Loglines Magazine

Loglines’ mission is to publish timely, accurate information about how the Defense Logistics Agency, as the nation’s logistics combat support agency, delivers agile logistics support in all domains during peace and war. It provides a forum for agency employees, military and industry customers, defense professionals and the joint logistics enterprise to learn about DLA’s vision, operating principles and imperatives to provide global logistics solutions in support of the military services along with the combatant commands, other federal agencies, and partner and allied nations.

Army Lt. Gen Mark Simerly's portrait in front of the US and Army three-star flags

Director's Message

Welcome to the latest edition of Loglines, DLA’s professional journal showcasing defense logistics in a complex, contested, and constantly evolving global environment.

The theme for this issue, “Agile Logistics for a Changing World,” reflects the transformation underway across our agency – how we prepare, how we adapt, and how we rise to meet the challenges ahead. We are moving beyond legacy frameworks into a modern era, harnessing advanced tools to forecast demand, streamline operations, and strengthen sustainment.

As the joint force evolves, DLA evolves with it – exercising, rehearsing, validating, and sharpening our ability to respond to any threat. We understand the potential for conflict. Whether that moment arrives or not, we must be ready to support the joint force as they protect our national interests around the world.

As we sharpen our ability to operate at the speed of war, this edition of Loglines turns to the stories that illustrate how DLA is preparing for the future fight. We begin with a look at the Assassin’s Mace wargames, where the agency’s agility and adaptability are tested in contested environments and complex scenarios. The issue continues with a discussion featuring the commanders of DLA Weapons Support, who explain how aviation, land, and maritime supply chains are being brought together under one cohesive command. We continue with features on the Digital First campaign, and the DLA expeditionary teams supporting Warfighters and humanitarian missions around the globe.

Other articles highlight the 250^th anniversaries of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as DLA Troop Support’s innovative approaches to increase efficiency in the clothing & textiles supply chain. Finally, a series of white papers explores emerging concepts – from tactical energy storage and machine learning to contested logistics truths – that will shape how we deliver sustainment in the years ahead.

From modernization efforts to lessons from history, this issue underscores DLA’s role as the backbone of military sustainment – fueling readiness, innovation, and adaptability for a changing world.

Agile – that’s the word I want to leave you with. Because agility defines how DLA sustains the fight and secures the future.

Warfighter Always!

- LTG Mark Simerly
Defense Logistics Agency Director

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Features

Nov. 1, 2025

Wargaming the future to sharpen readiness

In a world of evolving threats, the Defense Logistics Agency is using creative ways to prepare for future conflicts – one of those is wargaming. Earlier this year, DLA conducted a wargame exercise as part of its Campaign of Learning. Dubbed “Assassin’s Mace,” the tabletop wargame focused on a notional future conflict involving China and Taiwan.

Nov. 1, 2025

LEAD-ing the future of logistics: Inside DLA’s Digital Strategy

The Defense Logistics Agency is the backbone of military sustainment, providing troops around the world with everything from fuel and food to spare parts and medical supplies. With a mission so vast, DLA can’t afford to fall behind when it comes to technology.

Nov. 1, 2025

Agile and adaptable: DLA Distribution Expeditionary capabilities adapt, excel in 2025

In an era marked by rapidly evolving technology and contested logistics, Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Expeditionary capabilities enable warfighter readiness, multinational exercise support and humanitarian assistance.

Nov. 1, 2025

Guest Commentary: From red tape to readiness - sharpening the acquisition edge

It's an honor to share a few thoughts with this community, a vital part of the Army’s and the nation's logistics enterprise. As the Army’s principal buying agent, the Army Contracting Command is focused on a singular, urgent mission: providing our warfighters with premier contracting support at the speed of war. To do this, we must relentlessly pursue efficiency, responsiveness and effectiveness, using every tool at our disposal.

Nov. 1, 2025

Maintaining military first impressions: Third-party logistics team essential to military clothing supply chain

Behind every recruit’s first set of uniforms is a team and a process that ensures more than a billion dollars’ worth of inventory is handled properly. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support’s Clothing and Textiles supply chain works with five third-party logistics firms, also known as 3PLs, that provide outsourced logistics services including warehousing, transportation, inventory management, and procurement.

A Conversation With

A conversation with the leaders of DLA Weapons Support

The Defense Logistics Agency stood up a new major subordinate command dedicated to supplying spare and repair parts to the military services Oct. 1, 2025. DLA Weapons Support integrates the missions of the former DLA Aviation and DLA Land and Maritime into a single unified command responsible for weapon systems support to the joint force. In this interview, the new MSC’s leaders talk about the transformation, what it means for the agency, employees and warfighters, and what stakeholders can

Newswire

History Spotlight

Nov. 1, 2025

Personalities and the past: How history makes the Army, Marine Corps, Navy unique

Officers joining George Washington’s army outside Boston in the summer of 1775 didn’t swear allegiance to the United States. They couldn’t: America didn’t exist. The U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Army all celebrated their 250th anniversary in 2025, making them a year older than the nation they support.

