FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
Two Defense Logistics Agency Navy reservists were named recipients of the 2022 Vice Admiral Robert F. Batchelder Award.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brent Cohen, Reserve Program director for DLA’s Joint Reserve Force, and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin F. Chen, executive officer for DLA Aviation’s Joint Reserve Force, are two of this year’s five recipients.
The award is presented by the Navy League to Supply Corps officers who have made significant contributions to the supply readiness of operating forces.
Chen is currently serving on active duty in Norfolk, Virginia, as the DLA Aviation liaison officer to Naval Aviation Atlantic’s Maintenance Operations Center for the F-5, C-130, CMV-22, C-40 and F-16 aircraft.
He earned the Batchelder award for his work between December 2021 and November 2022 as the JRF executive officer at DLA Aviation, where he oversaw the administrative and operational employment of reservists. He also and provided supply chain analysis in researching and processing backordered aviation parts.
During that time, he also led a special project with Navy Reserve Forces Command Finance and Accounting Department, and was a logistics operational planner in support of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa, U.S. Sixth Fleet Logistics Readiness Center and Maritime Operations Center, and a joint operations planner with U.S. European Command during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Lt. Cmdr. Chen has left a lasting impact on joint logistics both in the reserves and on active duty, and in the European theater of operations, evidenced with his part this past year during one of the most destabilizing geopolitical situations in Europe since World War II,” his nomination said.
Chen didn’t know he won the award until he started receiving phone messages while at a medical appointment.
“I hadn’t seen the email yet, and I was getting all these calls and messages from numbers I didn’t recognize asking me to call them back,” he said.
Cohen earned the award for work performed while assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3, where he served as the supply officer for a 560-sailor battalion from December 2021 to November 2022.
He was deployed to U.S. Indo-Pacific from January to July 2022 with the battalion, where he supported the medical department in maintaining readiness during a surge in COVID-19 cases by securing enough test kits to keep up with constantly changing demands.
He came to DLA in June 2023 and previously served as the operations officer and liaison officer to U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa for DLA Energy Europe and Africa.
Cohen said it’s an honor to receive the award, adding that he appreciated leaders from the NMCB 3 supply team for nominating him.
“There’s no way that I could have ever achieved any of this without their support,” he said.