DLA director emphasizes people as integral to warfighter support

Defense Logistics Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly emphasized the crucial role of DLA Land and Maritime's personnel in fulfilling the agency's mission during a Town Hall Nov. 14 at the Operations Center on Defense Supply Center Columbus.

"Thank you for what you do every day to set conditions for success for our warfighters," Simerly said, highlighting the crucial role of the land and maritime supply chains in operational readiness across the services.

He praised DLA Land and Maritime for its extensive efforts in workforce investment, to include onboarding 300 Pathways to Career Excellence personnel and revitalizing its culture through initiatives spearheaded by the People Support and Culture Division.

Simerly touched on DLA Land and Maritime's success in exceeding annual small business goals, emphasizing that the defense industrial base gains greater depth and strength through supporting small businesses.

He also praised the teams behind robotic process automation innovations and the creation of 19 applications on DLA Land and Maritime's Qlik platform, noting that DLA Land and Maritime has always been a hub of innovation in the agency, a tradition he believes will continue due to its strong and enduring culture.

"It's this foundational culture that is driving toward excellence always," he said.

Simerly outlined his expectations for the workforce, which revolved around three tenets: trust, discipline and commitment.

Trust is the lifeblood of the collective DLA profession, with discipline as its foundation and commitment essential to team success and excellence, he said.

He stressed the importance of keeping these expectations in mind daily, as these individual behaviors directly affect how the agency serves the warfighter in its mission as the nation's logistics combat support agency.

Changing gears, Simerly gave more insight on the transformative changes found inside the 2025-2030 DLA Strategic Plan, "DLA Transforms: A Call to Action," prompted by DLA's need to transform alongside the warfighters it supports, to better serve their needs as the agency strives to remain competitive and responsive in multiple theaters of conflict.

The plan heavily revolves around operating in a contested logistics environment, Simerly said, as he outlined DLA's transformation over the next five years.

"The world is changing, the character of warfare is changing rapidly," he said, noting that DLA will be engaged at every level of war and domain.

"There is a deep cycle of transformation across the Department, and we need to be part of that," he said. "We can't afford to wait for the services to see how they are going to change; we have to get out in front of that change."

He stressed the necessity for everyone within DLA to adopt a sense of urgency that matches current and future challenges faced by the services.

"Along with that urgency, we need to have a sense of clarity," he said, noting that the DLA Strategic Plan is that blueprint of what DLA needs to do to get ready.

The way ahead revolves around four imperatives outlined in the plan: people, precision, posture and partnerships.

Under the people imperative, Simerly highlighted the importance of recruiting and retaining employees with the data acumen needed to tackle complex logistics challenges, as well as training the current workforce to achieve the same level of proficiency.

"All of us need to improve our data acumen as it is increasingly a part of daily life," he said.

He detailed a robust data acumen program to train every employee in areas like data literacy, critical thinking, and analytical and communication skills. The initial three training tracks launched in October via the Learning Management System (CAC-enabled).

"This is just the beginning," he said as he described the next level of instruction which will offer employees the opportunity to earn professional credentials, gain leadership skills and optimize capabilities through position specific upskilling.

Talking about the precision imperative, Simerly offered, "On that future battlefield, we can't afford to be imprecise. We must be able to procure the right things, at the right time, to put them in the right place, ensuring they are ready to benefit the warfighter."

He emphasized the need to have a precise understanding of how DLA's supply chains operate.

"We need to clearly depict [the supply chains] as they are now, describe their future state and determine how we can enable them with all of the resources and capacity we have in the agency to integrate them with the services, the combatant commands and others in the joint logistics enterprise," he said.

Simerly said the posture imperative refers to having the right people with the right skillsets and capabilities in the right place across DLA's global footprint, taking a global view and strategically positioning stocks where they are most effective.

He said that DLA cannot be precise or have the right posture without the fourth imperative - partnerships. Integrating with the services, strengthening the industrial base, and partnering with combatant commands, other agencies and allies globally is key to DLA's success, he explained.

He expressed his hope that every DLA Land and Maritime employee can see themselves in the strategic plan and use the document to drive actions within their individual teams to fuel the transformation the plan calls for.

A question-and-answer session followed Simerly's presentation. Questions were fielded by Simerly, Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Alvin Dyer, DLA Land and Maritime Commander Army Brig. Gen. Gail Atkins and Deputy Commander Kenneth Watson. Topics ranged from recruitment incentives and a more efficient onboarding process to data transformation and the implications of artificial intelligence on DLA functions.

Watch a replay of the Town Hall here: DLA Media - DVR (disa.mil) (CAC-enabled).