Photo By Teodora Mocanu | Army Command Sgt. Maj. Otis Cuffee speaks at his retirement ceremony Sept. 20.... read more read more
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. - For Army Command Sgt. Maj. Otis Cuffee, his time at the Defense Logistics Agency has been a learning experience he won’t soon forget. Although Cuffee, who departed DLA Sept. 20, doesn’t officially retire from the military until Feb. 28, 2013, he’s going to miss his “DLA family.”
“Everywhere I’ve turned, our civil servants and military are always willing and able to provide a helping hand regardless of what it is,” he said. “The knowledge that is here in this agency is unbelievable. Every day I’ve learned something new.”
After coming to DLA in 2010, relieving Command Sgt. Maj. David Roman as DLA’s fourth senior enlisted leader, Cuffee realized there were a lot of things he didn’t know about DLA.
“When I came to DLA, to be honest, I didn’t know what they really did,” he said. “DLA operates at a very high altitude, meaning the services are closer to the tactical fighter on the ground where DLA provides a vision for the future and we provide volume on what the services need to accomplish their mission. And we do that for the entire Defense Department.”
With a scope as large as DLA’s, Cuffee was soon surprised to learn exactly how far DLA’s reach really was when it came to logistics.
“I didn’t know that the other fellow agencies included Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Agency for International Development for when we’re doing things like in Haiti,” he said. “And here in the States, under FEMA, that we also supplied those folks. I didn’t know DLA was worldwide or the volume they can provide -- not only spare repair parts, but all of your fuel, construction equipment, you name it, DLA is making it happen.”
With his entire career in the logistics field, Cuffee’s majority of experiences have come from the “school of hard knocks and my various assignments at the company, battalion, brigade, division and corps level support offices,” he explained in the September/October 2012 issue of Loglines magazine. For Cuffee, who started as a recovery specialist in 1975, joining the military meant he could work on automotives, something he loved.
“When I first joined the military I thought it was something neat to do because I love automotive stuff, he said. “From there I transitioned into mechanical maintenance. I learned how engines, axles, transmissions and brakes work. That grew into learning how to get repair parts for it so I could rebuild those items. And things just continued to expand to supply chain management, which included major end items, like engines and now I’ve graduated again into how that plays in with industry or private sector who actually builds this stuff for the Department of Defense.”
A career highlight for Cuffe has been seeing DLA and the military work side-by-side, each helping do their part to serve warfighters.
“As you well know, nothing can happen unless it works,” he said. “To have the ability to put a piece of equipment back into its complete, functional operation of what it was intended to do, is the greatest honor you can have, especially when you know these items are going to be put in the hands of our warfighters. If they have a weapons system that doesn’t work properly, they call in on a maintenance person, a maintenance soldier, to come repair that and make it fully operational. It gets no better than that because I do my mission and they are able to do their mission.”
And fulfillment of the mission is paramount to Cuffee.
“As I alluded to earlier, DLA operates at high altitude, the 200,000-foot level,” he said. “The actual user or receiver is at ground zero so to speak. To be able to link that together, I believe, is the greatest accomplishment. My career has all been highlights if you’re looking at doing something that makes a difference.”
With plenty of accomplishments behind him, Cuffee has plenty to look forward to as a civilian, but that doesn’t mean he won’t miss the military or DLA.
“The military and DLA, it’s all in one,” he said. “I’ll miss the camaraderie, watching our teammates in action, friends that will be your friends for life, watching everyone come together for a common cause. It doesn’t get any better than that. I have seen projects take four, five, six years, and when it’s about to being fielded or being issued out, the product manager had departed and they didn’t get to see the end product. I get to see it in action here at DLA.”
And as Cuffee joked, there are new worries now that he’ll be a civilian again.
“I’ve been watching our teammates up and down the hallways so I know I have to learn how to dress. But I’ll be looking forward to dress-down Fridays!” he said
His retirement may mean Cuffee’s military career is over but that doesn’t mean he will stop serving his county.
“I won’t take off and go straight into work,” he said. “I’ll spend a couple of months off and spend some quality time with the family. Get my battery recharged. I would like to serve within the Department of Defense in the next chapter in my career. This is not the end. It’s always the beginning of a new chapter, a continuation of a previous chapter. Books never end.”
With retirement in the forefront, Cuffee is eager to spend time with his family, although, he said with a smirk, not sure the feeling is mutual.
“I talk to my wife quite frequently now as I’m closing in on the end of this chapter,” he said. “I looked at her, hugged her and told her I can’t make up for the time that was lost, it is what it is, it’s over with. But I want to make special time of the time we have left. Each moment of each day will be time spent with my wife and my family. But the missus will probably say, ‘I’m tired of looking at you, I got used to you going somewhere, so go!’”
As for DLA’s future, Cuffee said he knows the agency will continue to grow and exceed expectations.
“When it comes to where I think DLA is going to head in the future, the services will come to DLA to take on more responsibility because the services and other federal agencies have seen and tasted the honey of what DLA can provide,” he said.
Cuffee also offered some advice for his successor, Army Command Sgt. Maj. Sultan Muhammad, who comes to DLA from his assignment as 10th regimental command sergeant major of the Ordnance Corps in Fort Lee, Va.
“Stay low!” he joked. “(Muhammad) is a phenomenal guy. He brings a lot of energy to DLA; he’s a perfect fit. As you know DLA is transforming itself, and you’ve got someone that will be an enabler to make that happen. He already knows what he needs to do when he gets here, and he has a great team, all you folks around him. So it’s easy.”
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2012 15:14 |
| Story ID: | 95653 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 141 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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