WEBVTT 00:04.540 --> 00:05.540 Mhm . 00:08.940 --> 00:10.607 I have worked for D . L . A . 00:10.607 --> 00:13.160 disposition services which started out 00:13.170 --> 00:15.281 as a defense realization of marketing 00:15.281 --> 00:18.290 service for 33 years . I 00:18.290 --> 00:21.690 actually was introduced to D . L . A . 00:21.700 --> 00:25.570 in 1984 when I served in the 00:25.570 --> 00:28.090 United States Army and I was stationed 00:28.100 --> 00:30.380 at defence construction supply center 00:30.390 --> 00:33.240 columbus . And it was then that I knew 00:33.250 --> 00:36.010 I wanted to work for D . L . A . When I 00:36.010 --> 00:39.730 started as an intern . The purpose was 00:39.730 --> 00:43.350 to train me and all aspects of 00:43.940 --> 00:47.620 Property disposal specialist type work 00:47.630 --> 00:50.070 as well as environmentalists specialist 00:50.070 --> 00:54.040 because I was also an 0.28 . And when 00:54.040 --> 00:56.318 I started everything was done manually . 00:56.340 --> 00:59.300 Uh there was no automation per se . 00:59.300 --> 01:03.120 Very little uh everything done was on 01:03.130 --> 01:06.250 manual 1348 . Uh 01:06.260 --> 01:09.800 Manual Sf 1 20 two's 1 20 three's . 01:09.810 --> 01:12.230 Uh big stacks of paper with your 01:12.230 --> 01:15.420 inventory . And we would basically take 01:15.420 --> 01:18.240 everything off of documents and then go 01:18.240 --> 01:20.830 to the key punch card machine would 01:20.830 --> 01:22.980 have had the big clunky keys And we 01:22.980 --> 01:24.980 punch everything out in the 80 card 01:24.980 --> 01:27.202 column format which is being used today 01:27.202 --> 01:29.313 through the mill strip process . That 01:29.313 --> 01:31.536 has never ever changed . It remains the 01:31.536 --> 01:34.510 same . So when I started out everything 01:34.510 --> 01:38.060 was manual . And once I get trained in 01:38.060 --> 01:41.890 Battle Creek as an intern I had DRM . 01:41.890 --> 01:43.668 Oh that's defense realization . 01:43.668 --> 01:45.946 Marketing office hill as my assignment . 01:46.240 --> 01:49.720 So once there was trained in 01:49.720 --> 01:52.770 receiving warehousing , environmental 01:52.770 --> 01:54.870 scrap handling , precious metals , 01:54.870 --> 01:58.850 breakdown uh sales and my favorite of 01:58.850 --> 02:00.628 course realization transfer and 02:00.628 --> 02:03.850 donation . After a few years um 02:04.340 --> 02:07.670 daisy came in and it replaced the 02:07.670 --> 02:10.490 manual process where everyone had to 02:10.490 --> 02:13.350 learn to operate a computer , which was 02:13.350 --> 02:15.072 scary for a lot of employees , 02:15.072 --> 02:17.350 especially in receiving or warehousing . 02:17.350 --> 02:19.128 We had a lot of people are very 02:19.128 --> 02:21.490 hesitant to work on a computer because 02:21.490 --> 02:23.920 they were afraid of it . But even then 02:23.920 --> 02:26.830 going to a computer , we still ran to 02:26.830 --> 02:29.820 sort of everything as a batch in house 02:31.940 --> 02:35.720 and we also had retail sales . Local 02:35.720 --> 02:38.740 options besides the national sales and 02:38.740 --> 02:41.080 local auctions were always nice because 02:41.080 --> 02:44.810 I remember working sales , especially 02:44.810 --> 02:47.540 automotive sales , you think items sat 02:47.550 --> 02:49.620 around in a distribution center or 02:49.620 --> 02:52.120 depot for years they were covered with 02:52.120 --> 02:54.780 a greasy black dirt . So when you leave 02:54.780 --> 02:56.947 work you were covered with that dirt . 