DLA Distribution San Joaquin hosts DLA Strategic Programs Integration Executive Director

Defense Logistics Agency Distribution San Joaquin, California, hosted a visit from Steven Kinskie, executive director, DLA Strategic Programs Integration, August 28.

Kinskie's visit to DLA San Joaquin was a brief departure from a weeklong visit to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Joining Kinskie during his trip to San Joaquin was Air Force Col. Patrick F. Carpizo, director, DLA Strategic Business Division.

During the visit, Marine Corps Col. Kevin Chunn, commander, DLA Distribution San Joaquin, provided Kinskie and Carpizo with a command brief and an overview of the partnership between DLA San Joaquin and the Naval Postgraduate School.

Chunn highlighted the previous and current ongoing collaborations between the two organizations, during which DLA San Joaquin provides real-world scenarios for the school's capstone projects. The team-based project, a requirement for graduation, is an ongoing effort that requires original, analytical and critical thinking which helps teach the students to assess problems and develop strategies to form potential resolutions. NPS capstone projects based on DLA San Joaquin scenarios focused on the installation's inventories of suspended and dormant stock, as well as the disposal of certain consumable products.

Chunn then led the visitors on a tour through the installation's F-35 North American Regional Warehouse, where they witnessed distribution process workers tasked with receiving, storing, packing, and shipping the parts and equipment required to keep the F-35 Lightning II fighter jets mission-ready for America's Armed Forces. Discussion during the F-35 tour touched upon the mission's current capabilities, recent improvements made to accommodate changing requirements including temperature-controlled storage areas, and the unique hurdles the team must often overcome when receiving the materiel, storing it, and then getting it into the hands of the warfighters who need it.

The visitors then toured the Unitized Group Rations warehouse, which, like the F-35 warehouse, is unique to the installation. San Joaquin's UGR mission is the lone facility responsible for kitting together the meals that feed up to 50 deployed warfighters each. Discussion during the UGR tour again focused on current capabilities and ongoing improvements to adapt to mission changes, as well as unknown future setbacks that might arise during the rollout of the new Warehouse Management System software in the coming months.

Upon completion of the tour, Kinskie, a Senior Executive Service member whose responsibilities include development and oversight to align DLA capabilities to future warfighting requirements, returned to Monterey to continue his visit at the Naval Postgraduate School.