Courtesy Photo | The Chief of Staff, Army, Supply Excellence Award (SEA) Program was created in 1984....... read more read more
AUGUSTA, Maine - The Supply Excellence Award was established in 1984 by the U.S. Army Quartermaster School at the request of the Army Chief of Staff to recognize supply excellence at the various unit and organizational levels. This year, two units won at the state level, and will now be judged for regional consideration.
On August 1, both the 286th Combat Support Sustainment Brigade and Charlie Company, 1st of the 126th Aviation Regiment, Maine Army National Guard will submit digital copies of their supply binders to the National Guard Bureau for consideration to be selected as regional winners.
It’s really an exciting time, said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Max McLaughlin, a supply systems analyst for the Maine Army National Guard.
“It is taking something that is the standard, and making it fun. By creating a competition, you are challenging individuals and groups to work together to make sure that the standards are being met, and to increase the effectiveness overall of our supply systems.”
The purpose of the program is exactly that, to enhance the readiness of all Army units, enhance supply discipline, provide a structure for recognition of soldiers, perpetuate group competition, and increase the public awareness of supply excellence in the Army. “In effect, the program is doing all of that,” said Sgt. Maj. Diane Hunt, the logistics sergeant major, Maine Army National Guard.
“SEA has made it so that units within the states want to be competitive. There is that ‘I want to be better than the next guy’ thing going on, which makes it sound terrible, but that’s really what it is. It forces everyone to be more effective in their supply operations. Competition fosters pride in what you do, and there is a willingness to share knowledge with someone else. It challenges the units to do well, and it’s a great thing.”
According to Hunt, who was recently named the Region One Coordinator for the SEA Competition, there are five entrants from Region One this year. The first step was to be selected at the state level. After the state level, digital packages are submitted to NGB, and finally the reviewing panel decides which units to conduct on site visits to before selecting the national level winner. Maine won in 2010, and 2011.
“Preparing a package for the regional level is very time consuming and very detail orientated,” said Hunt. “You need to have endorsements, a current copy of your standard operating procedure that is up to date, relevant and signed by the commander. A layout of your supply room, how many people you work with, trainings you have conducted. Innovative ideas and things you have done to better the organization or unit you are assigned to must also be included in the package. There is a lot of information that goes into it. It is very detail-orientated. You get points for creativity with it. The more creative you get, the more points you will get. The generic black and white, doesn’t grab you.”
For the states that get selected for visits, the units spend a lot of time preparing for that assessment. When Hunt’s team won in 2010, they went through and cleaned the entire supply room, and then laid out as much as they could on a table in the room to make it easier for the evaluators to go through.
“The evaluators will go through your files and pull random stuff, just to justify that you are doing the right thing,” said Hunt. “They don’t ask you for anything, they go and get it. It’s getting into the nitty gritty. Once they have completed all of the site evaluations, they report their winners to the Department of the Army, who makes the final decision.”
McLaughlin further highlighted the competitions ability to help bring units together. The 1/126th and 286th will be waiting to hear if they get selected for a site visit. If they are, they will all have to have a hand in preparing for the visit.
“It takes a whole team to win this,” he said. “A supply sergeant can win on their own at regional level, but to win at the national level, it means everyone in the community is getting on board, and working together for a common goal. It’s about teamwork, and dedication. Not just meeting the standard, but exceeding the standard.”
| Date Taken: | 07.22.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.22.2014 09:58 |
| Story ID: | 136865 |
| Location: | AUGUSTA, ME, US |
| Hometown: | AUGUSTA, ME, US |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Maine sends two units to Regional Competition for Supply Excellence, by SSG Angela Parady, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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