FORT BELVOIR, Va. - A group of 16 students from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico, Va., spent the day at Defense Logistics Agency Headquarters to learn about DLA’s capabilities as a strategic logistics provider. Hosted by DLA Logistics Operations, the seminar was part of the student’s Joint Logistics elective.
A DLA panel of representatives from across the agency provided organizational overviews about DLA’s warfighter support and customer engagement.
The students received a warm welcome from Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dowd, director of DLA Logistics Operations.
“Once a Marine, always a Marine,” Dowd said, holding up a certificate showing he attended Marine Corps Officer Candidate School.
“It’s great to see the joint teams here,” Dowd said. “Last week, we had an Army team here from Fort Lee, Va. The joint environment is the way of the future.”
Dowd said current and future funding issues mean DLA, the services and defense industry representatives need to partner and collaborate on more projects than ever before.
“Our ‘Captains of Industry’ days bring together leaders from various companies, and the open forum allows us to talk freely and learn ways from them on how to improve our processes,” Dowd said.
Morning sessions included a tour of the Joint Logistics Operations Center and briefs from DLA Energy and the Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office. The afternoon sessions included DLA Pacific at Camp Smith, Hawaii, and several of DLA field activities. They further concentrated their discussions on DLA support to contingency operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in the Pacific theater.
“This was a long day, but we learned a lot of very valuable information about DLA’s capabilities,” Marine Lt. Col. Tim Bryant, warfighting department head at the Command and Staff College, said. “I worked at [U.S. Central Command] and gained a huge appreciation for what DLA can do for you. DLA will be there for you when you need them.”
Also in attendance was retired Army Lt. Gen. Claude “Chris” Christianson, director of the Center for Joint and Strategic Logistics and the former director of logistics for the Joint Staff.
Christianson echoed Bryant’s comments.
“DLA was my Amazon.com. They are a global supplier and will get you what you need with one phone call,” he said.
The students will use this seminar to build upon a capstone project where they develop a logistics concept of support to be briefed to a panel of senior leaders.