Albany Herald

MCLB-ALBANY -- Marine Corps Logistics Command Marines, civilian-Marines and contractors are celebrating the emptying of the last container of military supplies from Iraq.

According to LOGCOM officials, the last container in Iraq was emptied on Sept. 20 at a 260,000-square-foot facility off base that was secured by LOGCOM to support sorting, identification and custodial accounting of the items inside the containers.

The container that was emptied on Sept. 20 was the last of one of 2,400 containers that returned from Iraq to MCLB-Albany.

When the Marine Corps began shifting operations from Iraq to Afghanistan, the containers started arriving here in August 2009 and officials say they expect a similar effort to be in place when troops begin to withdraw from Afghanistan.

The 20-foot-long containers returned held a variety of equipment ranging from High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle seat cushions, tools, printers, copiers and rapidly-procured items used by the Marine Corps for theater operations.

Col. Drexel Heard, director of the Distribution Management Center, applauded the LOGCOM team's milestone and portrayed what he believed it meant for those involved.

"I think for the Marine Corps it means putting gear back into the hands of the warfighter," he said. "To LOGCOM, the milestone is a sign of the tremendous amount of skills and capabilities we have here to support Marine Corps' warfighting requirements in support of our nation's call.

"We have all types of artisans, and can support local requirements and are prepared to deploy around the world to do these same types of jobs. It's a proof of the skills that exist in LOGCOM are current, relevant and capable of achieving any task that can be assigned."