Campaign of Learning

Nov. 1, 2025

Just Enough Logistics: Shifting the Logistics Paradigm

Today’s battlespace is more complex, unpredictable, and technologically advanced than ever before. The modern Warfighter must operate in environments where logistics is under threat – from cyber vulnerabilities, adversarial supply chain manipulation, and constrained transportation networks.

Nov. 1, 2025

The Joint Logistics Enterprise’s Modern 'Contested Logistics Truths'

From its inception, the military has played a significant role in the development of the United States. As the Nation approaches its 250th anniversary, a consistent theme for our military emerges: the enduring imperative to defend, deter, and prevail in conflict. History has demonstrated that the lynchpin of success in conflict always relies on logistics.

Nov. 1, 2025

Modernization of the Distribution Network

Logistics is no longer a back-end function; it is a front-line enabler of military success. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has underscored the critical role of logistics in modern warfare, where the ability to move, store, and deliver material at speed will be a decisive factor in conflict outcomes.

Nov. 1, 2025

DLA Disposition Services: Reutilization as a source of supply

For decades, military forces have relied on a systematic approach to targeting and engaging enemy forces, known as the "Kill Chain," or F2T2EA sequence: Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, and Assess. The ultimate goal of warfare is to create significant combat effects, which can be either kinetic, such as destroying an enemy missile launcher with a precision-guided bomb, or non-kinetic, like disrupting an adversary's radar systems through electronic jamming.

Nov. 1, 2025

Incorporating Tactical Energy Storage into War Reserves: DLA’s Vital Role in Sustaining Strategic Assets

War Reserve Materiel (WRM) is critical to minimizing supply chain disruptions inherent in contested logistics. For over sixty years, forward-deployed, prepositioned war reserve materiel (PWRM) has enabled rapid response to contingencies and strengthened deterrence against emerging threats.

Nov. 1, 2025

Finding advantage in the economic attributes of supply chain management

The tension between culmination and operational reach is inherent in all operations and at every echelon. Germany started WWII with relatively minuscule industrial capacity, limited access to fossil fuels and light/heavy metals, and a delusional sense of invincibility abetted by their early tactical successes by way of Blitzkrieg. All of this was complemented by a self-assured will to fight predicated on initial weapons design prowess and an ideological sense of superiority. Even still, the

Nov. 1, 2025

Defense Material Disposition in a Contested Logistics Environment

The emerging joint operating environment (JOE) is characterized by an erosion of U.S. military competitive advantages as adversaries obtain technologically advanced capabilities at a faster pace than ever before to deny, disrupt, and degrade our nation’s ability to protect itself and advance national interests. This is resulting in unique and complex challenges for military forces engaging in a wide range of operational activities across the competition continuum.

Enterprisewide | June 4, 2025

Navy admiral to logisticians: Operational environment presents new challenges and opportunities

The Department of Defense stands at a pivotal moment in history in which the global strategic environment is shaped by unprecedented challenges and opportunities, the Joint Staff vice director for operations told Defense Logistics Agency leaders and employees May 30.

Enterprisewide | July 1, 2025

Insights help DLA employees understand challenges posed by China

The United States and its partners must understand the depth and breadth of challenges posed by China to effectively compete in the physical and information domains, the director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute at National Defense University said June 23 at Defense Logistics Agency Headquarters.

Enterprisewide | July 29, 2025

Diplomat to logisticians: Diplomacy and logistics makes victories happen

Diplomacy and military logistics may seem like distant cousins, but the nation was founded on this partnership, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Global Operations told Defense Logistics Agency employees July 17.

Enterprisewide | Nov. 14, 2025

Navy works to keep fleet ready during increasing global demand

Navy Rear Adm. Andrew Biehn, director of Surface Maintenance, Modernization, and Sustainment for Naval Sea Systems Command, spoke at the Defense Logistics Agency Headquarters as part of its Campaign of Learning series Sept. 29.

Enterprisewide | Nov. 19, 2025

Modernization key to countering global threats, former counterintelligence director says

The Defense Logistics Agency must adapt to the complexities of a rapidly changing global landscape by modernizing its approaches to cybersecurity and supply chain security, William Evanina, former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told DLA personnel at a recent Warfighter Talk.

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