02:56.947 --> 02:59.990 So when we get to work an auction , we 02:59.990 --> 03:02.970 actually get to dress up . So that was 03:02.970 --> 03:05.081 always really nice and we get to meet 03:05.081 --> 03:07.190 the buyers face to face , you get to 03:07.190 --> 03:09.190 learn who they were , you met their 03:09.190 --> 03:11.530 spouses , sometimes they bring their 03:11.530 --> 03:13.752 Children with them . So you get to meet 03:13.752 --> 03:15.586 the whole family and there was a 03:15.586 --> 03:17.474 closeness to it and they were the 03:17.474 --> 03:19.474 regular customers over and over and 03:19.474 --> 03:21.697 over . So that was very enjoyable . And 03:21.697 --> 03:23.863 I also not only help with registration 03:23.863 --> 03:26.086 for those local auctions , but I'd also 03:26.086 --> 03:28.910 be a recorder which had to be on top of 03:28.910 --> 03:31.150 your toes because you have to pay 03:31.150 --> 03:33.094 attention to people as they raised 03:33.094 --> 03:35.094 their paddle , make sure you didn't 03:35.094 --> 03:37.470 miss a bid and then we recorded a 03:37.470 --> 03:39.950 number and hand scribed it . And we 03:39.950 --> 03:42.172 also had an adding machine where we had 03:42.172 --> 03:44.172 to add and , and you want to make a 03:44.172 --> 03:47.520 mistake . So that was kind of antsy at 03:47.520 --> 03:50.480 times . But it was fun . Look forward 03:50.480 --> 03:53.770 to it . And during my 03:53.770 --> 03:57.260 career I did three major cleanups . One 03:57.260 --> 04:00.930 was injures New Jersey for a U . S . 04:00.930 --> 04:04.680 Naval Sea cadet group that misused the 04:04.680 --> 04:06.847 access property they get through . The 04:06.847 --> 04:10.440 program is actually surplus . And the 04:10.440 --> 04:13.250 second one was for the 04:14.040 --> 04:17.810 military affiliated radio system in New 04:17.810 --> 04:20.290 Jersey on the outer banks . And that 04:20.290 --> 04:23.750 was a massive project . The third 04:23.750 --> 04:27.050 one was in Hammond Louisiana 04:27.060 --> 04:29.580 and that one was not a program that 04:29.580 --> 04:33.120 would oversee . It was a US army 04:33.130 --> 04:36.420 officer who had taken out property 04:36.620 --> 04:40.430 from various DRM OS and was 04:40.430 --> 04:42.541 going to start his own museum . So he 04:42.541 --> 04:45.910 misused the property , the items and in 04:45.910 --> 04:47.760 all three cases it was misuse . 04:50.140 --> 04:52.600 And I think back throughout history 04:52.610 --> 04:55.260 when we went through base realignment 04:55.260 --> 04:58.210 enclosures , There are five major 04:58.220 --> 05:01.630 time periods which realigned or close 05:01.640 --> 05:05.410 350 sites . So every time a site 05:05.410 --> 05:08.560 closed or downsize that impacted 05:09.240 --> 05:13.020 customers RTD . And 05:13.020 --> 05:15.076 those customers that relied on local 05:15.076 --> 05:17.330 auctions , they were impacted . And 05:17.330 --> 05:19.660 what you have to remember the customers 05:19.670 --> 05:21.670 in the RTD world that were impacted 05:21.670 --> 05:23.837 were those customers who had to travel 05:23.837 --> 05:27.450 to pick up . So as far as budgets , It 05:27.450 --> 05:29.670 really hurt them to say , Okay , now I 05:29.670 --> 05:31.837 can't drive 50 miles . I have to drive 05:31.837 --> 05:33.460 500 to the nearest site . 05:35.840 --> 05:38.007 Probably my favorite part of the job , 05:38.007 --> 05:40.118 there's two favorite parts by working 05:40.118 --> 05:42.840 disaster relief , humanitarian aid , 05:42.930 --> 05:45.097 disaster relief . They sort of go hand 05:45.097 --> 05:47.152 in hand when we look at humanitarian 05:47.152 --> 05:49.374 assistance program , we're dealing with 05:49.374 --> 05:51.240 requests that come in from State 05:51.240 --> 05:54.270 Department and that are that's to be 05:54.270 --> 05:58.160 used overseas . And it's usually uh 05:58.170 --> 06:01.090 where a country , their representatives 06:01.090 --> 06:03.312 go through the U . S . Embassy into the 06:03.312 --> 06:05.534 State Department coming to us . And the 06:05.534 --> 06:07.479 humanitarian assistance program is 06:07.479 --> 06:09.423 considered a Department of Defense 06:09.423 --> 06:13.060 special Program more recently with 06:13.070 --> 06:16.630 hurricanes