Letterkenny Army depot is the army's
premier air and missile defense and
long range precision fires depot
conveniently located in south central
pennsylvania . Letterkenny Army depot
and its employees have been providing
the Department of Defense with the best
quality systems for over 80 years .
Well the Department of War at the
beginning of World War Two , before the
United States was involved , the
Department of War was looking for a
good location for army depot in
the proximity of Washington D . C . And
flat terrain that was particularly
farmland at the time . So in 1941
before the bombing of Pearl Harbor ,
this area was being sought after by
agents of the government . Almost
immediately you had the Corps of
Engineers and other military . Other
army officials come in here and start
to construct the depot . Force use as
an ordinance distribution point for the
european theater and to collect other
goods and services to be shipped
overseas as well . Rail lines were
close here . Other means of
transportation were good here . So it
was a perfect area for organizing of
material to be shipped over to the
european theater . Letterkenny in the
war years during World War II was very
critical to the success of the
invasion of europe in 1940 . For so
much so that Letterkenny was termed the
springboard of invasion . Almost every
bit of ordnance material that was
shipped overseas to support that
invasion came through the hands at
Letterkenny , Letterkenny is legacy and
track record of excellence has spanned
generations from World War Two to the
present Letterkenny Army depot has been
one of the largest employers in South
Central pennsylvania people have come
here to work from various counties
away mostly because of
the good pay , but also and benefits ,
but also because of the mission and the
patriotic aspect of , of working here .
So , um , prior to coming here , I was
16 years in the private sector as a
mechanic and at that level really there
was , there's no growth as a mechanic .
Your , you become a good mechanic and
then you stay at that level . Um , so
what I really enjoyed about coming here
as you come in as you know , I came in
as a mechanic and got to our great ,
there's always steps to go , I am most
proud that we provide equipment to war
fighters and that would bring them home
safe to their families . I've never
had any motivation
issues as in terms of coming to work
every day and and supporting the war
fighter and knowing that what we do
makes a difference to the army's
readiness . That was the big thing for
me were coming in for the government .
Like fresh out of like it was just a
totally different environment . So like
having those people that were working
with me at the beginning was like a
huge help because it like helped me to
develop the skills that I needed in
order to make a career with the
government and now I'm just trying to
as being someone who tries to mentor
others . Like I'm trying to basically
do what those people did for me and
just kind of pass that along and then I
have a lot of knowledge over the years
that I've gained through most of the
departments just working hand in hand
with people , I provide that knowledge
to the new hires and when they come in
the door so that they have that
knowledge . I'm a
retired war fighter and I feel as
though I'm providing a service for them ,
a service that we as a war fighter look
for when we out in the field on the
line or being deployed . So we want to
make sure that we have reliable
equipment and dependable equipment and
so I enjoy being able to provide a
service to them because um we
rely independent on that stuff , you
know , and it it makes a difference in
our mentality and our morale , you know ,
when we're out there , although our
programs and capabilities have changed
over the years , our commitment to
quality and supporting our nation's
defense has remained the same . In 1962
the U . S . Army saw it to change the
name of Letterkenny Ordnance depot to
Letterkenny Army depot because the
mission was much more than ordinance .
It was co operation of things from
missiles missile work . Two vehicles
like tanks , trucks , jeeps and steel
storage of ordinance in the late 70 is
when the Patriot missile system comes
into play and because of the previous
expertise on the Nike surface to air
missile system and other missile work
missile maintenance has really been our ,
our big thing here at Letterkenny ,
Letterkenny functions as a business but
we're not out to make money . So it's
good to have an organic structure where
our army can bring their and we can
provide the services for them ,
whatever it might be . It was a key
factor that Letterkenny just gained its
aerospace certification . Um , we are
one of only two depots in the army that
have the aerospace certification ,
which is a huge step and with the
modernization efforts and everything is
we know it's a changing world out there .
Um technology is ever growing and if we
do not keep up with that we're gonna be
left behind . We try to modernize to
meet that growing technology makes me
excited to see people working very hard
to make improvements from management
down , everybody's working together to
make sure Letter County has a future .
So it's been nice to combine those two
forces with planning and execution .
You see ownership from the shop , you
see ownership from the admin personnel
all across multiple domains like
different P . M . T . S . Support shops
out shops , things like that that feed
what we're trying to do here in our
programs , positive changes are
bringing a new workload and adjusting
to that training and having a well
maintained workforce . So this change
is important as well because those
modernization efforts help us segue
into the future systems , hypersonic ,
other advanced missile systems ,
directed energy . Those will help us
get where we need to be to support the
future Warfighter . These are
multimillion dollar projects , uh , to
upgrade our facilities for the future .
