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News | July 13, 2017

DLA Logistics Operations director retires after 35 years of Navy service

By Beth Reece

Navy Rear Adm. Vincent Griffith expected time in the Navy to be the launching point for his dream career in big business. Instead, it filled him with such overwhelming patriotism and loyalty that a few years turned into 35.

“I’ll never forget standing there saluting the colors on a brisk February morning at Officer Candidate School in Newport, Virginia. It just hit me, the fact that this is such a great and honorable thing to do, serving in the United States Navy,” said the Defense Logistics Agency’s director of operations.

Griffith will retire July 13 at McNamara Headquarters Complex with pride and warm memories of his sea and command assignments. Since assuming leadership of DLA Logistics Operations in June 2014, he has overseen rising support to military customers and other federal agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Service and U.S. Forest Service. He was also behind the agency’s successful contribution to Operation United Assistance, the military’s response to the Ebola epidemic in Africa.

Three tours at sea – twice aboard aircraft carriers, once on a submarine – were among the highlights of Griffith’s career. He preferred working alongside enlisted men and women who made the Navy’s ships and aircraft work compared to the Pentagon, where he believed he could spend an entire tour toiling over a program only to see it later discontinued.

“On a ship, you can set the tone because you’re like the mayor of a city, especially when I first joined,” he said, adding that members of the Navy Supply Corps were in charge then of providing supplies and distributing mail and even pay.

As the supply officer aboard the USS John C. Stennis from April 2002 to May 2004, Griffith challenged his food-service team to serve customers 23 hours a day and to feature special birthday meals and Sunday brunches. Such long hours of business wasn’t the norm on ships in those days, and Griffith likened it to running a marathon.

“If you train for it every day then it’s very easy to do. Our folks were very good at ‘clean as you go,’ and that enabled them to work faster and better and do far more than other teams with the same amount of people. More importantly, it made life on the ship better for everyone,” he said.

Griffith learned the art of motivating others 10 years earlier on the USS Stonewall Jackson ballistic missile submarine as he mentored those carrying out the most thankless chore on board: washing dirty dishes and cleaning kitchen floors.

“No one joins the Navy to clean, but have you ever seen a foodborne illness on a ship? If you don’t clean pots and pans and dishes properly and that happens, the ship can’t fulfill its mission,” he said. “Pilots can’t fly if they’re throwing up and can’t get out of bed.”

Command tours were also special for Griffith, who viewed each as an opportunity to help sailors thrive and improve customers’ readiness. As commanding officer for the Navy’s Fleet and Industrial Supply Center in Jacksonville, Florida, from May 2004 to July 2005, he oversaw supply and support services to 49 fleet units, five industrial activities and shore installations throughout the southeastern United State and Caribbean. It gave him the chance to see how different bases operated, and inspired him to drive enterprise-wide standardization for aviation industrial teams that increased effectiveness.

DLA Defense Supply Center Richmond, now DLA Aviation, was Griffith’s second command tour and first job in a joint environment. By the time he left there in August 2011, DLA Aviation had increased material availability from 86 to 90 percent and reduced backorders of 80,000 line items by 24 percent.

“I got a great appreciation for what a complicated machine the Department of Defense truly is and how important each of DLA’s activities are in supporting operational forces and maintenance depots,” he said.

Griffith returned to the Navy to lead support to all eight of the service’s fleet logistics centers for Global Logistics Support, Naval Supply Systems Command. But by the time the admiral headed back to DLA in 2014, the agency’s mission had vastly grown.

“Short of command, this has been the best job I think one could have in DoD,” he said. “What makes it so exciting is the all the different entities that we deal with, from the combatant commanders who are leading the war on terror to humanitarian support and disaster relief around the world. DLA is always leaning forward, expanding its capabilities and planning how to operate under any circumstance, even amid cyber threats.”

Griffith said he owes part of his success to mentors like Navy Capt. Charlie Pierce, who took an interest in mentoring him when he was a young sailor serving on the USS Porter.

“He taught me how to lead and how to expose myself to new things. He taught me the difference between what I wanted and what I needed,” he said.

Having already served aboard an aircraft carrier and submarine followed by shore duty at the Naval Supply Center in Charleston, South Carolina, Griffith designed a career path in which he’d continue serving in the Charleston area.

“In my mind, I was going to go back to sea in Charleston, come off that and then get myself assigned to a submarine squadron where I could get back the $600 we got for sub pay,” he said. “My wife at the time had just gotten a job. We already had a house there. Life was perfect.”

Pierce had other ideas. “You need to broaden yourself, go to Washington,” he told Griffith.

“This was prior to the Cold War ending, and when it did, the submarine community was decimated. If I’d continued on with my plan and not taken what he said seriously, I never would have made commander,” Griffith said.

Instead, he took an assignment with the Supply Corps Personnel Command, where he assigned ensigns and warrant officers to initial sea tours and overseas duty. That led him to the Naval Supply Systems Command, where he met another mentor, Navy Vice Adm. Edward Straw, who hand-selected Griffith to follow him as his personal aide when he became DLA director in 1992.

Navy vice admirals Keith Lippert, Al Thompson and Mark Harnitchek – all former DLA commanders – also guided Griffith on his path of success.

“From these great leaders, I learned new skills and gained confidence in my abilities,” he said. “I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it weren’t for the vested interest they took in my career.”

Retiring from the Navy won’t be a farewell to hard work for Griffith. He will return to his dream of working in big business.