that have hit um The 06:16.640 --> 06:18.950 Virgin Islands was probably more of the 06:18.950 --> 06:22.360 recent requests and COVID-19 requests 06:22.360 --> 06:26.090 also coming in from US aid . We're 06:26.090 --> 06:29.570 going back to half , Half has also 06:29.580 --> 06:33.470 given up many items this past 06:33.470 --> 06:36.490 year for COVID-19 . So we could get 06:36.490 --> 06:38.820 those items back to our department of 06:38.820 --> 06:42.040 defense customers . So once again , 06:42.050 --> 06:44.390 it's just not all giving to 06:44.400 --> 06:46.890 humanitarian assistance they've also 06:46.900 --> 06:49.290 given back to us , which is really 06:49.300 --> 06:52.550 awesome . The third part of this is 06:52.550 --> 06:55.360 disaster relief at the state level 06:55.370 --> 06:57.900 state and local government . And in 06:57.900 --> 07:00.720 there , you may also find uh law 07:00.720 --> 07:02.776 enforcement support office coming in 07:02.776 --> 07:04.998 for request . And the Diode Firefighter 07:04.998 --> 07:07.540 Program Law enforcement program has 07:07.540 --> 07:09.707 been around for quite a few years . Uh 07:09.710 --> 07:11.932 firefighter program actually started in 07:11.932 --> 07:15.150 2006 and people don't 07:15.150 --> 07:17.710 realize that the law enforcement 07:17.710 --> 07:21.250 agencies . Firefighting agencies not 07:21.250 --> 07:23.670 only focus on law enforcement or 07:23.670 --> 07:26.860 fighting fires , they also are the ones 07:26.860 --> 07:29.082 who are on the front lines when there's 07:29.082 --> 07:30.860 a disaster for rescue . 07:32.940 --> 07:35.390 Well any time there's a disaster that 07:35.400 --> 07:37.344 you're thinking about . The people 07:37.344 --> 07:40.260 who've lost everything , not only their 07:40.330 --> 07:43.100 homes but their businesses and you 07:43.100 --> 07:45.270 think we can't get items to them fast 07:45.270 --> 07:49.250 enough . That's for any disaster and 07:49.640 --> 07:52.940 there's a sense of urgency . So we 07:52.940 --> 07:54.940 would start working probably around 07:54.940 --> 07:57.162 five a.m. I say . We and another person 07:57.162 --> 07:59.600 in the office signed to help me and 07:59.600 --> 08:02.060 then on top of harvey hit the other 08:02.060 --> 08:04.410 three hurricanes right after it . So we 08:04.410 --> 08:07.350 were busy and we would work till 08:09.040 --> 08:11.400 Late at night , sometimes 10:00 at 08:11.400 --> 08:13.622 night , sometimes midnight . That's not 08:13.622 --> 08:16.970 uncommon . What happens is if a site , 08:16.980 --> 08:19.091 a field site comes in with items that 08:19.091 --> 08:21.147 we need because we'll send out items 08:21.147 --> 08:23.202 needed . The . Field site comes back 08:23.202 --> 08:25.313 and we'll go check with the customers 08:25.313 --> 08:27.258 say do you need it ? If yes , they 08:27.258 --> 08:29.480 bring it on record as well . As soon as 08:29.480 --> 08:31.591 they bring it on record , we must put 08:31.591 --> 08:33.758 that order in After five p.m. Each day 08:33.758 --> 08:35.924 when the the inventory updates . So we 08:35.924 --> 08:38.490 were that wasn't even a requirement . 08:38.490 --> 08:40.546 We don't think twice about it . It's 08:40.546 --> 08:42.712 just something we do . It's your job . 08:42.840 --> 08:45.080 You know , and it's just you're you're 08:45.080 --> 08:47.510 glad to help . And anything we can do 08:47.510 --> 08:51.500 to help , It makes you um glad 08:51.500 --> 08:53.611 that you have the job that you have . 08:55.340 --> 08:57.507 These are two of my favorite things to 08:57.507 --> 09:00.090 redistribute and most people haven't 09:00.090 --> 09:02.090 been around long enough to know the 09:02.090 --> 09:04.630 regulations . But while President 09:04.630 --> 09:07.240 Clinton was in office , he there was , 09:07.240 --> 09:10.800 he signed an executive order that it 09:10.810 --> 09:12.977 was called the food gleaning program . 