WASHINGTON -- LTG Darrell K. Williams, Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, will be the recipient of the 202O LTG Arthur J. Gregg Sustainment Leadership Award.
Williams is the fifth leader to receive the honor, given annually to a person who makes significant and measurable contributions to Army logistics operations. The award will be presented in August during Williams’ retirement ceremony from the Army.
Williams has been on the frontlines of the Coronavirus relief effort. His agency quickly secured $817 million in test components, ventilators, masks, gloves, and other medical supplies; provided $630 million in support to FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services; and equipped the USS Comfort and Mercy with medical supplies, food, fuel, and repair parts.
In 2017, when Williams began his three-year tour at DLA, he was on the frontlines of another major relief effort –- the response to hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria that hit the United States and Puerto Rico. His agency provided personnel, fuel, food, water, generators, and other supplies.
Under Williams’ leadership, DLA became the single provider for all medical logistics and supplies for the Department of Veteran Affairs, lowering costs by a billion dollars.
Williams enhanced support to combatant commanders by constructing a state-of-the-art Agency Synchronization Operations Center, maintaining constant watch on the global supply chains. He also improved DLA’s partnership with industry through planning summits and industry days that allowed the agency to anticipate service requirements and improve readiness.
During his 37-year Army career, he served in several command and staff positions in the continental United States, Korea, Germany, and Hawaii. He deployed to Kosovo, Kuwait, and Iraq. Key assignments included Commanding General, Combined Arms Support Command; Commanding General, 1st Theater Sustainment Command; Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Materiel Command; Director of Logistics, Engineering and Security Assistance, J-4, Headquarters, United States Pacific Command; Executive Officer to the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4; Commander, 3rd Sustainment Brigade (Iraq); and Deputy C-4, Third Army/United States Army Central/Coalition Forces Land Component Command (Kuwait).
LTG Williams often serves as a mentor to young people, offering advice, encouragement, and inspiration. In May 2019, he delivered the commencement address at his alma mater, Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. He also speaks to ROTC groups and other military-related organizations, including the Association of the United States Army and the Military Children Education Coalition.
The Gregg Award was established in 2016, when its namesake, LTG (R) Arthur Gregg, a decorated Army logistician, received the inaugural award. Gregg distinguished himself as a supply sergeant whose career traversed the socially turbulent 1950s and 1960s, the Vietnam War, and culminated as the Army's deputy chief of staff for logistics.
Gregg retired in 1981, two years before Williams entered the Army, but is still an active mentor to Army logistics officers.
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