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News | May 10, 2017

Distribution supports Operation Pacific Reach

By Brianne M. Bender DLA Distribution Public Affairs

DLA Distribution’s 25th distribution center, the Expeditionary Team with the support from a DLA Distribution Korea team deployed in support of Operation Pacific Reach, which is an exercise conducted every other year. This year’s exercise was held from April 10 through April 21 at Dogu Beach in Pohang, South Korea. The team consisting of 17 civilian employees and two military members deployed from DLA Distribution San Joaquin, California.

The Expeditionary Team supports distribution requirements that cannot be completed from DLA Distribution’s fixed-base network of distribution centers. For theater deployments, their goal is to stand up a distribution facility that will receive, store and issue DLA materiel with the intent of reducing reliance on strategic airlift. In this instance, the team established an expeditionary theater consolidation and shipping point capable of receiving all material entering the Korean theater of operations in under three days,

Operation Pacific Reach is a United States Forces Korea joint exercise program focused on integrating Republic of Korea and U.S. Alliance logistics capabilities within air, land, maritime, space and information environments that supports the defense of the ROK. 

This year’s exercise focused on logistical operations from the air, sea and shore to transport mission equipment across the Korean Peninsula using utility and mechanized landing craft, logistics support vessels and causeway ferries. The crafts transported and offloaded nearly 2,000 cargo containers during the operation.

The exercise was simulated to authenticate requirements of the logistic infrastructure associated with US strategy on the Korean Peninsula. The Expeditionary Team’s role was to deploy expeditionary capability to support the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and DLA Distribution Korea during the exercise. The team enhanced USFK Theater Distribution Plan by establishing a theater consolidation and shipping point and provide tailored distribution support to USFK.

Containerized cargo from Busan, South Korea and Air Lines of Communication pallets from Osan Air Base, in the county of Pyeongtaek, South Korea, were routed through the Expeditionary Team’s TCSP in Pohang for processing.

“Over the course of the combined distribution exercise, the Expeditionary Team and a DLA Distribution Korea team collectively moved over 137,000 pounds of material through the theater consolidation and shipping point in Pohang to move more than 50 8th Army units across South Korea,” explained DLA Distribution commander U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John S. Laskodi.

Approximately 1,200 ROK Forces and 2,500 U.S. personnel participated in this year’s exercise.

The collective team did a phenomenal job ensuring all material was accurately processed and shipped to the respective customer’s on-time,” said DLA Distribution Korea commander, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Gary Whittacre. “The exercise helped validate our current concept of support while providing a few lessons learned to include living in an Army Logistics Support Area.”

Additionally, Laskodi remarked “it was a tremendous demonstration of DLA Distribution’s expeditionary capabilities and it took a total team effort to making this a success.”