert R. Carrasco/)  

FORT BELVOIR, VA, UNITED STATES

08.12.2011

Story by Strategic Communications DLA 

Defense Logistics Agency   

FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Europe & Africa is using a direct prime vendor support program to deliver fresh food to remote military customers in Afghanistan.

As a facet of the Subsistence Prime Vendor Program, delivery support plan requests allow military units to receive direct fresh-food deliveries from the contractor, Supreme Foodservice, in remote locations around the world.

Six new requests were processed and approved in late July, bringing the total number of supported sites in Afghanistan to 246, Todd Lutz, customer support team leader with DLA Troop Support Europe & Africa, said. With only 12 direct prime vendor supported sites in 2005, the requests were initially developed to assist customers that desired direct delivery support from Supreme.

Lutz called the delivery support plan request process dynamic, with lessons being learned daily that enable the team to consistently adapt to the changing needs of warfighters.

“The team has worked hard to create [subsistence] logistical support solutions in a very complex, unpredictable and challenging combat theater of operations,” he wrote in an email.

DLA Troop Support spearheaded a collaborative effort with customers and Supreme Foodservice to help improve the process and create solutions, Lutz said.

The Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan recently expressed its appreciation for this collaborative effort as it decreased its monthly subsistence air drop deliveries by more than 150 bundles, food advisor Army Chief Warrant Officer Jeremy Deck said.

CJSOTF-A has more than doubled the support it receives from Supreme, enabling better support to warfighters, acquiring more variety of food, and maximizing the use of aerial delivery for other classes of supply not supported by a prime vendor, Deck explained.

Of the new sites benefiting from DSPRs, several have passed on thanks to everyone involved in bringing this new capability to special operation forces personnel in Afghanistan.

“You will never know the ENORMITY of you and your team's support,” wrote Marine Lt. Col. J.D. McCoy, the task force’s officer in charge of sustainment. “The Marines currently occupying remote sites have not had the luxury to access the daily creature comforts that we are so privileged to enjoy at major hub [dining facilities]. Case in point, the Marines that have and are currently conducting operations have NOT had access to fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis in excess of five months.”

• Date Taken: 08.12.2011
• Date Posted: 08.25.2011 09:31
• Story ID: 75907
• Location: FORT BELVOIR, VA, US