DLA supports Travis, DoD mission

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – For organizations at Travis Air Force Base, California, with printing needs, the Defense Logistics Agency is here to help.

Tucked away in a large brown building behind the Travis Heritage Center is the agency’s Travis facility. The agency is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and offers a wide variety of printing services, including outdoor signage, banners, vehicle decals and even aircraft logos.

According to Department of Defense Instruction 5330.03, Defense Logistics Agency Document Services, DLA serves as the defense department’s single manager for printing and high-speed-volume duplicating, as well as the preferred provider of document conversion and automation services.

“We are here to support the mission,” said Michelle Mulno-Triplett, DLA supervisory document automation specialist. “Many people may not realize that. They may think they can only use the copiers in their offices or they may believe using a vendor downtown is a better option. But you can’t beat our service.”

“We have a professional graphic artist on staff and a dedicated team of about a dozen people who strive to produce something that’s better than what our customers request,” she said.

That dedication has led to some busy times for the Travis DLA facility. In fiscal year 2018, the shop produced more than 750,000 decals, 39,000 magnets and 450 posters. Since Oct. 1, 2018, the team has supported 600 requests and produced more than 176,000 items.

One of the people working to produce all those items is Kathy Kruczek, DLA document automation production specialist. She has worked at Travis in one capacity or another since 1993 and started working full-time at the Travis DLA facility in 2008.

She said DLA has an answer for nearly any printing need.

“Along with typical printing needs such as programs, copies or posters, we can also do reflective decals, large-format printing, banner material up to 98 inches wide, reflective decals and aircraft logos,” she said. “After printing the logo that will go on the aircraft, we laminate them and perforate them so when the aircraft goes into different elevations, the change in air doesn’t lead to the logo being ripped off the aircraft.”

Master Sgt. Timothy McCarthy, 321st Air Mobility Operations Squadron training flight chief, utilized the Travis DLA facility in May 2018 to print aircraft nose art.

“The designs were roughly 3x3 feet and were applied to the exterior of a C-5M (Super Galaxy) and a C-17 (Globemaster III) at Travis,” he said. “The designs incorporated unique elements to the history of each airframe’s flying unit. The 22nd Airlift Squadron, which flies the C-5, created a design that honored its heritage. The 21st Airlift Squadron, which flies the C-17, created something to pay tribute to those who came before them: one of the first patches worn when the unit was created.”

McCarthy said DLA provided superb service.

“The turnaround time was much quicker than expected and the final product turned out perfect,” he said. “They did a fantastic job of taking a design and creating decals that could be affixed to our aircraft.”

The Travis DLA team can also ship products to customers who can’t pick up in person at their facility, which enables the team to support government organizations far from Travis.

“Someone may say, ‘I have a conference in Florida and I have to get on the plane now. Can you have my product delivered to the hotel?’” said Mulno-Triplett. “The answer is, ‘yes we can.’ We can deliver almost anywhere.”

According to Mulno-Triplett, the Travis DLA team regularly supports the U.S. Army Recruiting office in New York City, the Defense Commissary Agency at multiple locations all over the United States and the Space and Naval Warfare Headquarters in San Diego. Her team has designed programs for the U.S. Air Force Academy’s commencement, supported an Army Corps of Engineers’ request for visitor center signage at Lake Sonoma in Geyserville, California, and just completed an order for 650 double-sided map boards for the Army that will be shipped to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

“We are here to help and we can provide nearly any printing service you need,” said Kruczek. “If there’s a printing need you have that we can’t accommodate, we will work to find a solution.”

To contact the Travis DLA facility, call 707-424-1435. For more information about DLA and the services it provides, visit http://www.dla.mil/HQ/InformationOperations/Offers/Services/Document-Services/.