And I think it's all because of the
people that are here that allows that
to happen . You have to keep up with
how the world is evolving and how
technology is evolving and
improving . If not , you're gonna be
left behind , you're not gonna be able
to be competitive , you gotta be able
to satisfy your customers , you know ,
and and their needs really think our
ability to change over the years has
allowed us to stay here that long . You
know , we're not just stuck in that .
We're not , we're not scared to change
our employees , diverse skill sets ,
enhanced the depots , readiness and
ability to respond to any mission . So
Letterkenny was put here because there
was , there was always a , a decorum of
people um , that were , that were very
dedicated . Americans are very
dedicated workers that leads into a
very high skilled workforce . And we're
basically in the 80th year of that high
skilled workforce being around . So
that's one of the core commodities of
what makes letter Kenny very special .
And one of the go to sources for the
army . So we have a very unique set of
skill sets here and a unique set of
individuals that are highly trained ,
highly skilled . Some of our processes
take up to two years to fully master
and and to be fully autonomous , it's
amazing to see everyone's different
skill set and what they bring to the
table and it's not always expected ,
right . Letterkenny Army Depot has vast
demands and needs um coming in from
different customers . Some are well
defined , some aren't . So we have to
be proactive and reactive when pre
production , planning all the way
through execution , building projects
and capturing data that goes into
feeding those projects and ultimately
being successful . We have a multitude
of specialized skills between the
employees that I work with um whether
it be previous police background , um
previous correctional background were
military background and we put that all
together . That makes the team that we
are really recently , it's been
rewarding to come to work and be able
to help people . When I first started
as an intern , I felt like everyone was
helping me . Um and now I got to the
point where I can assist people um
whether it be an excel or PowerPoint or
even in LMP itself , um , or running
reports , automating reports . Um , I
enjoy helping everyone . The reason
it's easy to come to work is the people
that I work with , um everyone's very
genuine , everyone's supportive ,
everyone wants you to succeed because
we share the same common goals and
mission and that is to serve the
warfighter . We know that we've got a
great team of people and together we'll
get it done . You know , because
sometimes we have some deadlines that
we have to meet , but we know like ,
okay , well , you know , we'll work
together , we'll get through this . And
I think that's one of the great things
about us being together and working
together and I feel like that there's
not one person here that , that
wouldn't feel like they're part of the
team . I love the family atmosphere at
Letterkenny army , it's awesome and I
don't see myself doing anything else .
So I'm always happy to come to work
every single day . I think Letterkenny
will continue to exist for a long time
and to be able to provide to customers
as they need for a very long time
because we don't give up . So we never
say no , we offer Solutions and ways to
do business . When you look back at
letter Kenny's history over the last 80
years , Letterkenny has existed and and
excelled because of the ability to
adapt the change personally being
here such a short time , things are not
the same as when I first started ,
things are constantly changing . I've
said before , we're flexible and we
just try every every single day ,
there's good people here and made a lot
of good friends and that , that's
probably the most exciting thing um ,
is coming in and just having that ,
that great communication and
it's the best job I ever had . The
people , the people that work here are
a big thing because people care the
people want to do a good job and I mean
I think everyone's goal here is to put
a good quality product out the door for
the fighters , support them . One time
when I worked here , we actually got a
post of soldiers that said thank you
Letter Kenny , but it seems like most
people that I work with just genuinely
like what they do , they want to do a
good job and I think that shows in the
products that we build and send out to
the army so like they can rely on
Letterkenny that when they send
something to them , it's gonna be a
good product that's gonna do what it's
designed to do . The quality of work
that we produce here is to my knowledge ,
has , has always been top notch and I
don't see that ever changing as much as
we don't think about it . Letterkenny
had to modernize 30 years ago , 40
years ago to keep up with what they
were wanting to do and have that
mission and that vision without that
vision to look ahead and say , hey ,
where do we want to be in 10 years and
15 years and 20 years . So Letterkenny
has always done that and was able to
grow in advance and keep that diversity
and the different types of work that I
can perform and grow its workforce with
it . We have a very safe record as well .
And , and again , I think the workforce
speaks for itself and in the length of
time that Letterkenny has been here and
I think we'll continue to do so and and
improve throughout the coming years .
We were ready then
we're ready now to solve the complex
problems of today
and develop innovative solutions for
the future Letterkenny Army Depot .
Yeah .