Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support supplied urgently needed items to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies assisting people in states affected by Hurricane Sandy.
The storm, which made landfall in New Jersey Oct. 29, left a path of destruction that displaced thousands of people and left millions more without power throughout the Northeast. A following nor’easter hit the area Nov. 7, creating further damage and hampering the relief efforts.
DLA Troop Support provided more than 6.2 million meals, 51 power generators, about 172,500 blankets and cots and more than 250 types of medical items, including hypothermia protection kits and portable X-ray machines, to FEMA sites.
Representatives from DLA Troop Support’s subsistence, medical, clothing and textiles, and construction and equipment supply chains worked 24/7 to fulfill FEMA and U.S. Northern Command requests.
“I’m so impressed with the tenacity and urgency our folks exhibited in support of hurricane relief efforts,” DLA Troop Support Acting Commander Navy Rear Adm. Patricia Wolfe said. “Troop Support has ready access to so many urgently needed resources like meals, blankets and generators, and we worked with FEMA to bring those to bear and help the tens of thousands of people who really needed them.”
Wolfe went to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., as the lead DLA representative to Joint Task Force-Civil Support, the Defense Department entity coordinating DoD support for FEMA recovery efforts. Additional DLA Troop Support personnel also worked with the task force.
Wolfe said her team members’ efforts represented a paradigm shift, not only for how they conducted business, but how the other agencies viewed DLA Troop Support.
“They had to see us in a new light, not just as a provider of commodities but as a true partner in the war fight that they have for disaster response,” she said, noting the team’s efforts to provide what DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Harnitchek calls “significant activities, urgently executed.”
Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Strickland, a DLA Troop Support Subsistence customer care specialist, said working on the relief effort was a gratifying experience.
“To be able to get out from behind the computer and that cubicle, to get here on the ground and see someone able to smile because they have a hot meal has been very rewarding,” he said.
Strickland was part of a team embedded with the Alabama Army National Guard’s 167th Theater Sustainment Command, which was mobilized to the joint base to support DoD’s relief efforts.
For Strickland, DLA Troop Support’s efforts during Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath also laid the groundwork for successful disaster relief operations in the future.
“I think that what DLA has done in this natural disaster is blazing trails for the future,” he said.
Army Col. Lee Ellis, 167th TSC support operations officer, said having DLA directly available to his unit helped complete the total relief package.
“It is hard to quantify the importance of having DLA here with us; it’s absolutely critical,” he said. “They can provide visibility [of] their capabilities, their assets [and] their commodities and transition in a way that’s immediate to us and that we have to have.”
One of the biggest obstacles faced by responders was restoring power. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deployed teams to help get power to affected areas.
“We deployed two power plants to Rockaway, N.Y., and we didn’t have all of the building materials we needed,” said Army Staff Sgt. Josh Strausbaugh, of 246th Engineer Battalion from Fort Bragg, N.C. “[DLA Troop Support] ordered it, and we had it in by the next day.”
A DLA Troop Support Construction and Equipment team was at Lakehurst, N.J., to provide generators, pumps and construction supplies as needed.
“I think it was a major benefit having them on ground,” Strausbaugh said. “Whenever we were short on supplies, we could just walk over to them and they’d get it for us, and fast.”
Kyle McCarthy, chief of the DLA Troop Support Construction and Equipment Collective Customer Division, said that since generators were being leased to other federal agencies by DLA Troop Support rather than sold outright, it became his responsibility to maintain the inventory.
“You have to have boots on the ground here,” he said. “These other agencies are extremely busy and don’t have the time to look for your equipment and provide accountability. That’s something we need to be here to do.”
Looking forward, Wolfe said she sees the role of DLA Troop Support evolving to handle more domestic contingency operations. She added that there are already plans to train with the task force in coming months, which will help increase the interagency cooperation and trust that has been built during this disaster.
“When we go to a disaster response, we go hand in hand and we know each other,” she said. “DLA can bring a lot of speed to the fight or, in this case, disaster response fast.”
Wolfe, a New Jersey native, added that for DLA Troop Support personnel, supporting relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy was not just about providing disaster relief to their fellow Americans, it was about supporting their neighbors, family members, friends or even their co-workers who were affected by the storm.
“It was very, very personal,” she said. “It made our sense of urgency and our sense of purpose to the operation much closer to our hearts.”
Bill Addison and Michael Tuttle work for DLA Troop Support