Army Col. Rick Ellis relinquished his command of Defense Logistics Agency Pacific in a Sept. 6 ceremony aboard the historic USS Missouri, docked at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
DLA Director of Logistics Operations Rear Adm. Vince Griffith presided and presented the command’s colors to the incoming commander, Navy Capt. Timothy Daniels, before an audience of family, friends, distinguished guests and DLA Pacific Region coworkers.
“When you took command two years ago, I told you that your selection wasn’t made lightly,” Griffith said. “I charged you with setting a high standard of professionalism, ethical conduct and moral courage for the men and women you would lead. You’ve succeeded.”
Griffith further emphasized the enormousness of the mission in the Pacific. “More than 1,200 DLA teammates support, in uniform and out, this combatant command,” he noted. “It’s DLA Pacific’s job to make sure PACOM’s warfighters have the food, water, fuel, medical items, repair parts and more that they need. You support Marines in Australia and airmen on Guam. The Pacific hosts the biggest military exercises on the planet. And this team is right there with the warfighter, providing your valuable expertise,” Griffith said.
He concluded by thanking Ellis for his remarkable job: “Whether supporting multinational and joint exercises, or real-world missions, this team excelled through your leadership. And while Col. Ellis may be leaving the Pacific, he’s not leaving DLA. He’s going to the tip of the spear as the commander of DLA Support Team-Afghanistan, providing direct support to our warfighters there. It’s the first time we’ve deployed one of our regional commanders to a DST.”
Ellis thanked his family and the DLA team for their support during his tenure. “It has been a truly incredible journey and I have been blessed to have one of the best teams on the planet,” he said. “Covering an area from Alaska to Thailand and everything in between, they have supported with a herculean effort everything from a Tier 1 PACOM exercise with a fully replicated DLA Support team, to expeditionary [liaison officer] sleeping on the dirtied floor of the [operations] center in Malaysia, to sleepless nights working real-world humanitarian disaster support.”
“I take comfort in knowing I am leaving the Pacific in the very capable hands of Capt. Tim Daniels. I had the chance to get to know Tim and appreciate his strong leadership in his role as the DLA Energy Pacific Commander and have confidence he will serve the warfighter and DLA well.”
Griffith welcomed Daniels to his new command and emphasized the importance of the position under the new command-and-control construct. “The C2 initiative fundamentally changes the way DLA Pacific and our regional PLFAs interface with our customers,” he said. “The DLA Pacific Commander will be the single point of contact for the PACOM Commander and his staff. Instead of dealing with six different POCs — one for each PLFA — our customers will now look to this organization as the ‘easy button’ for DLA support: One commander, one DLA face to the customer, backed by the power of nine supply chains and a $37 billion enterprise. C2 will better align us with the COMCOMs and services.”
As the new DLA Pacific commander, “Capt. Daniels will take over the first regional command to operate under the new construct. Tim knows his way around DLA and the Pacific. He comes to this command fresh from leading DLA Energy Pacific, so he’s keenly aware of the challenges these new command relationships will bring,” Griffith said.
The ceremony concluded with the passing of the organization colors from Ellis to Daniels, marking the beginning of new leadership and Daniels' acceptance of responsibility for the command’s mission.