WEBVTT 00:04.540 --> 00:07.240 right ? Yeah . 00:08.440 --> 00:11.520 At the end of March 1st of april 2020 . 00:11.530 --> 00:13.641 Uh Lieutenant General Williams , then 00:13.641 --> 00:15.474 the director of the L . A . Uh , 00:15.474 --> 00:17.697 reached out to me down here , down here 00:17.697 --> 00:19.808 at Richmond and , and asked if I'd be 00:19.808 --> 00:22.030 willing to go up and help Admiral clark 00:22.030 --> 00:24.141 check at the time who was running the 00:24.141 --> 00:26.308 supply chain task force as part of the 00:26.308 --> 00:28.308 White House task force for Covid 19 00:28.308 --> 00:30.141 response , Admiral P was what we 00:30.141 --> 00:31.974 affectionately call him , um was 00:31.974 --> 00:34.270 working with a small team to work 00:34.270 --> 00:36.492 supply chain constraints and industrial 00:36.492 --> 00:38.270 base expansion across the whole 00:38.270 --> 00:40.437 government . What we found is that the 00:40.437 --> 00:42.603 United States needed a lot of personal 00:42.603 --> 00:42.320 protective equipment and needed 00:42.320 --> 00:44.542 ventilators , needed pharmaceuticals to 00:44.542 --> 00:46.860 combat Covid . What we found though , 00:46.860 --> 00:48.971 unfortunately , is that at least when 00:48.971 --> 00:50.860 it came to PPE 85% of it was made 00:50.860 --> 00:53.230 overseas . Um , and you can imagine if 00:53.240 --> 00:54.962 if they weren't fighting Covid 00:54.962 --> 00:57.073 themselves well , they probably would 00:57.073 --> 00:59.073 have been a problem . Um , but they 00:59.073 --> 01:02.690 were so as we were trying to get as 01:02.690 --> 01:04.746 much people as we could to our front 01:04.746 --> 01:06.857 line medical providers , uh , we also 01:06.857 --> 01:09.023 recognized the gaps . Again , We don't 01:09.023 --> 01:11.246 make it here in the United States . And 01:11.246 --> 01:13.468 so how do we make it here in the United 01:13.468 --> 01:13.150 States ? And so we we worked industrial 01:13.150 --> 01:15.250 base expansion projects so that now 01:15.250 --> 01:17.306 that we're self sufficient for in 95 01:17.306 --> 01:19.194 manufacturing the US , we're self 01:19.194 --> 01:21.361 sufficient for surgical and procedural 01:21.361 --> 01:23.472 mask . We will be Self sufficient for 01:23.472 --> 01:25.472 nitrile gloves and about another 12 01:25.472 --> 01:27.139 months . And we're working on 01:27.139 --> 01:29.250 disposable gowns to that are going to 01:29.250 --> 01:31.250 get us there . Those were the focus 01:31.250 --> 01:33.028 areas . So it required building 01:33.028 --> 01:35.083 visibility because believe it or not 01:35.083 --> 01:37.250 it's a very fragmented industry and we 01:37.250 --> 01:39.083 did not have , we as the federal 01:39.083 --> 01:41.306 government did not have visibility over 01:41.306 --> 01:43.472 where stuff was how to get it to where 01:43.472 --> 01:45.417 it needs to go to require a lot of 01:45.417 --> 01:47.250 industry partnerships , Probably 01:47.250 --> 01:49.472 partnerships that I would argue or were 01:49.472 --> 01:51.583 unheard of um to where distributors , 01:51.583 --> 01:51.230 the medical distributors were willing 01:51.230 --> 01:53.286 to provide us data and where they're 01:53.286 --> 01:55.341 shipping things , so where the group 01:55.341 --> 01:57.119 purchasing organizations and we 01:57.119 --> 01:57.110 leveraged all that to make sure they 01:57.110 --> 01:59.850 were sending it to the right place at 01:59.850 --> 02:02.040 the right time because again you don't 02:02.040 --> 02:04.430 have enough but yet you got places like 02:04.430 --> 02:06.830 new york city at the time , Los Angeles 02:06.830 --> 02:08.941 and then it gravitated throughout the 02:08.941 --> 02:10.997 year to where eventually the country 02:10.997 --> 02:12.997 was inflamed at one but making sure 02:12.997 --> 02:15.274 that we can move those products around . 02:15.274 --> 02:15.170 And then in the fall we got a little 02:15.170 --> 02:17.114 bit of relief because of all those 02:17.114 --> 02:19.281 industrial expansion projects we did , 02:19.281 --> 02:21.448 they were finally starting to turn out 02:21.448 --> 02:21.020 product so we can make it here 02:21.020 --> 02:23.500 ourselves and get the items to where we 02:23.500 --> 02:25.611 needed him to go . It was challenging 02:25.611 --> 02:27.444 to because it was an interagency 02:27.444 --> 02:29.660 organization . Um and say you had 02:29.670 --> 02:32.970 different cultures . Uh we have our our 02:32.970 --> 02:35.081 D . O . D . Culture , R . D . L . A . 