Incoming commanders of the Joint Munitions Command’s subordinate installations recently attended a Pre-Command Orientation.
The three-day event took place April 23-25 at JMC’s headquarters in Rock Island, Illinois, and provided the new leaders with vital information about their responsibilities, JMC’s mission, and the unique challenges they might face.
Understanding the strategic objectives of JMC and recognizing how their roles contribute to achieving those objectives is essential for the attendees. The orientation also allows interaction with other commanders and key personnel and fosters collaboration and information sharing across JMC’s Organic Industrial Base.
Col. Ronnie Anderson Jr., JMC’s commander, stressed the command’s philosophy revolves around one thing.
“It’s about the people,” Anderson said. “It’s your responsibility as commanders to make sure that every single individual is successful. Make sure your staff has the tools they need to do the job that they’re doing.
“The second most important thing is, I believe, a headquarters only exists to make its subordinate organizations successful,” Anderson added. “It is my responsibility to ensure that you and I maintain an open dialogue, and that you have unfettered access to me, so that you can express your concerns and ask for resources and help. The staff here at headquarters is 100% bought into that philosophy. We are all in this together.”
A JMC overview, a briefing about JMC’s Campaign Plan, breakout sessions, and presentations by the Munitions and Logistics Readiness Center, Human Resources, and Army Contracting Command were on the agenda for Day 1.
The second day included presentations by Facilities Readiness, Information Management, Operations Planning, and Resource Management. Representatives from Environmental, Health and Safety, Legal, and Public and Congressional Affairs discussed some key points on the final day of the Pre-Command Orientation.
These new senior leaders have been assigned to the following JMC installations: Col. Samuel Morgan III, Blue Grass Army Depot; Lt. Col. David Dellerman, Blue Grass Chemical Activity; Lt. Col. Brian Jones, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant; Lt. Col. John “Mike” Paul, Holston Army Ammunition Plant; and Col. Joshua Clover, Tooele Army Depot.
“The JMC PCO was beneficial and added value for me as an incoming commander. Overall, it synchronized commanders with the commander’s vision and set expectations for an assignment vastly different from traditional Army experiences,” Morgan said. “Although each of our commands has unique missions and challenges, the staff did an excellent job presenting in a way that applied to each commander. I felt very confident about the resources JMC’s headquarters will provide to assist its subordinate commands.
“I enjoyed the fellowship with the other commanders and look forward to being on the team,” Morgan added. “I did not expect to have current commanders in PCO, but it was brilliant. They added so much to the dialogue through their first-hand experiences, strengthening the entire experience and personalizing more for me as an incoming commander.”
Lt. Col. Chris Denton, LCAAP’s current and outgoing commander, was among the attendees, and he returned to his post with additional knowledge.
“After being in command of Lake City for almost two years, I was still able to learn a something new every day, while listening to the JMC headquarters subject matter experts present information,” Denton said. “I really like that we leverage current commanders throughout the JMC PCO course. This provided me, and others, the opportunity to provide recent and relevant examples of how the topic being presented directly impacts the different types of installations or how the incoming commanders can reasonably anticipate challenges associated with their respective installations.
“The best advice that I could pass along to the incoming commanders is to develop strong relationships with the JMC headquarters staff, our Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition and Army Contracting Command teammates, and fellow commanders across the Organic Industrial Base,” Denton added. “These assignments are unlike any that we have experienced throughout our careers, and our collective success can only be achieved through strong collaborative efforts.”
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