AMCOM's legacy of warfighter support continues with transformation

By Kari HawkinsOctober 27, 2017

AMCOM Town Hall
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AMCOM Town Hall
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AMCOM Town Hall
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The only constant in life is change, and transformation to better meet Soldiers' needs was the focus of the Aviation and Missile Command's Town Hall as the command approaches its 20th anniversary.

"In the evolution of AMCOM, a lot of great things have happened," AMCOM commander Maj. Gen. Doug Gabram told a packed AMCOM Town Hall meeting Oct. 17 in the Sparkman Centers' Bob Jones Auditorium.

Twenty years ago this month, AMCOM transformed from a provisional command to a two-star command. In its history, transformative changes have included:

• The addition of the Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas, and Letterkenny Army Depot, Pennsylvania, to AMCOM in 1998;

• The addition of the Aviation Command Logistics Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, to AMCOM in 2003;

• The formation of the AMCOM Life Cycle Management Command with the Program Executive Office for Aviation and the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space in 2005; and

• The 2016 order from the Army Materiel Command that operationally realigned the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, and the Army Contracting Command-Redstone to AMCOM.

While past organizational changes dealt with elements being merged or separated from the AMCOM core mission, the 2017 transformation focuses on internal realignments to make the Command more efficient, responsive and adaptable to the needs of the warfighter.

As part of AMCOM's continuing legacy in support of the sustainment and maintenance of the Army's aviation and missile systems, Gabram shared with employees the AMCOM Campaign Plan, which includes four lines of effort. The main effort is Sustainable/Materiel Readiness with the other three efforts being Future Army, Human Dimension and Resource Management. The efforts support AMC priorities of Strategic Readiness, Future Force, and Soldiers and People.

"We are implementing and measuring output as it relates to these lines of effort," Gabram said. "We've realigned some missions and controls, and we've moved some employees into different organizations. We've made some big improvements that have increased our supply availability. We're not there yet, but we have a foothold and some momentum in a very tough environment."

During a recent update to the Army Materiel Command, Gabram highlighted AMCOM's resource strategy. "I had talked about where the money is going and why. This campaign plan makes us much more organized to see ourselves and have an action plan moving forward," Gabram said.

The campaign plan will further support AMCOM efforts as it focuses on the operational side of the organization, he said.

"We now know our supply availability for aviation is at about 80 percent, much higher than the 60 percent of a few months ago," Gabram said. "We now know what parts are delaying us and we can address what is going on. We can start tackling some of these supply availability issues."

As part of a hot-topic update during the town hall, AMCOM Deputy to the Commander, Bill Marriott addressed the federal government's continuing resolution, saying there is a need for "consistent and predictable funding."

"We've been working under continuing resolutions off and on for nine years. That means no new starts and operating under the previous year's budget until the budget is finally passed," Marriott said.

"The good news, though, is we have been given 80 percent of our Working Capital Fund contracting authority up front this year, and with that comes the responsibility to manage those funds appropriately."

Marriott also said work is being done to increase employee recognitions (there has been a 41 percent increase in honorary awards since fiscal 2016), and to better communicate with the workforce. He reiterated that supervisors play a vital role in our communication efforts, and highlighted AMCOM Flight, the Redstone Rocket and the soon to be debuted video messaging system being installed at the Sparkman Center as additional information venues.

"What this command does is absolutely incredible and we need to communicate that," Marriott said. "It's touching resiliency. It's touching support for our Soldiers. We will continue to be the best we can be and, through our reorganization, we will address Army priorities."

During the town hall, Gabram presented a Commander's Award for Civilian Service to Jody Miller of the Aviation Logistics Center. The award recognizes Miller's work as a logistics management specialist between October 2013 and July 2017 in support for the MI-17 legacy aircraft overhauls and heavy repairs, which enhanced aviation readiness and significantly impacted combat operations.

Gabram also presented an Army Achievement Award for Civilian Service to Capt. Austin Cheng of the JAG Office and Capt. Quinton Watkins, commander of AMCOM Headquarters and Headquarters Co., for their participation on the Redstone Arsenal Ten Miler Team that placed first in the All Comers and Government divisions of the Army Ten Miler in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8. They assisted in continuing a legacy of winning for the Redstone Arsenal Ten Miler Team that goes back 11 years.

The following employees were recognized at the town hall with length of service awards: 35 years - Ruben Burgos, Ricky Hatcher and James Ella Troupe, all of the Aviation Logistics Center; and 30 years - Imtiaz "Art" Ather of Demilitarization; Wilbert Brownlow and Paul Williams, both of AMCOM G-8 (Human Resources); and Pamela Holmes, of the AMCOM Logistics Center.

In addition, the following AMCOM employees were recognized with two-star notes for their participation in staff assistance visits to Corpus Christi Army Depot and Letterkenny Army Depot: Alfreda Alexander, John Evans, Josette Paschal, Paul Quintel, G-3/5; Dannielle Hill, Wesley Slone, Bill Steely, Daniel Stewart and Beth Waldrep, G-6; Teri Jo Kannus-Hanilton and Demetrius McKinney, ALC; Sandra Lyles-Jackson, Eva Mears and Candice Smith, G-4; and Lamar Sterns, G-2.

The following CCAD employees were recognized with two-star notes for their work during the staff assistance visits: Sherry Barnes, Jesus Gomez, Juan Hernandez, Lyshaniz Ince, Vincent Jones, Ben Martin, Connie Salas, Jason Storm and Eric Wilke along with Max Jones of the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.

The following LEAD employees were recognized with two-star notes for their work during the staff assistance visits: Kelly Barnes, Cherie Brown, Milton Chisolm, Jim Coccagna, Amber Doyle, Greg Epstein, Matthew Fenicle, Kristy Grissom, Erin Kendle, Jeffery Matthews, Carla Miller, Neil Mumper, Andrew Newman, Michael Sullivan, Sarah Troll, Douglas Warnock, Jerod Weilacher, Timothy Wolfe, Scott Yeager and Anthony Zollo.

Commander's coins were also presented to AMCOM Logistic Center's Jeff Sears, Cary Labonte, Tim Mcleod and Glen Sexton, who led the Army Aviation Rapid Deployment Program in support of a future Army contingency operation. A coin was also presented to Rod Johnson for his production of safety of flight videos used by Soldiers.