REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala.-- Col. John Kuenzli assumed command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command's Logistics Support Activity from Col. Scott Lofreddo during a ceremony hosted by AMC Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Ed Daly, Thursday.
Lofreddo took command of LOGSA in June 2015 after serving as the executive officer for the AMC deputy commanding general. Lofreddo was hand-selected by AMC leadership to return this summer as the AMC assistant deputy chief of staff.
"Colonel Lofreddo is a brilliant officer, leader, coach and mentor to all," Daly said in his speech. "I will tell you, he continues to build on success and take it to new levels."
Lofreddo's Army career started in 1984, when he enlisted as a military policeman, went on to earn an active-duty commission from the University of South Florida and deployed to Operations Desert Storm/Shield as an Infantry officer. Lofreddo later volunteered to switch to the Transportation Corps, where he hit his stride in the logistics field.
"In his year of command, Colonel Lofreddo never faltered. LOGSA continued to be the heartbeat of the Army Materiel enterprise, improving Army readiness through the integration of data and information management and readiness enablers in support of global unified land operations," Daly said.
Lofreddo would not take full credit for these accomplishments, recalling the advice his grandfather, a U.S. Navy petty officer during World War II, gave him as a brand-new second lieutenant.
"He said, 'Take care of your men, and they'll take care of you.'" Lofreddo took that advice to heart, and as a result, said he could not be more in awe of the work LOGSA civilians, military and contractors do every day.
"They are the experts in the field, professionals who have that work ethic and who get the job done. If we lose that expertise, we lose it for a generation; we've lost that functionality. There's a gap we can't recover from. I truly believe in our workforce and in their continuity," Lofreddo said.
Those sentiments could have come right from Kuenzli's playbook. As a former Ordnance officer, and branch detailed Infantry Officer, he commanded AMC's 402nd Army Field Support Brigade in Kuwait and simultaneously commanded the 401st AFSB in Afghanistan for a few months. About 64,000 Soldiers, civilians and contractors fell under him at that time.
"It was hard work, but a fabulous experience. The people I got to work with brought so much to the table, and I learned so much from so many of them," Kuenzli said.
Referred by Daly as a "team player," Kuenzli has nine operational deployments in 20 years under his belt, beginning with his first deployment to Cuba for humanitarian support; Bosnia for Operation Joint Endeavor; Israel; Saudi Arabia; Kuwait and multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to Daly, Kuenzli's combination of years of experience and observing operations in-person has provided Kuenzli a clear understanding of the inner workings of AMC and its subordinate commands.
"LOGSA can really show people at multiple levels what they can do to take care of their own readiness, what they can do better with working with the [Life Cycle Management Commands] and by showing the installation commanders what they need to do build readiness and save money and resources -- overall stewardship," Kuenzli said.
Daly said it's insight like that that made Kuenzli a great match for the LOGSA team.
"It's not a cliché. He is unequivocally the right leader, at the right time, to take command. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Colonel Kuenzli is absolutely outstanding at whatever he does. With his pedigree and experience, I assure you, you're in great hands," Daly said.
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