DLA expands presence at Robins Published March 4, 2011 By Wayne Crenshaw 78 ABW/PA ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- It's a rare occasion when a Navy vice admiral comes to Robins, but Feb. 25 was a special day. Vice Admiral Alan S. Thompson, Defense Logistics Agency director, came here to cut the ribbon on a new $24.6 million consolidation and containerization point warehouse. The opening of the building, about the size of three football fields, is the result of a decision by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission to base one of DLA's four strategic distribution points at Robins. DLA Robins has been growing rapidly, from 100 employees when it started operations here in 2007, to 900 today. The organization ships supplies to Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine installations throughout the Southeast and around the world. As a strategic distribution point, it will also be shipping supplies directly to the warfighter. As he spoke to those gathered for the ribbon cutting, Thompson pointed out pallets with supply-drop parachutes behind him which will soon be headed for Afghanistan. "This is a marvelous facility; it will support global operations of the U.S. armed forces," he said. "It's going to add great new capability and capacity for DLA, and we are going to be using it immediately." Thompson cut the ribbon as other DLA and Robins officials stood alongside him, with DLA Robins employees in the background. The operation will mean approximately 25-30 additional trucks per day coming onto the base, bringing in items from hundreds of manufacturers around the country. The items will be prepared for shipping here and then trucked to the port of Savannah, and aerial ports in Charleston, S.C., and Dover, Del., among other locations.