AMCOM Logistics Center focuses on life cycle logistics, people

Courtesy Photo | Aircraft maintainers do assigned tasks against a set schedule as they reset a UH-60. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command Logistics Center)  

REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, UNITED STATES

09.07.2021

Story by Michelle Gordon 

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command Logistics Center provides support for weapons systems from the earliest stages of development until the systems are removed from the Army’s inventory.

To accomplish its mission of life cycle logistics, the AMCOM Logistics Center employs nearly 3,000 personnel stationed at 33 locations worldwide. Cynthia McCrary, the deputy executive director of the ALC, said much of the team is embedded with aviation and missile program offices, so they can provide real-time, on-site assistance.

“We have people supporting every phase,” she said. “We are involved every step of the way — from concept and creation of acquisition documentation, to fielding new equipment and sustaining it in the field to the time the weapons systems ultimately come out of rotation. The ALC has its finger on it all. We provide logistics expertise across the enterprise.”

McCrary said, in addition to taking care of every aspect of logistics, the ALC leadership is also very involved with taking care of its people. And she should know. McCrary has spent the majority of her 35 years of federal service with the organization.

She started as a technical writer in the mid-1980s and, over the next three decades, she worked at nearly every level within the ALC. McCrary said she uses her firsthand experience and leadership training to help make decisions regarding the ALC workforce.

“We care about our people,” she said. “We’ve got people from diverse backgrounds — we hire interns, we hire veterans — and we invest a lot of time and energy in ensuring everyone, regardless of their level of experience, is adequately trained. We truly care about the development of our people.”

McCrary said the ALC leadership invests in its people because of their customer.

“If you ask people why they are here, it’s because they understand the importance of what we do,” she said. “We are at the forefront of making sure Soldiers have what they need and there is no option for failure; our job is too important.”

To accomplish the mission of supporting every aviation and missile system in the Army, the ALC focuses on four core functions: acquisitions logistics, sustainment logistics, field maintenance, and industrial operations.

According to McCrary, the Acquisition Logistics Directorate helps shape the weapons systems support strategy and assists with integrated product support documentation. It also conducts the initial provisioning and item introduction, as well as new equipment training for newly fielded systems and equipment.

Sustainment logistics involves item management, asset mobility and inventory management.

The Field Maintenance Directorate provides a full spectrum of quality aircraft maintenance, repair and modification services and other aviation logistical support capabilities utilizing an enterprise-wide management approach for customers worldwide.

The Industrial Operations Directorate ensures Corpus Christi Army Depot, located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Letterkenny Army Depot, located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, have executable and supportable programs.

“The depots are the tip of the logistics spear,” said Michael Huettel, the associate director of the ALC Industrial Operations Directorate. “We are literally removing the scars of war from materiel and returning equipment to the warfighter.”

McCrary described the ALC as, “the execution arm of logistics for the command.”

“We’ve been on the cutting edge of just about every new system or publication for the whole gamut of logistics, and we are always at the forefront of all aviation and missile systems,” she said. “We provide the parts, we provide the supply support and we provide the technical publications. We are in the business of making sure the Soldiers have everything they need to fight and win America’s wars.”

• Date Taken: 09.07.2021
• Date Posted: 09.07.2021 14:17
• Story ID: 404630
• Location: REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, US