DSCR's Phillip LaBranche and DSCC's Anita Luich receive a tour from Army Col. Lance Koenig of Iraq's Taji National Supply Depot while deployed there with the DLA Support Team. (Courtesy Photo)

Although he is a Department of Defense civilian, Phillip LaBranche has spent a lot of time on the ground with the troops overseas as a Defense Logistics Agency Support Team member.

LaBranche has deployed to Kuwait, Kosovo, and Korea. In August he completed a six-month tour in Iraq. While there, LaBranche was embedded with Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq and served as a DLA Support Team supply planner and expeditor.

When he isn’t deployed, LaBranche works as a customer account specialist at Defense Supply Center Richmond, DLA’s aviation demand and supply chain manager. He began volunteering for DST missions in 2000 and doesn’t mind the operational tempo and long work hours because his focus on supporting the troops.  

In Iraq, LaBranche dedicated his weekends and off-duty time to expediting customer requests so that he was prepared to answer questions on the status of items, and help get them into the hands of service members quickly.

“To determine what needed expediting, I looked in DOD EMALL and on the customer’s purchase request commitment forms,” he said.  “I averaged 25 to 30 items daily that needed expediting.”

LaBranche worked with MNSTC-Iraq procurement employees on advisory teams from the military service branches.

“Most of the items I expedited were for the advisory teams, items like radios, office furniture and construction equipment,” he said.

DSCR Customer Account Specialist Phillip LaBranche completed a six-month tour in Iraq in August, where he served as a DLA Support Team supply planner and expeditor. (Photo by Jackie Girard)

LaBranche feels the DST concept is successful because it gives customers a single point of contact for DLA. That means customers don't have to figure out which of the Agency’s supply chains to contact. “Being right there makes it is easier for the customer,” LaBranche said. He added that DST volunteers also benefit by having an opportunity to learn more about DLA as an enterprise.

“You don’t know the full extent of DLA until you get out in the field. When employees deploy they learn more about the different supply chain DLA operates, like fuel, food, repair parts, and reutilization of materials,” LaBranche said.

Customer education is also part of the DST mission, including providing information on the Agency, its supply chains and supply business systems.

“There is a turnover of customers and they don’t know much about DLA supply systems and how their systems interact with ours,” LaBranche said.

To help customers learn about DLA, LaBranche said Defense Logistics Information Services trainers travel throughout U.S. Central Command’s Area of Responsibility providing training on DLA’s systems like DOD EMALL and Web Visual Logistics Information Processing System. DLIS is DLA’s focal point for developing logistics information training materials on DLA’s products and services.

LaBranche said each deployment has provided valuable experiences, helped build his knowledge, and helped him establish contacts to assist in working issues—all to better support customers.

“It was pretty unique because I was able to take my experiences and really put it to use. The units really appreciated having me around,” he said.

LaBranche feels his most valuable contribution in Iraq was reducing item over procurements.

“By working with customers, we were able to cancel over procurements and reduce items quantities – saving taxpayers about $10 million,” he said.

While LaBranche encourages employees to consider deployment, he admits there’s some sacrifice involved. “Sure you miss some things at home, but there’s a tradeoff,” LaBranche said.

The tradeoff, he said, is a sense of purpose and accomplishment; and the opportunity to provide exceptional support to DLA’s extraordinary customers—the nation’s warfighters.