KANDAHAR, Afghanistan –
Defense Logistics Agency personnel in Afghanistan not only support the equipment disposal needs for U.S. forces, but they also answer the call for NATO items.
The DLA Disposition Services team at Kandahar recently began processing 10 trucks for NATO.
Paul McCarthy, a property accountability officer and NATO liaison, said the bulk fuel carriers were used by a previous contractor solely for refueling aircraft until Dec 2014. A new contractor initially used them but stopped due to unreliability. McCarthy said the trucks have not been used since 2015.
Marcus Wierman, Kandahar site chief, put his team to work on the destruction of the vehicles. Before the destruction began the trucks were inspected for proper draining and purging of fuels, lubricants or hazardous materials.
“We found multiple fire extinguisher inside that have been returned back to NATO,” Wierman said.
Kandahar receives NATO furnished equipment regularly. Wierman said material turn-ins have increased as NATO optimizes its equipment on Kandahar and outlying forward operating bases. NATO units are required to turn in material with the same documentation as the U.S. units. Wierman said special Department of Defense Activity Address Codes have been given to countries that have implementing agreements.
“These countries pay the U.S. government to dispose of the material,” Wierman said. “These trucks alone weigh 380,000 pounds or 172,591 kilograms, and they pay 45 cents per kilogram-- over $77,000 just for these trucks.”
After the destruction work is completed, the resulting scrap metal will be loaded into containers and sold to local Afghan contractors.