DLA Troop Support provides necessities for overseas holiday observances

Courtesy Photo | U.S. Air Force service members serving at Kabul, Afghanistan, had an opportunity to eat and talk with Daniel Ginsberg, assistant secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, U.S. Air Force, for Easter dinner at the Supreme Dining Facility at ISAF. Ginsberg met with senior leaders and ground troops in a trip focused on ensuring senior leaders had the support they need and troops had proper training, and to answer questions from troops regarding force-shaping initiatives and the future structure of the Air Force. Additionally, Ginsberg intended to take a closer look at the aero-medical evacuation and treatment facilities for service members wounded in combat in hopes of improving the number who can receive adequate care during the "golden hour."  

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

04.06.2012

Story by Nicholas Sistrun 

Defense Logistics Agency   

KABUL, Afghanistan — Warfighters and Defense Department civilians in Afghanistan and Kuwait and State Department employees in Iraq have the food and supplies needed to observe the Easter and Passover holidays this week thanks to employees at Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support.

Team members in the subsistence and clothing and textiles supply chains procured the special meals and related religious items for the holidays. Passover runs April 7-13 and Easter is April 8.

The Easter menu includes 46,612 pounds of turkey, 20,475 pounds of Cornish hen, 30,525 pounds of ham, 35,712 pounds of shrimp, 63,200 pounds of lobster and crab, and an assortment of vegetables, beverages and desserts.

Deborah Sinno, a DLA Troop Support Subsistence customer account specialist, ensures customers receive specialty orders for Passover. Service members who maintain a kosher diet during Passover will have four special meals, ready-to-eat available to them during the seven-day observance, Sinno said. The menu includes bone-in chicken with potatoes, beef vegetable stew, gefilte fish or salmon as well as traditional matzo crackers and desserts.

To enable service members to partake in the holidays’ religious ceremonies, DLA Troop Support also supplies them with appropriate ceremonial items like Seder kits, literature and palm fronds.

Ted Kelly, a DLA Troop Support Clothing and Textiles customer relationship management supervisor, supplies the military with special religious items for holidays.

“We work closely with the vendors who supply these items to ensure when a deployed service member inputs their order into our system, they can rest assured that the goods are on the way,” Kelly said.

DLA Troop Support Commander Navy Rear Adm. David Baucom said he sees this effort as part of the organization’s covenant with the warfighter.

“We are committed to providing these Americans with the items they need to observe their religious beliefs, especially since they are doing so much to protect our own freedoms back home,” Baucom said.

• Date Taken: 04.06.2012
• Date Posted: 04.12.2012 14:29
• Story ID: 86661
• Location: KABUL, AF