FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
New resources chronicling the Defense Logistics Agency’s recent efforts and the life of its first director are available on the growing history page at DLA’s website.
The products include DLA’s fiscal 2021 historical report and the World War II memoir of Army Lt. Gen. Andrew McNamara. The annual history captures in one place stories and data on DLA’s worldwide operations, said DLA Historian Colin Williams, who compiled the document with help from agency-wide contributors.
“Our annual histories are meant to be the go-to source for answers to questions about the agency’s past,” he said. “Do you want to know when the Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office disestablished? Look in the 2021 annual historical report. Do you need to know what hurricanes and other weather events the agency responded to in fiscal 2020? Look in that year’s historical report.”
The latest report details everything from COVID-19 support to DLA’s designation as the Defense Department’s primary provider of printing services, office print devices and electronic conversation. It’s organized by major subordinate command and directorates, so readers can refer to the table of contents to pinpoint which part of the 256-page document contains information they’re interested in. The report is also cleared by DLA Intelligence and other offices to protect sensitive or classified information.
Williams said receiving permission from the U.S. Quartermaster Museum to also include McNamara’s World War II memoir on DLA’s history page gives employees and the public access to what he considers amazing stories.
“They are too good to be kept secret,” he said, adding that McNamara’s reputation was built on his service as quartermaster general for II Corps in North Africa and First Army in Europe.
Providing useful information is Williams’ goal whether that be through written annual histories, access to DLA charters and strategic plans, or news and feature stories that highlight significant topics.
“To me, that means including historically significant documents as well as sketches of agency and major subordinate command history,” he said. “By looking at the site now, you can see it’s developing into a document repository with old agency charters and strategic plans among other records.”