Blue Grass Amy Depot, Kentucky –
Like the popular 2001 Army recruiting slogan, Disposal Support Representative William Thompson must see himself as “an army of one” as he serves multiple locations from his one-person DLA Disposition Services site at Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky.
During a recent two-week reporting period, Thompson processed and shipped 16 truckloads of excess military property to ensure the material keeps serving taxpayers. Blue Grass is one of many one-person field offices operated by DLA Disposition Services to place its workforce and equipment where they can best meet the workload.
South-East Region Director Kathy Atkins-Nunez said DSRs like Thompson are crucial for success in the overall support to the warfighter and other customers because of the variety of services they perform.
“Will is able to physically review property, provide guidance and conduct training to local customers who ship their property to a Disposition Services’ hub location,” Atkins-Nunez said. “He can also engage our receipt-in-place process that helps reduce transportation costs for all involved – especially for customers who benefit from getting items received that way when it puts the material closer to them than our location.”
Atkins said the DSR role is instrumental to the overall disposal process and only helps to improve efficiencies. For example, Thompson’s recent shipments included 100 generators requested by forestry and law enforcement agencies in several states that include Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. The law enforcement customers involved also received a variety of vehicles to support their operations.
“The generators will be used at our new training facility as well as for disaster response and rural investigations that require power,” said Maj. Michael Ronczkowski, Putnam County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office, about the items his department received. Ronczkowski said a shredder they also received will be used at the facility for records retention destruction and “will probably save us thousands of dollars a year.”
All-terrain vehicles shipped will help law enforcement agencies get to remote areas while the commercial vehicles some received will help with patrols and other needs.