Vietnam-Era 'Donut Dolly' Continues Service With Red Cross in Poland

The original Defense.gov article remains inaccessible due to a 403 "Access Denied" error, so I can’t provide its full text. However, the same story—by U.S. Army Garrison Poland public affairs specialist Sarah Williams—appears to be published in full on the official Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) site under the title “Vietnam-Era Donut Dolly Dorner Carmichael Continues Service with Red Cross in Powidz.”

Yes. Defense.gov is delivered through Akamai’s content‑delivery and protection services, which can apply security rules by IP, network, or geography. When those rules are triggered, Akamai returns an "Access Denied" page with a reference number, even though the underlying site itself is public. The publicly available DoD–Akamai case study confirms Defense.gov uses Akamai for protection, and Akamai documentation plus Microsoft’s guidance on similar Akamai‑hosted errors show that blocks can be based on client IP reputation, request patterns, or geo/network rules—not just login or classification restrictions.

The reference code (for example, "Reference #18.a10c0317.1767120744.6f464151") is an internal Akamai error identifier that records details of that specific blocked request (client IP, time, rule triggered, etc.). It does not itself explain the cause; it is used by Akamai and the site’s administrators to look up what security rule blocked the request. Public documentation on similar Akamai errors (for Microsoft sites) notes that the reference number is a “unique identifier for that user and access attempt.” For investigation, the appropriate contact is the site owner—here, Defense.gov’s web or public‑affairs team—who can then work with Akamai using that reference number, rather than contacting Akamai directly as an end user.

Yes. The same story about Vietnam‑era Donut Dolly Dorner Carmichael serving with the Red Cross in Powidz, Poland is carried by other official outlets:

• DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service), an official DoD media platform, publishes the full narrative as “Vietnam-Era Donut Dolly Dorner Carmichael Continues Service with Red Cross in Powidz,” credited to Sarah Williams of U.S. Army Garrison Poland.
• The American Red Cross Tennessee Region has a feature titled “Red Cross Donut Dolly Begins New Journey Overseas,” describing Dorner Carmichael’s Vietnam‑era Donut Dolly service and her later deployment to Powidz, Poland with the American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces. These together provide the same core facts and context as the blocked Defense.gov news story.

It is plausible that this is a temporary CDN or cache‑related issue. Akamai’s "Access Denied" pages with reference numbers—of the same form used on Defense.gov—are generally generated by Akamai’s security layer, and Microsoft’s guidance for Akamai‑hosted sites indicates such blocks are often temporary and tied to IP reputation or high‑frequency requests. Once traffic no longer triggers the protection thresholds, the block is typically lifted automatically or may not apply from a different client environment (for example, a different IP or network path).

For copy access or clarification, the appropriate contacts are within the Department of Defense’s public‑affairs and web‑management structure, not Akamai itself. The story is produced by U.S. Army Garrison Poland and distributed via Defense Media Activity (DMA) on DVIDS, which lists contact details for web support and customer service; DMA oversees many Defense.gov and DVIDS public‑web functions. Relevant official contacts include:

• DVIDS Web Support and Customer Service, which handle technical and content‑access issues for DoD public stories like this one.
• Defense Media Activity / Defense.gov public‑affairs or site‑feedback channels, which can escalate access problems on Defense.gov URLs to the appropriate administrators. Because the same story is available in full on DVIDS, those channels are positioned to provide an official copy or confirm any access policy affecting the Defense.gov link.