McALESTER, Okla. -- Serving as an ordnance basic branch officer for his nearly four-decade Army career, Lt. Gen. Stephen R. Lyons, Director for Logistics, Joint Staff (J4), made his first ever visit to McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, here, Nov. 7.
Lyons spent half the day at the plant, located in southeast Oklahoma, where he learned about the load, assembly and pack of large munitions for the Joint Force.
In his position, the general is responsible for integrating logistics planning and execution in support of global operations and assists the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in carrying out responsibilities as the principal military advisor to the President and Secretary of Defense.
"McAlester plays a big role in the ammunition enterprise," said Lyons on his arrival. "My interest is to try to understand and learn about what you see as your challenges, as part of the broader ammunition enterprise."
During a working lunch at the historic C-Tree Schoolhouse, Lyons received an executive overview of the plant's capabilities, and how it supports sustainment and readiness for the Joint Force.
It covered MCAAP's core competencies, which are the production/renovation, distribution, and storage/surveillance of munitions, as well as the demilitarization of obsolete and unserviceable rounds.
The briefing also touched on a fifth and unofficial core competency -- mobile rail maintenance -- which MCAAP has been providing for the Department of Defense since 1994. Its teams have traveled as far away as South Korea to keep rail lines operational for the movement of heavy equipment and munitions.
"[MCAAP] is a strategic asset, no doubt about it...our ability to project power is inextricably linked to the organic industrial base and commercial industry," said Lyons following the overview.
His tour of the plant began with a drive through the outload pad. Lyons was also able to observe the load, assembly and pack of general purpose bombs, demilitarization of 155 mm artillery rounds, production of the M1122 artillery training round, and the renovation of Stinger missiles. It concluded with stops at the X-ray facility and the chemical laboratory.
"This visit was very helpful, as you look at our Joint Logistics Enterprise it's important to understand our capabilities in terms of capacity, and readiness" Lyons said at the end of the visit.
"MCAAP plays a key role in the joint munitions enterprise and our ability to project military power. You really get the sense that the team here understands that and has done good work to secure our warfighting capability."
"I really enjoyed meeting all the people here," he added. "They form the critical backbone of MCAAP. Their spirit, commitment to mission, and hard work really shined today."
Col. Joseph D. Blanding, commander, appreciated the chance to showcase the work done at MCAAP.
"Today was a great opportunity to show General Lyons what our civilian workforce does as part of the organic industrial base to support the readiness of the Joint Force," said Blanding. "He was very impressed with the hard work, dedication and patriotism of our workforce."
MCAAP is one of 17 installations of the Joint Munitions Command and one of 23 organic industrial base facilities under the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
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