FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
Derrin Williams is a real-life example of the Defense Logistics Agency’s ability to sustain warfighters.
He shares this story in the new video “DLA Protecting the Warfighter, A U.S. Army Officer’s Story From Iraq.”
Williams is DLA’s deputy executive director of operations and sustainment. He served as a logistician in the Army for 30 years.
In 2008, Williams was a battalion commander for the 501st Brigade Support Battalion and led 1,163 soldiers as they deployed as part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division to Kirkuk, Iraq.
His battalion provided security for dignitaries or escorted them throughout the community. On June 8, 2008, Williams escorted an ambassador on a visit to a torture rehabilitation center in downtown Kirkuk. The facility provided recovery assistance to Iraqis who were tortured by the Saddam Hussein regime. He then left to check on his soldiers because it was a particularly hot day, he says in the video.
Leaving through an opening in a wall surrounding the rehabilitation center, Williams stepped out to the street, looked to his right and immediately felt what he described as a force or wave of energy that was like being hit with a baseball bat.
“The only thing I remember is my head snapping back and looking up. And I can remember the material fibers from my auto tactical vest just floating in the air,” Williams said.
His noncommissioned officer, Army Staff Sgt. Stefan Lugo, pushed him back to the other side of the wall and told him he was hit by gunfire. Williams was then rushed to the hospital.
Days later, Williams thought about the “what-ifs” that could have ended his life.
He deployed with a ceramic small-arms protective insert plate for his vest, but soon after his team’s arrival, the plates were deemed ineffective against insurgents’ standard assault rifles. Enhanced inserts were ordered as replacements through DLA.
As a lieutenant colonel, Williams said he was familiar with DLA’s mission but hadn’t dealt with the agency directly. He knew there was a DLA representative on his forward operating base who provided updates on supplies.
DLA’s speed in replacing the plates may have saved Williams’ life.
“One week after my organization drew those SAPI plates is when I was shot,” he said, adding that he’s appreciated DLA from that day on.
“Sometimes I walk through the halls at the Headquarters and I see people working, and it may seem as though you're a mile or an ocean away from making an impact. But I would say that everyone in DLA is closer to making a difference than they may think because you never know,” Williams said.
Watch Williams tell his full story in this video.