Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. –
The director of the Defense Logistics Agency recently visited Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, an incident staging base for relief efforts led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the Department of Homeland Security following Hurricane Irma.
Army Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams was impressed with the swift teamwork in response to the Category 3 storm, which ravaged Florida with winds of 135 mph and major flooding.
He also commended the operational integration of the multiagency, government-industry team of FEMA, DLA Distribution and J.B. Hunt Transport Services. Williams noted the team is a textbook example of the “forming–storming–norming–performing” model of group development.
ISB Maxwell is operating continuously, every day, with 80 personnel who support trailer-transfer operations, information technology communications, FEMA commodity visibility, staging-area management, security and property accountability.
The 40-person DLA Distribution Expeditionary team, led by Charles W. Ensinger, deployed to Maxwell to support FEMA’s wide range of services, supplies, and disaster relief with logistics expertise. The DDXX team has provided the mobile command trailer, a yard truck, forklifts, and front-end loaders and has received over 1,300 trucks with more than 1 million shelf-stable meals, as well as bottled water, generators and other commodities to be distributed to communities in Irma’s path.
Williams and his team walked through the process for receipt and storage of material and the inbound/outbound process for trucks. Williams also met with FEMA and J.B. Hunt representatives, toured the flightline, and spoke with over 60 personnel, emphasizing the importance of their work and its benefit to the affected residents of Florida.
Williams noted the strategic importance of the Maxwell ISB, the largest ISB in FEMA Region IV, has been touted at the highest executive levels, based on his recent meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Rick Scott and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.
While visiting installations supporting Hurricane Irma relief efforts, Williams also spoke at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. He and DLA Energy Americas at Houston Commander Lt. Col. Josielyn Carrasquillo answered questions about fuel support. View the interview video on DVIDS, or watch below.