Troops in Afghanistan will get a taste of home this Fourth of July as DHL Express, the world's leading logistics company, teams up with Pizzas 4 Patriots to ship the 'world's largest pizza party' ' 30,000 pizza pies ' to thousands of U.S. servicemen and women serving in the region.

DHL Express is donating the staff, infrastructure and technology of its global express delivery network to execute the mission. The DHL team will be packing and loading all 30,000 ready-to-bake, Chicago-style pizzas from Illinois-based Great Kitchens into DHL cargo jets and shipping them to the troops stationed at several military bases across Afghanistan.

Given the scorching hot summers in the Middle East, the International Specialists at DHL Express will work against the clock to ensure the perishable care package is received fresh and in perfect condition. This includes loading of the perishable pies onto direct U.S. flights to the Middle East, re-icing of shipments along the route and tracking the shipments every step of the way through DHL Quality Control Centers. The pizza delivery will be distributed to Camp Bastion, Bagram Airbase and Kandahar Airfield and then on to various Forward Operating Bases in Afghanistan.

Since Pizzas 4 Patriots and DHL Express began working together more than four years ago, they have delivered over 100,000 pizza pies to troops stationed all over the world.

'This is an extremely personal mission for me as a retired member of the military,' said Ret. Master Sergeant Mark Evans, founder of Pizzas 4 Patriots. 'I know firsthand how meaningful these packages are to the troops and am thankful to DHL Express for its continued support and commitment to helping us set another record this year.'

This year's delivery is the largest in the program's history and will feed over 80,000 servicemen and women currently serving in Afghanistan. 'As the world's leading service provider of international shipping, we take great pride in being able to deliver the comfort of home to our troops overseas who are dedicating their lives to protecting our freedoms,' said Ian Clough, CEO of DHL Express U.S. 'We are honored to be a part of this inspirational program and help spread some joy to regions beyond our own this Fourth of July.'

Pizzas 4 Patriots was initiated in 2008 by Evans and his 15-year-old son, Kent, while eating pizza and wondering if they could somehow deliver freshly-frozen Chicago-style pizzas to soldiers overseas. Not long after, Evans contacted General Petraeus who quickly granted permission to send over 2,000 pizzas to troops for the Fourth of July.