Nov 20, 2012 8:17 AM

This holiday season, at more than 200 locations in Afghanistan, US military service members will dine on a feast reminiscent of home, a Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support Subsistence senior official said.

Rich Faso, the supply chain’s director of customer operations, praised the workforce and industry partners for making the Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts possible.

“The personnel at DLA Troop Support and our servicing vendors take great pride in ensuring that our warfighters in distant, austere environments get as close to a traditional holiday meal as possible,” he said.

Deliveries of more than 60,000 pounds of beef, 20,000 pounds of ham, 45,000 pounds of turkey, 28,000 sweet potatoes, and 5,800 pies have been made across the country and are ready to be prepared.

Navy Rear Admiral Patricia Wolfe, DLA Troop Support acting commander, expressed the importance of making certain this mission is accomplished every holiday season.

“I know the feeling of missing family and friends while on deployment,” she said. “Our workforce takes great pride in ensuring deployed warfighters have a taste of the holidays while they are protecting our freedoms.”

DLA Troop Support also supplies dining facilities across the United States, the Navy fleet, and on other overseas military installations. Employees begin working with customers in the summer, about six months before the two holidays.

One of five DLA Troop Support supply chains, Subsistence ensures that service members and other US Department of Defense customers around the world have high-quality, nutritious meals daily.

As a Department of Defense combat support agency, DLA provides the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, other federal agencies, and joint and allied forces with various logistics, acquisition, and technical services. The agency sources and provides nearly 100% of the consumable items America’s military forces need to operate. DLA also supplies more than 80% of the military’s spare parts.

Fort Belvoir VA-based DLA has about 27,000 employees worldwide and supports nearly 2,200 weapon systems. For more information, go to www.dla.mil.