Battle Creek summit strengthens personnel bonds

Defense Logistics Agency property disposal sites are spread widely across the globe, and face-to-face conversations can be a rarity for those in the niche military reverse logistics community. The annual leadership summit in Battle Creek, Michigan, gives far-flung colleagues a fleeting chance to put faces to names and consider systemic challenges as a group.

Supervisory Property Specialist Alan George oversees the Anniston property disposal site in Alabama and attended the Oct. 21-25 summit for the first time this year. He said the week allowed him to "put faces to names that I've known over the past 17 years," and the various presentations detailing the organization's direction were particularly insightful, as were the side sessions.

"The breakout groups … give you the opportunity to talk to all the major departments that you'll have to deal with as a supervisor," George said. "This is a great opportunity to sit down, face to face, and ask questions."

Another first-year attendee, Wesley Brewster, serves as area manager for the three DLA Disposition Services sites in mainland Japan. He said he learned a lot from presentations on the "new innovations, technologies, and systems that will make our support to the warfighter even better."

When asked, he said his primary takeaway from the summit just happened to be a phrase DLA Disposition Services Director Mike Cannon repeatedly drilled into attendees during the course of the week.

"Do the job right, every time," Brewster said.

Beth Ford directs DOD's property disposal efforts across installations in the Northeast and has attended the summits for over a decade. She said the opportunity to sit down with people and have in-person conversation and debate is invaluable.

"We get a lot resolved that way," she said.

Ford expressed enthusiasm for the recently announced organizational goal of increasing military reutilization that Cannon articulated to attendees at the start of the summit.

"I'm all about [reutilization], that's why DLA Disposition Services was created," she said, lauding the closer focus on supporting warfighter readiness.

"We're getting back to our roots, and I'm excited about that."

Fellow region director Faron Cordrey oversees agency disposition efforts across the vast Indo-Pacific region and has made the epic commute from Hawaii to Battle Creek for the past decade to take part in the summit. He cited this year's "honest dialogue" that addressed policies and strategic intent as his personal takeaways from the visit.

"I think we 'made a lot of money' this week," Cordrey said. "It's great to come up here, meet your peers, meet folks, put faces with names … it's great to come up here, see the [headquarters] staff, and see how they support us in the field."