02:35.081 --> 02:37.330 Culture and then we have a female 02:37.330 --> 02:39.660 culture , we have a health and human 02:39.660 --> 02:41.771 services culture and then we had some 02:41.771 --> 02:43.604 commerce folks totally different 02:43.604 --> 02:45.970 culture and than others . And so you 02:45.970 --> 02:48.430 have to quickly bring a team together 02:48.440 --> 02:50.551 um and figure out what what you think 02:50.551 --> 02:53.490 you can affect and what you can do . I 02:53.490 --> 02:55.601 will never forget the folks that that 02:55.601 --> 02:57.323 we lost . Not both just in our 02:57.323 --> 02:59.379 workforce but we had many people who 02:59.379 --> 03:01.379 were touched by covid and they lost 03:01.379 --> 03:03.379 family members whether they will be 03:03.379 --> 03:05.323 extended or or mothers fathers and 03:05.323 --> 03:07.490 brothers . And so I you know I I would 03:07.490 --> 03:09.712 sign condolences letters to those folks 03:09.712 --> 03:12.270 and um and that's that's just very 03:12.270 --> 03:14.760 heartbreaking from a covid task force 03:14.760 --> 03:18.760 standpoint . Um I think every day was 03:18.760 --> 03:22.430 a new adventure . Um And so there were 03:22.430 --> 03:25.030 many glad moments when you would get 03:25.030 --> 03:27.380 investment projects approved or or 03:27.380 --> 03:29.491 investment projects would come online 03:29.491 --> 03:31.380 like In September when we started 03:31.380 --> 03:33.602 making when three and was able to start 03:33.602 --> 03:35.824 making all the n . masks here in the US 03:35.824 --> 03:38.047 they achieved their first goal . It was 03:38.047 --> 03:37.720 exciting . We were getting 13 million 03:37.720 --> 03:40.080 more masks a month . Um and we we 03:40.080 --> 03:42.302 worked to make sure that they didn't go 03:42.302 --> 03:44.413 to the strategic national stockpile . 03:44.413 --> 03:43.910 We made sure they were going to 03:43.910 --> 03:46.060 frontline medical workers . The fact 03:46.060 --> 03:48.360 that we would get calls from hospitals 03:48.740 --> 03:51.180 and to let us know that the efforts 03:51.180 --> 03:53.291 that the whole government was working 03:53.291 --> 03:55.124 were paying off and both medical 03:55.124 --> 03:57.180 workers were able to rotate the pp . 03:57.180 --> 03:59.480 They felt safer . Those were the best 03:59.480 --> 04:01.647 moments of my life . But I'll admit to 04:01.647 --> 04:03.647 you , I mean a really disheartening 04:03.647 --> 04:05.980 piece because we would watch this daily . 04:05.980 --> 04:08.147 You watch the statistics . So you look 04:08.147 --> 04:10.240 at the number of cases infections in 04:10.240 --> 04:12.407 the nation . You look at the number of 04:12.407 --> 04:14.629 hospitalizations and you look at number 04:14.629 --> 04:14.250 of deaths and I think one of the 04:14.250 --> 04:16.680 hardest thing especially as a military 04:16.680 --> 04:19.960 member is how do I stop the deaths 04:21.240 --> 04:23.296 And just knowing that that was still 04:23.296 --> 04:25.518 going to be a struggle has continued to 04:25.518 --> 04:29.360 stay with us . We talked about moments 04:29.360 --> 04:31.471 to remember . I think one of my proud 04:31.471 --> 04:33.416 moments will always not think will 04:33.416 --> 04:36.220 always be um just the people I worked 04:36.220 --> 04:38.387 with with A . D . L . A . And the fact 04:38.387 --> 04:40.870 that we were always so mission focused 04:40.870 --> 04:43.680 in the can do attitude . It was never 04:43.680 --> 04:46.360 know you supported the entire nation 04:46.840 --> 04:49.118 and that can never be lost on on the D . 04:49.118 --> 04:51.173 L . A . Workforce . Um and that will 04:51.173 --> 04:53.396 that is a badge of honor that we should 04:53.396 --> 04:55.451 carry for the next uh I mean forever 04:55.451 --> 04:57.562 for as part of our legacy and part of 04:57.562 --> 04:59.729 our lineage and we will be captured in 04:59.729 --> 05:01.900 every after action report as a success 05:01.900 --> 05:04.210 story for being able to step in and 05:04.210 --> 05:06.210 provide the capabilities that other 05:06.210 --> 05:08.043 government agencies did not have 05:08.043 --> 05:10.500 internally . And if we have relied just 05:10.500 --> 05:13.100 on that sole capability ultimately the 05:13.100 --> 05:15.211 american people would have suffered . 05:15.211 --> 05:17.433 And so delay was able to step into that 05:17.433 --> 05:19.322 gap and support the entire United 05:19.322 --> 05:21.489 States . And it's not often you get to 05:21.489 --> 05:20.960 say that .