Guam –
For the next two weeks the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services will be conducting a Contingency Operations Readiness Exercise on the Pacific Island of Guam.
COREX will bring together both military and civilian team members from around the country to build and operate a DLA Disposition Services site from equipment prepositioned in Guam.
Michael Cannon, the director of DLA Disposition Services, explained that a readiness exercise is held each year near his command’s headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan.
“You train like you fight,” Cannon said. “Doing COREX in Guam, going forward for the exercise, is a way we can show that we can do warfighter support anywhere in the world."
“Our forward-positioned equipment, coupled with our training and our personnel that are deployable worldwide, give us the practice to support the warfighter with disposal anywhere on the globe,” Cannon said.
He explained that the property the COREX team would be disposing of in Guam are real-world items from actual agency customers.
Keith Catt, site chief for the Guam COREX, said he expects that the team will receive some good training and experience some “A-ha moments” you can’t get in a classroom.
“In a classroom, you see and hear terms about different efforts, different processes that you do in the field,” Catt said, “Well, this the time we are going to get boots on the ground, have people hands-on experiencing. They are going to get the best experience they can without actually deploying.”