Senior Army non-commissioned officers tour depot operations

By Ms. Lori K Mcdonald (AMC)July 29, 2010

Senior Army non-commissioned officers tour depot operations
Ms. Susan Getty explains to Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Schultz, far left and Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger the assembly process of the 800K Fuel System Supply Point (FSSP) as Mr. Donald Olson looks on. Getty stated the FSSP is capable of receivi... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Two senior Army non-commissioned officers walked through Depot operations on July 20, and saw firsthand what Sierra Army Depot is doing to support the warfighter.

Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger, Army Materiel Command CSM, and Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Schultz, US Army Reserve CSM received the standard command overview from Lt. Col. Joseph Dalessio, SIAD Commander followed by a tour of depot operations.

CSM Mellinger was very interested in the safety program at the Depot and the new safety features SIAD has implemented, in particular the new safety stop light. During the first stop on the tour through the equipment reutilization operation (AJ1), CSM Mellinger and CSM Schultz acquired a better understanding about the safety board and the fact that using a visual aid that most people see on a daily basis and can readily identify help reduce accidents or "near misses."

Walking through the AJ1 area, Mr. Jason, Tong, explained when the depot first began receiving materiel back from Southwest Asia and then redistributing them to units, the Depot had a very high denial rate on shipped items. The Depot has since refined the procedures for receiving material and a 100 percent inventory if conducted prior to placing the items in storage. The denial rate on shipped items is not less than 1 percent.

Mr. Donald Olson, deputy to the commander, talked about how SIAD has more experience than any other organization in the Army or DLA with building and expanding the nation's only capability to receive excess "dirty" stock and manage that stock in order to realize some positive value for the Army. Olson went on to say the Depot currently operates the largest Army Standard Army Retail Supply System (SARSS) operation in the world performing redistribution operations to support all DoD Services.

The next area toured was the Organizational Clothing and Individual Equipment area. This was of particular interest to CSM Schultz. CSM Schultz learned the Depot currently has a reserve component mission that includes pulling, packing and shipping orders that are shipped directly to the Soldier in reserve units. Schultz was impressed the Depot has the capability to conduct this mission to the level they are currently performing.

The next part of the journey took the group through the Non Standard-Equpiment operation. The group walked through the warehouse where containers, tri-walls, boxes or pallets will be received and processed and the materiel brought to record or accountability and visibility to all interested parties. CSM Mellinger departed the NS-E area confident the Depot is ready to begin receiving large amount of containers once they begin leaving theater.

The group traveled out to the End of the First Life Cycle Center where Mr. Michael Winters explained the reclamation and parts pulling of assets on the wheeled vehicles that are currently stored on Depot.

The tour concluded by walking through the Water and Fuel Assembly warehouses along with the Water System Reset Operations.

Upon completion of the day long tour, CSM Mellinger and CSM Schultz thanked Lt. Col. Dalessio and his staff for their generous hospitality and having the opportunity to come to Sierra Army Depot and get a firsthand look at all the great things the employees here are accomplishing.