November 7, 2015 –
Senior leaders from DLA Disposition Services met with Disposition
Services Unit leadership and other for the annual Expeditionary Workforce
Leadership Huddle from Nov. 7 to 8.
Expeditionary leaders had the chance to receive training,
complete a transfer of duties between outgoing and incoming leaders, and update
command representatives. While the training and other opportunities are
important, Expeditionary Operations Branch Chief Tim Walters stressed the event
was also important for the visiting leaders to get better acquainted with each
other.
“Let’s face it, there are people coming and going and you
are spread out across the country, so it’s really important to work on new building
relationships.
Among those changing duties were outgoing Joint Team Lead
Navy Capt. Michael Krieger and his replacement Navy Capt. Jay May. For Krieger,
it was a chance to thanks all of the people he was worked with for their
support while May said he was “looking forward to getting reacquainted with old
friends.”
DLA Disposition Services Director Mike Cannon thanked
everyone for attending and talked about the integration of the military reserve
personnel with the rest of the workforce as one of DLA Disposition Services’
greatest strengths. In fact, Cannon said the goal was to do even more as he
talked strategic engagement and working with customers like the Army to address
upcoming large scale reductions in equipment. After describing plans to acquire
more space on the Army installation to allow a contractor to demilitarize
equipment on site, he talked about how the assembled leaders could use their
relationships with the services to do more of this kind of event.
Finding ways to integrate Disposal Services Units with the
filed sites where they are located was also discussed. Cannon said reservists
could be a big help in reducing backlog because he knows how much work he can
expect on a site annually, but he cannot predict where the surges will come.
“So you should be having a cup of coffee monthly with your
site leads to see where you can help,” Cannons said. “The key is
communication.”
Other topics discussed included a briefing on the Uniformed
Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Acts, and Expeditionary Operations
Program update as well as talks on the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce and military
service updates.