FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
Editor's note: This year's Department of Defense Black History month theme is "African Americans in Times of War." Throughout the month of February, DLA Energy will highlight a few employees who go to great strides to support the warfighter.
What is your job title, and what do you do? As the regional deputy director, I communicate the commander’s intent to 50 civilian and military personnel who monitor the supply chain management of Class IIIB petroleum support consisting of 78 nodes in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. Through the efficient use of 17 Defense Fuel Support Points, 32 direct delivery, 17 into-plane sites and 5 bunkering locations with a combined annual throughput is in excess of 2.4 billion gallons, we support warfighter requirements throughout Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan and other classified locations.
If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself about the future? Pick a destination, map it in your head and use every day to figure out how to get there before anyone else. In other words, be a leader not a follower. You do not yet know even half of what you need to know, so keep your mind as open as your eyes. With a little advance planning you will encounter people along the way who can teach you the ways of the world that can lead and motivate you to reach heights you never dreamed imaginable.
What advice would you give today’s workforce? Make the most of the opportunities when they come your way. Keep a watchful eye out for those opportunities that others pass on because opportunities do not always come in nice, neat and pretty packages. Become the subject matter expert at your craft and understand your supervisor’s role in the scheme of the organization because that is the next step on the ladder to success. Accountability and responsibility are nearly synonymous and fundamental to reaching individual and corporate goals.
Have you had an influential mentor in your career? The most influential mentoring session I ever had occurred in Kabul, Afghanistan, over an impromptu two-hour session with Melvin Cintron, Senior Executive Service with Department of Transportation. It was not lost on me that he took the time to listen, and I found out we had many similar experiences. I came away thinking, if he can overcome stagnation and adversity, why not me? I have had so many great mentor and mentee experiences. I cannot name them all, but I have my parents, grandparents, pastors and teachers who are all informal mentors whom I try to emulate. The lessons they imparted on me have been the building blocks that formed my frame of reference. They have helped me grow, broaden my horizons and, ultimately, to achieve more than I could on my own.
How are you paying forward? Each one has an obligation to teach one! My 10-year-old said it best, "caring is sharing." I try to take advantage of every opportunity to share the knowledge I have attained, my own experiences and lesson learned with others I encounter to shorten their learning curve. There is value in a structured arrangement, but I don’t need a formal agreement to mentor. I find it rewarding to make the next person better and prepare them for increased responsibilities. In the final analysis we are all traveling the same path. Sure, there are distinct differences but there similarities as well. It is a commonality of purpose I seek when I mentor.
If you could have a conversation with a civil rights activist, who would it be and why? Activism involves great risk and sacrifice. Choosing one person is really hard and unfair to omit others because that kind of commitment is something that is innate. If there were 50 notables on a wall, I would select author and poet, Maya Angelou. She came from modest beginnings, surviving youth and young adulthood by almost any means necessary. Some of it unsavory to put it mildly. Yet, instill, she did not let her beginnings become her end. She rose above the unchosen inequities to persevere, teach, mentor and be a beacon of light for change and equality. Her truths transcended color, gender or any other demographic for the betterment of humankind. To sum it up, I will paraphrase a quote from arguably the greatest activist, Reverend Martin Luther King, from his "I Have A Dream" speech, August 28, 1963, "… one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." I would relish the opportunity to sit with Maya and ask where she was on the day of that speech and get her thoughts on the climate then and how much things have changed.