To facilitate the delivery of humanitarian supplies to millions of
Syrian refugees in Turkey and surrounding areas, DLA Distribution Europe,
located in Germersheim, Germany, had to verify and receipt materiel virtually — a
first for DLA Distribution.
When the U.S. Agency for International Development requested assistance
from the U.S. Transportation Command in coordinating the delivery of critical
commodities to millions of Syrian refugees fleeing civil war, it
tasked its own U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment
and Distribution Command to set up an Intermediate Staging Base in Incirlik,
Turkey, to receive and distribute the supplies, which included commodities such
as blankets, fans, gas cookers and hygiene kits.
SDDC successfully executed its mission and put a contractor in place to
run the operation, but incoming materiel had to be accepted by a government
party. As a result, SDDC needed to find an
organization that specialized in the receipt and issue of government materiel to
fill this void. This is
where DLA Distribution Europe stepped in to assist.
Because it was deemed too dangerous to put DLA Distribution Europe
employees on site in Turkey, the distribution center had to find a way to
verify, both electronically and visually, that the correct materiel was received
at the ISB or else the materiel couldn’t be officially received and distributed
to those in desperate need.
The process began with the distribution center accessing a central
database, which was populated with all freight moving through Turkey.
Once materiel was delivered to the ISB, the
contractor provided the paperwork for the items to DLA Distribution Europe,
alongside photos for verification of count and condition.
Employees at DLA Distribution then identified the assets received against
the assets shipped and listed in the database. If all information was deemed correct, DLA Distribution Europe commander
Army Lt. Col. Krista Hoffman signed for official receipt of the items so that
they could be distributed.
Despite this being the first time any distribution center had
participated in any distribution mission virtually, DLA Distribution Europe
successfully processed 176 total receipts, accounting for more than 537,500
individual items.
“I am very proud of what my team accomplished in support of this
humanitarian mission. Their ability to quickly
adapt to dynamic requirements from a location far from the supplies’ port of
entry shows what dedication and teamwork can do when DDDE gets the call,” said
Hoffman.