SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. - Gen. Ed Daly, commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, recognized six Surface Warriors for exceptional performance during a recent visit to the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command headquarters.
Daly, who was joined by his senior enlisted leader, Command Sgt. Maj. Alberto Delgado, presented commander’s coins prior to the start of a tri-annual operations update delivered by Maj. Gen. Heidi Hoyle, SDDC commanding general, and her staff.
“I love spending time at SDDC. It’s not just because of the mission and exceptional work that’s achieved here every day,” said Daly, “you can feel the professionalism of the SDDC workforce.”
Latrice Holmes, a contracting officer representative manager from SDDC’s Operations directorate, was the first Surface Warrior to be recognized by Daly. Holmes, whose work has improved both the capabilities and efficiency of contact managers at SDDC’s subordinate brigades, said she was extremely honored to be acknowledged for her work.
Matt Welch, a logistics management specialist in SDDC’s Logistics directorate was next.
“Matt is a knowledgeable leader, a subject matter expert who takes charge of a situation and completes tasks without guidance,” said Logistics director, Tom Mannino.
Interestingly, Daly and Welch previously served together when the general was a lieutenant colonel. “We were in the same battalion together in 2004,” said Daly. “It’s great to see you!”
Following Welch, Daly recognized strategic planner Rebecca Carter, calling her work “fantastic.”
“Since joining the directorate in September, Rebecca has taken the lead on several significant strategic command initiatives including the Army rail analysis and the command’s global mobility posture,” said Col. Sam Morgan, G5 Plans and Strategy director. “Hers is a classic success story of the Army’s Soldier for Life concept. She’s a retired colonel, a former Army strategist, now working for SDDC and continuing to support the Army.”
The next commander’s coin recipient was David Bitner, infrastructure branch chief within SDDC’s Transportation Engineering Agency. According to TEA deputy director Curt Zargan, Bitner exhibited exceptional leadership of his team of engineers while conducting critical global transportation infrastructure modeling, simulation and analysis requirements.
Daly was impressed with Bitner’s accomplishments, saying “your work is definitely going to pay off for the command.”
The two remaining Surface Warriors to receive AMC commander’s coins did so virtually from their brigade headquarters locations.
Maria Rogers, an administrative officer with the 832nd Transportation Battalion, 597th Transportation Brigade at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, was nominated by her leadership for her actions following an installation water main break that flooded her battalion headquarters and arms room. Due to Rogers’ quick coordination with the civil engineers, safety and public health, services were rapidly restored and the unit was able to safely continue to execute their mission.
“That’s awesome. You really demonstrated professionalism,” said Daly of Rogers’ actions.
Daly’s final recognition was for Sgt. 1st Class Chris Schimff from the Operations section of the 831st Transportation Battalion, 595th Transportation Brigade in Kuwait. As the 831st’s Deployment and Distribution Support Team noncommissioned officer in charge, Schimff was involved in the successful planning and execution of numerous vessel operations in the U.S. Central Command area of operations.
“You’ve done great work,” Daly told Schimff, also noting that Schimff’s former battalion commander now serves as his aide de camp.
Following the Surface Warrior employee recognitions, Daly then received a briefing on current SDDC programs and initiatives. Topics included an update on engineering projects at SDDC’s west coast ammunition terminal, Military Ocean Terminal Concord; SDDC’s plans for the upcoming Operation Pathways exercise; an overview of the long-term replacement plan for portions of the DOD’s railcar fleet; and an update on the command’s actions to improve the workplace facilities of its units around the globe.
At the conclusion of the briefing, Daly said he was very confident in Hoyle and her staff.
“SDDC’s mission set is huge and the importance of it is critical,” said Daly. “We’re an Army that has to project the force at any time, and SDDC does that.
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