RICHMOND, Va. –
For the first time in roughly three years, senior leadership at Defense Logistics Agency Aviation at Cherry Point were able to gather employees together for an in-person town hall. This year’s event took place in the theater on Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, May 10.
Officer-in-charge Navy Cmdr. David Odom said the town hall afforded employees the opportunity to enjoy fellowship with their teammates after enduring the challenges that presented themselves during the pandemic. He said it was also a way for the Cherry Point leadership team to engage the employees in a more meaningful way.
“Ultimately, it’s a great opportunity to appreciate how far we’ve come as a team, recognize and incorporate feedback from our employees, and re-invigorate our focus on maximizing support to the warfighter,” Odom said.
Odom said the event was a chance to highlight some of the on-going initiatives and future focus areas such as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy supply chain resiliency efforts, which include establishing a comprehensive strategy for supply chain mitigating risk, ensuring the Pentagon has visibility and understanding of supply chain vulnerabilities, reducing reliance on adversaries such as China and Russia, and forming partnerships with industry, academia and other entities; trends in work order effectiveness and other performance-based agreement metrics; local stock number to national stock number conversion, and the wholesale direct delivery pilot program at Cherry Point.
The pilot program is one of the NIAC initiatives where un-forecasted material demands with stock at our local wholesale warehouse can be issued directly to Fleet Readiness Center East without having to first be transferred to the retail warehouse prior to issue.
Odom also gave the workforce a heads up on some new platforms which will be supported by FRC East in the coming years to include the Air Force MH-139A Grey Wolf and HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters and the KC-130J/T Hercules transport airplane.
Odom presented the Defense Meritorious Service Medal to outgoing Operations Officer Marine Corps Maj. Barry Loseke as his end of tour award during the town hall.
“I feel that direct and intentional interaction is foundational to any collaborative environment and gets to the heart of presence with a purpose,” said Odom.