09:12.977 --> 09:15.310 Food for the poor through U . S . D . A . 09:15.310 --> 09:17.254 Food and Drug Administration which 09:17.254 --> 09:19.950 allowed us to provide excess food 09:20.340 --> 09:23.460 directly to either federal prisons 09:24.140 --> 09:27.310 and or food banks slash soup kitchens . 09:27.320 --> 09:29.750 So we would take the food and offer it 09:29.750 --> 09:32.050 up to G . S . A . And G . S . A . 09:32.050 --> 09:34.520 Determined which agency would get the 09:34.520 --> 09:37.350 items federal prisons get first option 09:37.840 --> 09:40.820 and most of food ended up in the early 09:40.820 --> 09:43.620 years going to soup kitchens and food 09:43.620 --> 09:46.400 banks and when I talk about food , I'm 09:46.400 --> 09:48.456 not talking about meals ready to eat 09:48.456 --> 09:51.140 that the military personnel eat . We're 09:51.140 --> 09:54.170 talking about lobster stay condiments , 09:54.180 --> 09:57.260 make goods what the prisons cannot use . 09:57.640 --> 09:59.807 They go ahead and turn around and give 09:59.807 --> 10:01.696 to those local food banks or soup 10:01.696 --> 10:03.640 kitchens . Which is a good field . 10:03.640 --> 10:06.830 Especially with right now with Covid 10:06.830 --> 10:09.052 and so many people have lost their jobs 10:09.052 --> 10:10.997 and so on . It's nice to know that 10:10.997 --> 10:13.880 we're also contributing that way after 10:13.880 --> 10:16.660 hurricane Sandy hit the east Coast , 10:17.440 --> 10:19.650 There was $5 million dollars worth of 10:19.650 --> 10:23.460 excess food and so la 10:24.540 --> 10:27.520 troops support needed to work with fema 10:27.530 --> 10:29.363 and also worked with the L . A . 10:29.363 --> 10:31.530 Disposition services to make sure that 10:31.530 --> 10:33.820 we could get that food to food banks 10:33.820 --> 10:36.110 and soup kitchens . The food was stored 10:36.110 --> 10:40.050 at Albany Georgia and we worked with 10:40.440 --> 10:43.210 fema out of Chicago I believe it was . 10:43.220 --> 10:46.690 And we were able to issue all $5 10:46.690 --> 10:49.960 million worth of food to food banks and 10:49.960 --> 10:52.260 soup kitchens across the entire country 10:52.740 --> 10:54.990 and they drove to pick up each one of 10:54.990 --> 10:57.350 them . So that was a real plus . So 10:57.350 --> 10:59.930 it's always good to get food to those 10:59.930 --> 11:02.097 who need it . And so I'm very proud to 11:02.097 --> 11:04.330 have been part of that . The other Joey 11:04.330 --> 11:06.510 I've always had was finding homes for 11:06.510 --> 11:10.420 animals and some are challenging if we 11:10.420 --> 11:13.100 get horses and I always like the 11:13.100 --> 11:15.880 regulations that state we can find 11:15.880 --> 11:18.420 homes for live animals . I thought what 11:18.420 --> 11:20.476 other type of animal would we try to 11:20.476 --> 11:23.380 find a home for ? So horses if they're 11:23.380 --> 11:25.530 writable , good condition will get 11:25.530 --> 11:27.641 picked up by law enforcement . That's 11:27.641 --> 11:31.450 an easy move . Um a few years ago I 11:31.450 --> 11:34.380 had to buffalo and a beef . Hello . I 11:34.380 --> 11:36.602 had to find a home for out of Alabama . 11:36.840 --> 11:39.430 The new commander at a base post didn't 11:39.430 --> 11:42.170 want them there . And the first thing I 11:42.170 --> 11:44.690 thought of was um I know the native 11:44.690 --> 11:47.630 americans have a program going back to 11:47.630 --> 11:50.780 the roots with herds of buffalo . So I 11:50.780 --> 11:53.002 thought I'll go there first because I , 11:53.002 --> 11:56.060 that only makes sense . And when they 11:56.070 --> 11:59.340 didn't want them , I turned to the 11:59.340 --> 12:01.562 state agencies for surplus property and 12:01.562 --> 12:03.770 went to their national officer who in 12:03.770 --> 12:05.992 turn checked around with some states in 12:05.992 --> 