beyond the call of duty

Supplying military personnel around the world with everything from groceries to jet fuel might seem challenge enough. But in mid-July, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) was handed an additional assignment: providing emergency humanitarian relief. With violence escalating in the Middle East, the DLA was called in to help with the evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon.

The call came in to the DLA Logistics Operations Center (DLOC) on July 17, the day after the violence erupted. And what followed was what Acting DLOC Director Lt. Col. Dennis Carr characterized as "a pretty busy week"—one that had most DLOC personnel logging extended hours. In the first 10 days alone, the DLA supplied more than 10,000 American evacuees with some 2,000 cases of MREs (meals, ready to eat), 240 modules of UGR (unitized group rations: each module feeds 50), 11,700 cases of bottled water, 2,000 cots, 1,412 blankets and an undisclosed amount of jet fuel.

DLOC personnel weren't the only agency staffers to lend a hand. Carr says DLA employees around the world got involved, with DLA-Europe, DLA-Central, the New Cumberland, Pa.-based Defense Distribution Center, and the U.S. Central Command Deployment Distribution Operations Center all supporting the evacuation efforts. In all, about 6,100 U.S. service members assisted with the evacuation.