Veteran Health Indiana

Thanks to the Military Order of Foreign Wars for their new insightful Hoosier Veteran Leadership Series here at the medical center.

VA employee Dianne Archer knows a little about logistics: while Officer in Charge of the Military Department onboard USNS NIAGARA FALLS (T-AFS 3), the ship participated in two different humanitarian assistance/disaster relief efforts in Indonesia: tsunami relief operations during January 2005, and Nias Island earthquake disaster relief during April 2005. Now retired, Archer is the Chief of Logistics at your VA Medical Center.

The NIAGARA FALLS was called to assist the aircraft carrier USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN and other U.S. and Australian Navy ships after the devastating December 2004 tsunami. With over 840 pallets of supplies, the NIAGARA FALLS provided supplies and a platform for helicopter flights to other ships as well as to Banda Aceh, the logistics hub for relief efforts in northern Indonesia. The NIAGARA FALLS was later called, along with the USNS MERCY hospital ship and two other US Navy ships, to provide assistance at Nias Island after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake near that island left thousands homeless. During those operations, Dianne was responsible for coordinating operations for the ship, as well as material replenishment for the other U.S. Navy and international ships participating in the relief efforts.

CAPT Dianne A. Archer, SC, USN (retired), completed 27 years of active service and retired July 1, 2011 after serving at Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk, Crane, IN. She received her bachelor’s degree at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, and her master’s degree at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Her previous duty stations include Defense Energy Support Center, Alexandria, Virginia; Defense Energy Support Center Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; USNS NIAGARA FALLS (T-AFS 3) home ported Guam; Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) home ported Yokosuka, Japan; United States Pacific Command, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; USS CAPE COD (AD 43) home ported San Diego, California; and Naval Support Facility, Diego Garcia.

CAPT Dianne Archer, SC, USN (retired) is the guest speaker at a January 31 presentation in the auditorium basement at the medical center. She will talk about the initial response, disaster relief operations, and overall logistics related to the devastating December 2004 tsunami and March 2005 earthquake disasters in Indonesia.