Fort Belvoir, Virginia –
Editor’s Note: The Defense Logistics Agency recognizes February as Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month. To honor the contributions of African-American employees, DLA is highlighting those who work daily to support the agency’s global mission.
My name is: Larry McCauley
I am: Chief of Security and Emergency Services for Installation Management at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Describe Your Job In A Sentence: I manage the DLA Police Force, pass and ID, physical security, antiterrorism and emergency management programs for the McNamara Headquarters Complex, while making the military and civilian employees who work here my priority.
How long have you worked at DLA? I started my career with DLA in 1981 at Cameron Station in Alexandria, Virginia, as a Military District of Washington police officer. I joined the DLA Police Force in 1993 as a security guard, and later became a police officer in 2001 here at the HQC as I managed to grow and gain experience throughout the years.
What is your favorite thing about working for DLA? The complexity of the agency; DLA manages to take care of the needs of the warfighters, which is the No. 1 mission, but also takes on the needs of regular people who have been hurt by natural disasters. I can only follow those kind of values that I’ve been associated with all these years by never denying a hand up or hand out when it’s in the power of my hand to do so.
What are your best memories of working here? I started as a GS-5 police officer and I moved through the ranks to become a supervisor, and then a manager. While it was challenging and rewarding, I had the best time of my career learning at every level. I still love the work I do today. DLA has been good for me and I hope I have been just as good for DLA. Just to watch the agency headquarters go from those days at Cameron Station to what we are today has multiple memories tied to it.
How do you make a difference? Being a manager means you also have supervisors under you. I love using my experience to teach those who will someday walk in my shoes how to walk with confidence and take care of those who they are mentoring. When you’re a leader, you have to build relationships – anyone will tell you that’s the driving force in my portfolio. You cannot speak into a person’s life unless you know who they are. People listen to those who they have a relationship with, so that’s how I make a difference on a daily basis.
What does Black History Month mean to you? This month allows the country to celebrate the heritage of a people who have made great strides in the overall history of this country. It gives honor to some of the greatest black women and men of our past, present and future while teaching us the talents, abilities and creations that they have ingrained into our society.
I love this month because I have a chance to focus on my culture and teach young black women and men about some of the experiences I had as a young black man in America and how important education is these days. I am the president of the DLA Blacks in Government Chapter here at the headquarters, chartered since August 2016. We’ve been very involved in the community and have adopted an elementary school in southeast Washington, D.C., and have also supported a few homeless shelters here in Virginia. I am very appreciative of this agency having the forethought to accommodate affinity groups such as ours here at the headquarters. I have a very strong foundation when it comes to my faith; it’s very important to me. I look forward to continuing to support the community.