BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Anniston is home to a bevy of operations from your typical turn-ins to demilitarization of small arms.
Patrick Leverette is the area manager overseeing Anniston and has spent the last 10 years as part of DLA. This agency experience helped Leverette fully understand the site’s importance and role within the disposition process.
“We are a centralized facility that focuses solely on the demilitarization of excess and/or unserviceable Department of Defense material,” said Leverett. “We are the last stop in the food chain for sensitive and controlled property ensuring that it does not get released to the public or our adversaries in a useable condition nor having the possibility of being refurbished.”
Anniston services Anniston Army Depot, Warner Robins Air Force Base, DLA Susquehanna, DLA Columbus and Marine Corps Base Albany and is the only site across the entire agency with small arms weapons processing capabilities.
The Anniston field site is home to one of only three Centralized DEMIL Divisions in DLA. The scope of work is split amongst the Anniston yard and the Odenville site which is roughly 30 miles west.
“With the support of our DEMIL contractors, we have the capability to DEMIL anything in the DOD inventory from the smallest of items all the way up to armored combat vehicles,” Leverette said. “From the receivers in the warehouse to the certifiers and verifiers overseeing the DEMIL process, the team must be thinking about the most effective and efficient way to remove any offensive or defensive capabilities of the items while also ensuring there is a safe way to do so.”
During FY22, the Anniston field site processed 16 million lbs. of DEMIL – the equivalent weight of more than 21 Boeing 747’s. The Odenville site saw even more weight pass through during FY22 as nearly 22 million lbs. of DEMIL were processed – equaling roughly the weight of 55 blue whales.
“Odenville is where the physical DEMIL occurs, said Anniston Operations Supervisor Blake Singleton. “Everything that gets destroyed comes here [to Odenville]. The main site at Anniston houses the field site and the actual CDD where property is received and stored until it is ready to come to Odenville for physical DEMIL.”
The site is not only busy with processing incoming property as Anniston is also undergoing major site improvements throughout.
“Anniston recently completed a $3.5 million dollar renovation project in the weapons facility,” said Becky Watson the director of South East Region. “These improvements are designed to provide health and safety upgrades to the facilities and increase efficiencies through design changes.”
The site recently played host to the South East Regional Leadership Summit where Watson was able to address not only Anniston employees but Disposition Services team members from around the region on various topics including the incoming Warehouse Management System and other modernization tools. Sharing best practices and leadership tips throughout the summit, Anniston looks to continue successful operations along with its South East counterparts as they move through 2023 and beyond.