12:08.159 the state of Georgia came through . So 12:08.159 --> 12:10.600 the two buffalo in the beef alot went 12:10.600 --> 12:14.320 to locust grove uh Georgia and they 12:14.320 --> 12:16.710 have what's called Noah's ark and it's 12:16.720 --> 12:20.370 rehab for Children who have been abused 12:20.380 --> 12:23.640 and it's also an animal sanctuary . So 12:23.640 --> 12:26.280 we did a good job there . We've been 12:26.280 --> 12:30.130 asked to find homes for 10 kg mice 12:30.140 --> 12:32.720 recently and they're pretty hard to 12:32.720 --> 12:35.130 find a home for because you always want 12:35.130 --> 12:37.186 to find a home where the animals are 12:37.186 --> 12:39.480 protected and safe . So we look towards 12:39.480 --> 12:43.370 sanctuaries or um someplace that 12:43.370 --> 12:46.600 can actually use them . Years ago , one 12:46.600 --> 12:49.100 of my co workers had a group of goats 12:49.110 --> 12:51.530 and the goats were used to eat grass 12:51.530 --> 12:54.690 around some nuclear facilities . So we 12:54.690 --> 12:56.801 always joked about the goats probably 12:56.801 --> 12:59.090 glow in the dark and but he found a 12:59.090 --> 13:01.146 home for them . So over the years we 13:01.146 --> 13:03.620 get quite a few interesting animals . 13:03.620 --> 13:05.450 And I said some can be rather 13:05.450 --> 13:07.970 challenging finding a home for . But we 13:07.970 --> 13:09.914 usually come through and there are 13:09.914 --> 13:12.050 always good news stories always those 13:12.050 --> 13:15.780 are the fun things that work . It's 13:15.780 --> 13:19.340 like I was born to do the job . How 13:19.340 --> 13:22.380 could you not want to do it ? Think 13:22.380 --> 13:25.180 about it ? You issue property back to 13:25.180 --> 13:27.069 the Department of Defense U . S . 13:27.069 --> 13:29.180 Military to keep them mission ready . 13:30.140 --> 13:32.251 You work with special programs of all 13:32.251 --> 13:34.196 types of variety to keep the first 13:34.196 --> 13:36.030 responders whether it's fire law 13:36.030 --> 13:38.510 enforcement , you prepare youth for the 13:38.510 --> 13:42.040 military , We deal with humanitarian 13:42.040 --> 13:45.370 aid , um aid to other countries through 13:45.380 --> 13:49.220 US aid , uh natural disasters . You 13:49.220 --> 13:52.990 find homes for food for animals , I 13:52.990 --> 13:55.760 think of defence , property 13:56.340 --> 13:59.940 disposal services , defense 13:59.940 --> 14:02.570 realization of marketing services , D . 14:02.570 --> 14:05.820 L . A . Disposition services powerful 14:05.830 --> 14:09.500 names . They got that way through an 14:09.500 --> 14:12.350 excellent reputation Which is based 14:12.350 --> 14:14.350 upon the work that people have done 14:14.350 --> 14:18.150 since 1972 , receivers wear 14:18.150 --> 14:21.610 houseman uh property accounting 14:21.620 --> 14:25.020 officers , RTD specialist sales 14:25.020 --> 14:28.540 contractors . The whole gamut dedicated 14:28.540 --> 14:31.000 to the job , understanding what the 14:31.000 --> 14:33.570 mission is , the regulations , having a 14:33.570 --> 14:36.360 sense of purpose , seeing value in what 14:36.360 --> 14:38.490 they do , not only supporting the 14:38.490 --> 14:41.070 military services around the globe in a 14:41.070 --> 14:43.910 time of peace and more humanitarian 14:43.910 --> 14:46.560 assistance across the world , disaster 14:46.560 --> 14:49.640 relief . But every single day the work 14:49.640 --> 14:51.730 that they do to ensure that we're in 14:51.730 --> 14:53.910 compliance and meet the needs of those 14:53.910 --> 14:56.700 customers . That's what it's all about . 14:56.710 --> 14:59.550 It's about the people and every single 14:59.550 --> 15:01.910 worker should feel good about what they 15:01.910 --> 15:03.940 do and they should have a positive 15:03.940 --> 15:06.430 attitude and know that they make a 15:06.430 --> 15:07.560 difference in the world .