Air Force Capt. Cynthia Rodriguez received the Defense Logistics Agency Company Grade Officer of the Quarter for the third quarter of fiscal year 2018.
Rodriguez is currently deployed as the DLA Energy Middle East liaison officer to Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve where she coordinates daily fuel delivery for eight sites in Iraq and Syria.
“Capt. Rodriguez is actively engaged at all levels with our multiple partners for warfighter support in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility,” DLA Energy Acting Commander Guy Beougher wrote in her nomination. “Expertly managing a very challenging quarter in Iraq for DLA Energy, she successfully tackled supply chain management constraints and issues ranging from taxation and vendor vetting to Ministry of Oil and Ministry of Defense process changes for secure ground transportation movement approvals.”
Rodriguez’s support and responsiveness provided critical information flow to and across three different theater support commands, Beougher noted. As the LNO, she helped develop a combined mitigation plan of fuel delivery disruption due to the short notice change to the Ministry of Oil approval processes. In the third quarter alone, she processed more than 400 movement requests synchronizing them between the U.S. Embassy-Baghdad Logistics Management Center and vendors and resolving delays or issues along delivery routes.
“Due to the mission, challenges and visibility within the region, this is by far the most critical and challenging liaison officer position in DLA Energy,” Beougher said.
To help facilitate information flow, Rodriguez drafted a flow chart of Iraq fuel movements to ensure all parties involved understood the complex system and worked to provide up-to-date status of fuel capacity at each site.
In addition to coordinating fuel throughout the region, Rodriquez kept accountability of fuel deliveries within her area of operations. She worked to ensure proper checks and balances between sites and vendors and checked paperwork accuracy before sending reports to DLA Energy customer account specialists for invoice processing and payment.
Additionally, she coordinated with DLA Energy quality assurance representatives to ensure the fuel that was delivered met specification. Her actions verified that DLA was receiving quality fuel from our suppliers supporting operational units in the field preventing mission degradation, Beougher said.
“Capt. Rodriguez is a talented logistician who exceeds standards,” said DLA Energy Middle East Commander Army Lt. Col. Henry Brown. “She clearly understands commander’s intent and strives toward uninterrupted support to the warfighter.”
Upon the completion of her deployment in September, Rodriguez will return to her assignment as the DLA Energy Hawaii operations officer.