RICHMOND, Va. –
As Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support unites the agency’s supply operations in Richmond and Columbus under a single command, leaders are focused on a clear mission: revolutionizing support for the warfighter while safeguarding the well-being of its workforce and celebrating the unique strengths of its teams.
The strategic direction for the coming year was a key focus of the fiscal year 2026 Annual Operating Plan overview led by Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Launey, DLA Weapons Support (Richmond) commander, Oct. 9 at Defense Supply Center Richmond.
During the overview, Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly, DLA director, and Army Command Sgt. Maj. Petra Casarez, DLA senior enlisted leader, addressed directors, branch chiefs and other key personnel in both Richmond and Columbus, emphasizing the purpose behind the restructuring.
“We believe that in this process of having a single major subordinate command focused upon weapons support, we’re going to improve our support to the services,” Simerly said. “That’s the only purpose.”
Recognizing the challenges associated with such a major change, Simerly said it’s understandable that personnel may be concerned about impacts to their specific areas and jobs.
“A very important consideration is our ability to deliver our mission to the warfighters,” he said. “Nobody wants us to do something that’s going to cause us to take a step back. Nobody wants to break something that’s working.”
He assured employees that leadership is committed to both mission support and employee well-being, saying, “We owe our workforce a vision that demonstrates we’re focused on improving mission support while taking care of the team.”
Simerly emphasized the importance of maintaining strong relationships with the warfighters and a deep understanding of their weapon systems.
“We need to maintain our relationships with the warfighters, the understanding of weapon systems, and the specific challenges within each program and service,” he said. “We can’t afford to turn into generic management of Class IX. We must meet the services on their terms, on their terrain, in their language, to enable our planning and overall support.”
Technology is seen as a key enabler for success in this transformation, with Simerly noting the agency previously “didn’t have the improved means to plan, monitor and optimize performance across the board – collaborative ways to share data between us and the services.” He praised DLA Weapons Support as “a furnace of innovation” in this area.
Simerly outlined three key elements for successful transformation: culture, performance, and change.
“I’ll start with culture: focus on our people,” he said. “That’s how we get things done, with our great workforce.” He lauded the team’s “deep passion to serve our nation” and “culture of excellence,” emphasizing the need to maintain these values throughout the transformation.
Simerly said that performance will be measured by “what we produce for the warfighters,” with the goal of improved readiness, but also noted that within transformation, “culture always precedes performance.”
“If we don’t take care of our people, we don’t furnish them with the skills and the tools and the environment that allows them to succeed, we’re not going to be able to perform,” he said. “And, because of that, it’s ‘who’ first, and then ‘what.’ Let’s focus on the people who are going to be doing the work. And then once we do that, we set conditions so much of the work is going to take care of itself, because we got people with the right judgment and the right skill sets to be successful.”
Finally, Simerly emphasized the importance of change management expertise.
“Every one of you also has to have a change management expertise as leaders within this team,” he said. “Understanding what it takes to lead a team through change, providing them the vision and the way ahead, seeking buy-in and support and collaboration, and at the end of the day, delivering results to benefit the organization and benefit those who they support.”
During the two-hour overview, Chris Collins, director of operations for DLA Weapons Support (Richmond), highlighted the organization’s success from the fiscal year 2025 AOP, noting the team adapted their weekly governance boards to align with the DLA’s transformation imperatives – People, Precision, Posture and Partnerships – helping to make the plan part of the culture at the then-named DLA Aviation. This led to the team being on track to complete 84% of their pre-defined goals:
- People: 12 of 15 objectives on track to completion. Collins highlighted the increased data acumen by the employees, attributing to the focus on the new Data Awareness training within the organization.
- Precision: 18 of 21 objectives on track to completion. Supplier Operations reduced delinquencies by 26% in fiscal year 2025, despite some problematic contracts.
- Posture: 10 of 11 objectives on track to completion. Efforts within this imperative included synchronizing Class IX strategy across Aviation, Land and Maritime, and headquarters, setting the organization up for success for the establishment of the Weapons Support major subordinate command.
- Partnerships: three of four objectives on track to completion. Collins noted the biggest accomplishment was the expansion of organic manufacturing between the agency and the military services.
Collins also briefly discussed the fiscal year 2026 AOP, noting most of the plan was already briefed in September by Weapons Support leaders in Columbus. Those organization objectives include:
- Achieve full operational capability of Class IX major subordinate command.
- Implement Class IX Resilience Efforts and Mitigating Actions.
- Improve planned support accuracy to the services.
- Reduce contract delinquencies by 20%.
- Exercise operational capabilities and processes.
After wrapping up the discussion on the annual operating plan, Launey highlighted the organization’s needs, noting the critical importance of clearly defined priorities and open communication channels between DLA Weapons Support, DLA HQ, and the services themselves. He stressed that these priorities must also be transparent within the War Department. He further emphasized that if resources don’t align with requirements, increased communication is key.
“If they do not align with the requirement, if you will, we’re going to have to work that prioritization piece with the right levels of communication and articulating what we’re asking,” he said. “You have to prioritize something that is where you have to intensify your communication. You have to intensify that relationship that you’ve invested that time in, really intensify that risk articulation.”
To that end, DLA Weapons Support plans to come to DLA Headquarters with data and forecasting to back up their requests, which will aid the command building trust and confidence with headquarters staff, Launey said.
“If we have a level of accuracy, and we have a level of reliability,” he said. “You build that trust and confidence, and you can build that reputation to where, hey, we’re coming in with this, they’ve seen what has been done previously, and that may turn the corner on that from a resourcing standpoint.”
Launey also stressed the strategic role of DLA in working with the services early in the planning stages to refine their needs. “Being in the room, when it’s in concept, or when it’s just an idea, have DLA be able to de-risk those situations,” he said, highlighting DLA’s unique position within the logistics enterprise.
Finally, the importance of investing in the workforce was highlighted. Launey referred to personnel as the “most precious resource.” He indicated a need for more flexibility with hiring and for “consistent investments that we’re providing to our workforce: the training, the development and giving them other opportunities, too.” He also touched upon the importance of investing in the IT systems and decision support tools to allow for more efficient decision-making.
Looking ahead, Simerly acknowledged to attendees that integration is an ongoing process, noting, “We’ve set conditions for that performance as a unified command, but we don’t expect that everything will be done, that everything will be completed by (Oct. 1).”
He reiterated the commitment to improved performance and emphasized the importance of retaining the unique characteristics of both Richmond and Columbus.
“We want to maintain the value of the character we develop very carefully over the years not presuppose that we’re going to have a single culture or a single character, especially as we embark on this journey,” he said.
Simerly concluded by emphasizing loyalty to the warfighter and the importance of valuing every team member.
“I really think about this in terms of loyalty. So, who are we loyal to and who are focused on as we go through this change? It’s the warfighters, right? That’s who our loyalty resides with.”
He stressed the need to communicate to the teams “that we value every single one of you, where you are, the way you are, and we’re focused on improving overall performance to our warfighters.”