NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –
United States Army Maj. Grant Thimsen, operations officer, DLA Distribution San Joaquin, California, was honored with the DLA Field Grade Officer of the Year Award at DLA’s 51st annual employee recognition ceremony held at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Dec. 13.
Thimsen was recognized for his contributions to Whole of Government operations.
DLA director Army Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams, along with Distribution’s commanding officer Navy Supply Corps Rear Adm. Kevin Jones were on hand to present the award.
Thimsen was recognized by Williams for his efforts as the DLA Distribution Expeditionary military officer-in-charge.
Within two weeks of his October 2017 arrival at San Joaquin to serve as operations officer, Thimsen deployed to Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, to serve as officer-in-charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Region IV Incident Staging Base (ISB) in support of Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria.
Under his leadership, the 80-person joint DLA/FEMA team received 1,700 trailers of humanitarian aid and disaster relief materials, which were ultimately shipped out to over 15 locations for displaced families and personnel.
He was selected as the military action officer for the DLA Army Proof of Principle at Fort Carson, Colorado. From April through September 2018, Thimsen oversaw the management of over 4,100 DLA owned National Stock Numbers and the processing of over 8,600 Materiel Release Orders in support of nearly 1,000 Fort Carson customer units.
Thimsen then deployed as the DDXX OIC for Exercise Saber Strike at Powidz Air Base, Poland in May 2018 where he oversaw the DDXX Forward Distribution Point and Theater Consolidation and Shipping Point. The operation received 12 containers and nearly 50 463L pallets, shipped seven containers and over 350 pallets directly to tactical units conducting exercise operations.
In September 2018, he was once again called on as the FEMA ISB OIC at Maxwell AFB. Supporting Hurricane Florence relief efforts, ISB Maxwell received over 500 trailers of humanitarian aid and disaster relief materials in just two weeks of operation.
“Maj. Thimsen has demonstrated his leadership abilities both at home station and on multiple temporary duty and training assignments. I trust him explicitly with any mission as I know he will achieve outstanding results,” said DLA Distribution San Joaquin commander Marine Col. Andre Harrell.