NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –
Coming from a background of no previous military experience, I was not sure what to expect when I toured DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania’s Eastern Distribution Center. One thing for sure though — I was not expecting to see what actually happens in the warehouse on a day-to-day basis.
The DDSP secretary of command staff, was kind enough to take me and five other employees on a tour of the EDC. Unfortunately for us, it was a very hot that afternoon, so the inside of the warehouse was hot. Thankfully, the industrial fans throughout the installation helped to cool me off. As I walked into the main part of the warehouse, my eyes grew in wonder. I never realized that the EDC was so big. So big, in fact that it could hold up to 33 football fields. That was the first thing I noticed when walking into the warehouse. The second thing that I noticed were dozens of carts that were moving on their own. They’re known as unmanned automated guided vehicles.
According to the tour guide, “The AGV frees up employees so they can focus on materiel order receiving and processing.” It was cool to see the AGV in person, rather than my co-workers telling me about this amazing process. Throughout the tour we were showed us through the different sections of the warehouse. I thought it was cool that in the next week, most of the boxes would be across the country, if not the world. One of the cool facts that I learned from the tour was that every parachute in the military comes through DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. I could only begin to comprehend the amount of parachutes needed for all of the branches of military. Considering that I do not have any background whatsoever in the military, I extremely enjoyed my tour of the EDC, the largest warehouse within the Department of Defense.