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News | Oct. 2, 2025

Army Chinooks excel in delivering excess to DLA

By Jeff Landenberger

The U.S. Army 10th Aviation Division’s 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Drum, New York, has recently been working against a hard deadline to offload its used and excess equipment as part of the Army Transformation Initiative.

Two Soldiers move a large container inside a helicopter.
Soldiers from the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division unload excess property as part of the transfer process to DLA Disposition Services at Susquehanna onboard Naval Supply Activity Mechanicsburg, Penn.
Two Soldiers move a large container inside a helicopter.
250926-D-FV109-1001
Soldiers from the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division unload excess property as part of the transfer process to DLA Disposition Services at Susquehanna onboard Naval Supply Activity Mechanicsburg, Penn.
Photo By: Dorie Heyer
VIRIN: 250926-D-FV109-8390
Maj. Nick Berry, the squadron’s operations officer, said that the unit was inactivating and the goal was to divest all of the equipment prior to the inactivation date.

The squadron recently turned over its excess, non-property book items to the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services team, including outdated and unserviceable gear. Berry said clearing out the equipment was an important step toward meeting their required timeline.

A Soldier in a camo uniform holds up his arms and crosses them in front of himself as a signal to a forklift operator.
A Soldier signals to a forklift operator while unloading a Chinook from the 310th General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York. The helicopter had transported excess property from U.S. Army 10th Aviation Division’s 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment.
A Soldier in a camo uniform holds up his arms and crosses them in front of himself as a signal to a forklift operator.
250926-D-FV109-1001
A Soldier signals to a forklift operator while unloading a Chinook from the 310th General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York. The helicopter had transported excess property from U.S. Army 10th Aviation Division’s 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment.
Photo By: Dorie Heyer
VIRIN: 250926-D-FV109-8461
“Cleaning all of this stuff out allows us to restore some of these [Fort Drum] buildings to their normal facilities,” Berry said.

To manage the process, the unit created its own Squadron Excess Consolidation Point, where soldiers gathered gear to be palletized and prepared for turn-in. Instead of overland transport, the load was flown by Chinook helicopters from another battalion in the brigade to the DLA Disposition Services Susquehanna site excess property yard. Berry said using internal aviation assets was key to meeting the deadline.

“It was definitely a large muscle movement for us to get this done, and I’m glad we were able to utilize the assets across the combat aviation brigade to accomplish the mission,” he said.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jake Bennefield, a Chinook pilot with 310th General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, said the flights that moved the equipment to Pennsylvania also provided critical training for his crews.

“They’re divesting their equipment, and we were able to knock out some training as well, so kind of a two-for-one deal,” Bennefield said.

Bennefield said soldiers used two CH-47F Chinooks to move the property, each with two pilots and two flight engineers.

A bright green forklift sits at the back of a Chinook being loaded with cargo from the helicopter by a Soldier in camo uniform.
Soldiers from the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division unload their command's excess property from a Chinook from the 310th General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. The 6-6 was turning in the excess property to DLA Disposition Services at Susquehanna. The 310th used the operation to gain critical training for their Soldiers.
A bright green forklift sits at the back of a Chinook being loaded with cargo from the helicopter by a Soldier in camo uniform.
250926-D-FV109-1001
Soldiers from the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division unload their command's excess property from a Chinook from the 310th General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. The 6-6 was turning in the excess property to DLA Disposition Services at Susquehanna. The 310th used the operation to gain critical training for their Soldiers.
Photo By: Dorie Heyer
VIRIN: 250926-D-FV109-8762
“It’s a good repetition practicing, putting on cargo with forklifts and finding landing zones that we don’t typically go to,” he said. “It is very similar to things that we would do on a deployment.”

The pilot said they had to develop a plan to refuel the aircraft, operate in busy airspace, and land in unfamiliar locations. The logistical factors added additional layers of realism to the training for Army air crews.

Three DLA Civilians inspect excess property sitting outside on the ground and covered in plastic. a cargo helicopter sits in the background.
Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services at Susquehanna personnel receive excess property turn-in via Chinook from the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, onboard Naval Supply Activity Mechanicsburg Sept 26.
Three DLA Civilians inspect excess property sitting outside on the ground and covered in plastic. a cargo helicopter sits in the background.
250926-D-FV109-1001
Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services at Susquehanna personnel receive excess property turn-in via Chinook from the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, onboard Naval Supply Activity Mechanicsburg Sept 26.
Photo By: Dorie Heyer
VIRIN: 250926-D-FV109-8601
“We brought three soldiers from 6-6,” the pilot said. “One of the soldiers ran the forklift that actually pulled the equipment out of the helicopter and then a DLA employee pulled it from the pad and onto a truck.”

Once the property was on a truck in Pennsylvania it was transported across Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg to DLA Disposition Services Susquehanna Area Manager Chris Stouffer and his local reverse logistics team.

“I've been here over eight years now and that's definitely the first conveyance by helicopter that that we've ever received,” Stouffer said.

Stouffer said his team screens the property turn-ins as usual, and any equipment with additional use will be marked as still serviceable and listed in DLA’s excess property listings where reuse customers can request it.

Items that no longer have operational value and are not requested for reuse by transfer or donation customers are typically sold in public auctions or as scrap, and the proceeds help cover the costs of future military reverse logistics requirements.

Editors Note: Photos by Dorie Heyer DLA Distribution 

A Chinook helicopter hovers above the ground with blue skis behind it.
A Chinook of the 310th General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division prepares to land at Naval Supply Activity Mechanicsburg, Penn. and unload excess property from The U.S. Army 10th Aviation Division’s 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Drum, New York. The excess property was being transferred to DLA Disposition Services at Susquehanna.
A Chinook helicopter hovers above the ground with blue skis behind it.
250926-D-FV109-1001
A Chinook of the 310th General Support Aviation Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division prepares to land at Naval Supply Activity Mechanicsburg, Penn. and unload excess property from The U.S. Army 10th Aviation Division’s 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Drum, New York. The excess property was being transferred to DLA Disposition Services at Susquehanna.
Photo By: Dorie Heyer
VIRIN: 250926-D-FV109-8294