PHILADELPHIA –
Mandatory evacuation notices were issued last week as the threat of Hurricane Florence loomed over the North Carolina coast. Pama Hamlett, a customer support specialist with the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, was forced to leave her home to seek shelter with her daughter in Williamsburg, Virginia, but not without her work computer and phone in tow.
Unsure of the damages to her own home back in N.C., and fully aware of the over 1,200 road closures throughout the state, 356 of them primary roads, the effects of the hurricane made food deliveries to military bases there a challenge.
“As an employee of Troop Support for 28 years, I know how important it is for our troops to have food in times like that,” Hamlett, a field representative with Troop Support’s Subsistence supply chain, said. “It was a team effort by everybody, but I stayed in contact with the customers and vendors just to make sure that those deliveries could be made.”
“Due to the flooding, the trucks would try to get to our customers at Camp Lejeune, Seymour Johnson and Fort Bragg, but the roads would be closed,” she said. “Many times, the drivers would head out with the orders, often having to be rerouted, taking hours longer than normal.”
Hamlett credits the good communication between the customers and vendors that allowed the dining facilities to get all of their deliveries despite the storm’s devastation.
“Luckily, we were able to get provisions to everybody. Despite a few facility closures at Camp Lejeune, we were still able to provide meals to the troops every day,” Hamlett said. “The vendors and drivers should be commended. They did a fantastic job making sure our customers were taken care of."
The supply chain leadership is appreciative of the dedication displayed by Hamlet and the vendors to ensure customer support.
“It is people like Pama who epitomize the mission of Subsistence by putting others before self,” Richard Faso, Subsistence deputy director, said.