Courtesy Photo | Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kelly Johansen, management analyst for North Dakota’s...... read more read more
ARLINGTON, Va. — A North Dakota Army National Guard unit joined 35 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard maintenance organizations last week as one of the top logistics and maintenance support units in the nation. Personnel from North Dakota’s Combined Support Maintenance Shop (CSMS), based at the Camp Grafton Training Center near Devils Lake, North Dakota, accepted the Army Award for Maintenance Excellence (AAME) in the “Small Tables of Distribution and Allowances (TDA) Unit” category Sept. 10 during the 10th Annual Combined Logistics Excellence Awards (CLEA) ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington.
According to the U.S. Army, the CLEA program was developed “to honor the best units in the categories of deployment, supply and maintenance.”
North Dakota’s CSMS was recognized for demonstrating excellence in maintenance operations. A unit or maintenance shop’s performance is gauged by a number of indicators, including overall accomplishments, effective use of maintenance resources, management innovation and improving and sustaining maintenance readiness.
Gen. Ray Odierno, U.S. Army chief of staff, hosted the CLEA ceremony and told the award winners, “This is about the total Army. Our logistics enterprise represents what our Army is all about. It’s about a combination of active, National Guard and Reserve Soldiers doing their jobs to ensure we’re ready. I couldn’t be more proud of what you do and what you represent.”
The CSMS’ road to securing its AAME and attending the CLEA ceremony began more than a year ago. In order to make it to the top level of the Army-wide maintenance competition, the unit first submitted a nomination packet outlining its maintenance missions, training plans, environmental compliance standards and community service activities. The packet, along with 75 other entries from the CSMS’ region, was evaluated in August 2013. North Dakota’s region includes maintenance units and facilities in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.
The unit won the AAME in the regional competition for its category and, later, the National-Guard-wide competition, which advanced it to the semi-finals of the Army-wide competition. In order to move beyond the semi-finals, the CSMS hosted a team of evaluators from the AAME program this spring, which conducted an on-site evaluation, toured the CSMS’ facilities and visited with full-time personnel.
“This is a monumental achievement for our maintenance Soldiers who run our Combined Support Maintenance Shop. They’ve always done an exceptional job, and they’ve further proven their abilities and competence by earning this national recognition,” said Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota adjutant general. “I congratulate them and thank them for exceeding maintenance standards and for their commitment to supporting our Soldiers and their equipment in the field.”
North Dakota’s CSMS provides maintenance support for more than 60 North Dakota Army National Guard units. Its operations include automotive, communications, electronics, armament, inspections, calibration and repair and service support.
In its initial nomination packet, North Dakota’s CSMS touted a number of successes for fiscal year 2013, including conducting technical inspections on 671 new pieces of state equipment, providing superior maintenance support for units during and after mobilizations and achieving 100 percent accountability during routine inventories.
The North Dakota Army National Guard’s 3662nd Maintenance Company, also based at the Camp Grafton Training Center, saw success during maintenance competitions this year, as well. The unit was named runner-up in the “Medium Modified Table of Organization and Equipment (MTOE) Unit” category for the regional AAME competition and took fifth place in the National Guard-level competition.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2014 17:14 |
| Story ID: | 142348 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 70 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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