PHILADELPHIA –
Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support’s senior leadership gathered to honor three civilian retirees in a joint ceremony July28. With a total of 89 years of combined service, the retirees all left a permanent mark on DLA Troop Support’s workforce through their dedication to the warfighter, the officiant said.
Army Brig. Gen. Sean P. Kelly, DLA Troop Support commander, led the ceremony, marking the careers of Liz Settles, retiring from Business Process Support Technical Quality Division chief with 43 years of service, Paul DiMarco, retiring from Subsistence as a Quality Assurance specialist with 26 years of service, and Dean Schoendorfer, who is retiring from Clothing and Textiles as the Integrated Supply Team chief after 20 years of service.
Kelly addressed the individual contributions each retiree made to the DLA Troop Support mission.
“I am absolutely honored to be here with you all to celebrate unwavering commitment, selfless service and the legacy of three of our great Troop Support teammates,” Kelly said.
Kelly also took the opportunity to thank the families in attendance for the sacrifices they made throughout the retirees’ careers.
“I am sure there are more than one instance of (temporary duty) trips,” Kelly said, “deployments, powering through last-minute meetings, maybe missing some important family or school events, all to ensure our service members had what they needed to complete their mission.”
Kelly explained that these sacrifices made by the respective family of each retiree helped warfighter posture.
“Please know that your support to our retirees throughout their career enabled them to deliver first class support to our warfighters around the world,” Kelly said.
Kelly recognized the retirees and presented them each with the DLA Meritorious Civilian Service Award, certificates of appreciation and letters of commendation recognizing their decades of service to our nation.
Settles was praised by her supervisors for making a lasting impact on technical and quality assurance programs. As an instructor at the DLA Training Center, her supervisors said that Settles maintained the “DLA quality workforce,” according to her award citation. Settles spoke about her career transitions and the friendships she developed along the way.
“I'm going to miss all of you,” Settles said. “It's been many years starting from the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia. I can see some of you are still here from many years ago. I just want to thank you all for your consistency, your friendship, your understanding and your diligence. I really appreciate working with every one of you, thank you.”
DiMarco, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, was praised by his supervisor for his “unwavering commitment to the nation's defense.” He expressed his appreciation for the strong sense of support he felt from his teammates throughout his career and how he will miss them.
“It is with a tremendous amount of gratitude that I'm here today,” DiMarco said. “I would not be here if not for all my colleagues, who have made (working at Troop Support) an absolute joy. They supported me as much as possible. They were truly an inspiration. I'm going to be sad not to see their faces every morning.”
Schoendorfer, who also served in the Marine Corps, was lauded by his supervisors for his leadership and dedication to his team by “creating more efficient processes and support of our troops.” Schoendorfer expressed his appreciation of leadership’s attendance and his confidence in the future generations of the Troop Support workforce.
“I just want to thank General Kelly, Mr. Mosher, Mr. Kenny and Subsistence leadership for attending today,” Schoendorfer said. “I am confident we have a lot of superstars out there and they’ll continue with excellent missions for the warfighter.”