DLA serves taste of home to military overseas for Thanksgiving

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Service members around the world will have a taste of home this Thanksgiving, thanks to the Defense Logistics Agency.

More than 15,000 pounds of turkey and 1,854 pies – sweet potato, pumpkin and more – have been provided in time for troops in Afghanistan to enjoy their holiday meals.

"Being away from home and their families during the holidays is tough enough without considering the difficult and dangerous conditions our service men and women face," said Anthony Amendolia, a customer relationship specialist with DLA Troop Support's Subsistence supply chain. "Since they can't be home for the holidays, our employees are dedicated to bringing the holidays to them."

Some of the food provided through DLA Troop Support for service members deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait include:

• 51,699 pounds of turkey
• 25,970 pounds of beef
• 17,130 pounds of ham
• 706 gallons of eggnog
• 3,360 pounds of marshmallows

Subsistence employees also had to work around the avian flu outbreak in the U.S., which caused foreign countries to place restrictions on the importation of poultry and poultry-related products.

"Countries set different parameters causing us to take atypical approaches to meet all needs, such as buying from foreign approved sources and use of more pre-cooked poultry," Amendolia said.

Subsistence employees began gathering holiday meal requirements from the military services in May so that they could order and transport the food in time.

"Whether they're on a remote base in Afghanistan or aboard a ship in the Indian Ocean, we take pride in ensuring our service members have a taste of home for the holidays," Amendolia said.

DLA Troop Support supplies America's armed forces with $13 billion annually of food, uniforms, protective equipment, medicine and medical supplies, repair parts, and construction and equipment. Its history, rooted in Philadelphia, began in 1800 with the construction of the Schuylkill Arsenal before the Civil War.

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 a variety of logistics, acquisition and technical services. The agency sources and provides nearly 100 percent of the consumable items America's military forces need to operate, from food, fuel and energy, to uniforms, medical supplies, and construction and barrier equipment. DLA also supplies more than 88 percent of the military's spare parts.

Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, DLA has about 25,000 employees worldwide and supports more than 2,440 weapon systems. For more information about DLA, go to www.dla.mil, www.facebook.com/dla.mil or http://twitter.com/dlamil.

Link to photo:  http://media.dma.mil/2015/Nov/23/2001320072/-1/-1/0/111127-N-ZZ999-123.JPG

Cutline:  Culinary Specialist 1st Class John Mobley, from Philadelphia, prepares a turkey for carving for a Thanksgiving meal aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67). Cole is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (Photo by Navy Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class John Herman)

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SOURCE Defense Logistics Agency