JMC employee receives Dellamonica Award for outstanding contributions to the U.S. Army

By Hayley SmithSeptember 27, 2021

Brig. Gen. Gavin Gardner, commanding general of U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command, presents JMC Demilitarization Director Jim Veto with his award upon being named one of 10 employees across the four-star U.S. Army Materiel Command enterprise to receive a 2020 Louis Dellamonica Award for outstanding contributions to the U.S. Army Sept. 20. Veto led a team that identified potential vulnerabilities in the U.S. ammunition supply chain and how to mitigate them, thereby increasing the security of America’s munitions stockpile and the safety of U.S. troops (U.S. Army photo by Shawn Eldridge).
Brig. Gen. Gavin Gardner, commanding general of U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command, presents JMC Demilitarization Director Jim Veto with his award upon being named one of 10 employees across the four-star U.S. Army Materiel Command enterprise to receive a 2020 Louis Dellamonica Award for outstanding contributions to the U.S. Army Sept. 20. Veto led a team that identified potential vulnerabilities in the U.S. ammunition supply chain and how to mitigate them, thereby increasing the security of America’s munitions stockpile and the safety of U.S. troops (U.S. Army photo by Shawn Eldridge). (Photo Credit: Shawn Eldridge) VIEW ORIGINAL

ROCK ISLAND ARSNEAL, Ill. - Ensuring a resilient ammunition supply chain is critical to Joint Munitions Command’s ability to provide munitions to American warfighters.

JMC Director of Demilitarization Jim Veto is one of 10 people to receive the 2020 Louis Dellamonica Award for Outstanding U.S. Army Materiel Command Personnel of the Year for his contributions to making that lifeline for U.S. troops safer and more secure.

“Jim Veto’s work identifying vulnerabilities in the ammunition supply chain and suggesting mitigation strategies is crucial to maintaining warfighter readiness,” said Brig. Gen. Gavin Gardner, JMC commanding general. “This award is incredibly well-deserved and honors Jim’s 17 years of professional excellence and dedication to the Army.”

JMC is the U.S. Army entity responsible for supplying all conventional munitions to American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Guardians. It reports to AMC, which manages all supplies, munitions and equipment logistics for the Army.

Veto led a team of analysts that researched how materials used to make munitions for U.S. troops were obtained throughout the entire supply chain, down to the most basic chemicals. The group determined which items originated overseas and which ones had a limited number of sources.

“We broke the process down into pieces,” Veto said. “We determined how many ingredients were involved in many a specific type of ammunition, where those ingredients came from and the likelihood of those ingredients becoming difficult to obtain.”

Especially key to the project was the in-depth detail Veto provided regarding foreign influence on the U.S. ammunition supply chain, how worldwide events like the coronavirus pandemic could affect munitions production and how the Army could ramp up munitions manufacturing and distribution in the event of a surge.

“There is a saying, ‘If you want peace, prepare for war,’” Veto said. “If the nation has optimal readiness, potential adversaries are less likely to provoke to the point of war. We determined how to maximize AMC’s ability respond to future contingency and surge requirements and put that plan into action.”

Veto emphasized the collaborative nature of the project.

“This was a team effort,” Veto said. “This dedicated and talented group of subject matter experts created new tools and conducted research into topics that no one had ever looked into before. All of our work contributed to the project’s success.”

Veto started working for the U.S. Army in 2004 as an inventory management specialist with U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command before moving to JMC in 2009.

As JMC’s demilitarization director, Veto oversees the safe, effective and environmentally-compliant destruction of unserviceable munitions and is responsible for managing an annual budget ranging from $100-300 million of munitions operations each year.

Before taking over the demilitarization directorate in 2021, he served as the Industrial Base Analysis division chief in the Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated Directorate where he oversaw the supply chain vulnerability mitigation project.

A native of Moline, Ill., Veto holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental management and a master’s of business administration, both from St. Ambrose University, in addition to a graduate-level certificate in supply chain management from Penn State.

Veto is Level III Army Acquisition Corps certified in facilities engineering, Level II certified in both life-cycle logistics and production quality and manufacturing and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps. In addition to the Dellamonica Award, Veto has received the U.S. Army Achievement Medal and the Commander’s Award Medal for Civilian Service.

The Dellamonica Award recognizes those whose outstanding accomplishments have significantly contributed to AMC’s mission. Nominees are judged on how their initiatives improve their work environment and AMC’s mission, how they motivate and inspire fellow employees to improve and how well they are viewed by peers, subordinates and supervisors.

Awardees are selected from across the AMC enterprise, which spans all 50 states and more than 150 countries and is comprised of more than 175,000 employees.

The award’s name honors Louis Dellamonica, a general engineer whose 65-year career at Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada, exemplified integrity, innovation, leadership and outstanding dedication to U.S. Army Materiel Command’s mission.

JMC and its 17 subordinate arsenals, depots and ammunition plants produce, store, distribute and demilitarize all conventional munitions for the U.S. Department of Defense. The enterprise is accountable for $59 billion of munitions and missiles.