Richmond, Va. –
Readiness Cell team members from the Army Customer Facing Division, Defense Logistics Agency Aviation planned for two months with the 1108th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group Mississippi Army National Guard in Gulfport, Mississippi to arrange an outreach site visit June 26-27. The 1108th TASMG supports 252 Army aircraft including the UH-60 Blackhawk, AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook.
The visit is part of an ongoing warfighter first strategic engagement by DLA Aviation to support Army aviation readiness. DLA Aviation supports more than 66,000 parts for the 1108th’s weapon system platforms.
DLA Aviation team members included Army Maj. Alex Shimabukuro, operations officer; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mike Jackson, aviation readiness officer; Bob Johnson, UH-60 weapons system program manager; Ellen Webber, weapon systems sustainment branch supervisor; and Eric Garrett, customer account specialist.
The 1108th TASMG command team gave the DLA Aviation team an overview brief on their mission. The 1108th TASMG is one of four Army National Guard organizations that offers aviation depot maintenance functions and facilitates training for Army National Guard aviation soldiers.
Following the brief, 1108th TASMG’s key leaders, Army Maj. Sean Barna, supply management officer and Army Maj. Wangson Sylvien, logistics maintenance officer, led a tour of their maintenance bays and back shops to ensure the aviation team had an understanding of their capabilities and meet with their soldiers and civilian professionals.
“The Unit Outreach Team provided us with kitting information that led us to discover that they already have seven kits that we can begin using immediately that will reduce our average repair days of those seven components,” said Barna, 1108th supply management officer.
Barna said the team was also able to help them with some quality issues with water borne aircraft paint they have had for several years.
“The team put us in contact with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Grounds,” he said. “The issue is not resolved yet, but we are further along in reaching a satisfactory solution than we were prior to the visit.”