TRACY, Calif. –
Ever since its beginnings in 1942 as a part of the Army’s Quartermaster system, what is known today as Defense Logistics Agency Distribution San Joaquin has had a countless number of employees make up the workforce over more than eight decades. As a major employer in the local area, it’s no surprise that many who have sought employment at DLA San Joaquin were influenced to apply by a family member who already worked here.
During the DLA Director’s Global Town Hall Oct. 1, which coincided with the agency’s 63rd birthday, DLA Vice Director Brad Bunn commented that he considered some of the best recruiters for potential DLA candidates to be current agency employees, which sometimes results in multiple members of the same family working throughout DLA’s major subordinate commands.
“You go to a lot of our MSCs, there are generations who have worked for DLA,” Bunn said. “And that, to me, is wonderful.”
Mary Martinez, support analyst, started at DLA San Joaquin in June 1965 when she applied for the new summer hire program at the recommendation of her high school counselor.
“I was the first summer hire when they started the program,” Martinez said. “Now I’m coming up on 59 years here.”
During her nearly six decades of employment at the installation, Martinez has recommended DLA San Joaquin to various people she felt would be a good fit, including some members of her own family.
“I told my son to put in for a job here and he did,” Martinez explained. “He’s an Air Force veteran and he knows what it’s like to support the men and women of the armed services.”
Her son, Robert Martinez, Jr., is a distribution process worker at DLA San Joaquin, and his son, Robert Martinez III, is a transportation assistant.
Martinez recalled telling her grandson upon his hiring at DLA San Joaquin, “Your dad takes great pride in working here. Don’t embarrass him.”
John Clawson, supply system analyst, DLA San Joaquin distribution expeditionary team, was also encouraged in his career path by his father, also named John Clawson. The elder Clawson retired a decade ago as a bin packing supervisor after a 30-year career here.
The younger Clawson, wanting to avoid any perception of nepotism, instead applied at the Army & Air Force Exchange Service West Coast Distribution Center at Sharpe Army Depot in nearby Lathrop. Clawson later moved to a higher-paying position at DLA San Joaquin, but only after his father had retired.
“I made sure my dad was gone before I came over here,” Clawson explained of his attempt to avoid any professional connections to his father. “But people here still ask me about him. They still remember him. I can’t avoid it.” A candid photo of Clawson’s father at work from 2003 still hangs in a hallway of the installation command building.
Still, Clawson does not regret his decision to follow behind his father, albeit at a purposeful distance. “I don’t see myself leaving here in the foreseeable future,” he said.
Dustin Fritangela, bulk division warehouse supervisor, is a third-generation employee of DLA San Joaquin, along with his sister, Sheena Fritangela, executive assistant, DLA San Joaquin Installation Management. Their grandmother, Lenora Bigelow, worked at the installation for a few years in the 1970s, and their father, Tim Fritangela, retired as a motor pool supervisor a couple of years ago after about 20 years here.
“I got out of the Army and my father told me to apply at DLA, so I did,” Fritangela said.
While making a career out of supporting the warfighter has worked well for some families, Fritangela stresses that a career at DLA San Joaquin isn’t necessarily for everyone, regardless of any familial connections to the installation. Some people, he said, just need to forge their own path.
“Imagine if Luke Skywalker decided to work alongside his dad,” Fritangela joked. “I think there would have been some early disturbance in the Force.”
Fritangela’s reference is to Mark Hamill, famed actor of stage and screen, whose father, Navy Capt. William T. Hamill, was the director of planning and management at DLA San Joaquin at the time of his retirement in 1971 after a 24-year Navy career. Had the younger Hamill chosen to follow in his father’s footsteps and apply for a job here, the “Star Wars” casting directors would likely have needed a different actor to embody the future Jedi Knight.
While it’s possible Mark Hamill could have potentially made a career out of operating a forklift instead of a lightsaber, Martinez agrees that it takes a certain kind of person to be successful at DLA San Joaquin, and that family ties aren’t as important as individual character.
“If you have other goals, if you have something else you would rather be doing, then I wouldn’t recommend this place,” she said. “And if you don’t have the right work ethic, you definitely don’t need to be here.”