Joint community discuss the business of demil at annual symposium

By Mrs. Jaime Thompson, AMCJune 15, 2011

John L. Byrd, Jr. Excellence in Munitions Demilitarization Award winner
Brig. Gen. Perna (left) and Brig. Gen. Maddux jointly presented the distinguished John L. Byrd, Jr. Excellence in Munitions Demilitarization Award to Tyrone Nordquist. Nordquist has been employed with the federal government for thirty-one years, with... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

McAlester, Okla - The 19th annual Joint Ordnance Commanders Group Global Demil Symposium & Exhibition was held in Denver, Colo., May 17-19. Over 400 personnel from 17 countries were in attendance to this annual event.

The agenda for the symposium focused on ongoing demil/disposal, resource recovery, recycling and reuse operations and programs, sale of recovered demil materials, demil R&D;efforts, transitioning technologies; and environmental, safety and policy issues that affect the demil business.

Brig. Gen. Gustave F. Perna and Brig. Gen. Jonathan A. Maddux delivered keynote addresses for the symposium.

“My number one POM (Program Objective Memorandum) priority is demil authorization for funds,” stated Perna. “We have 1/3 of our total storage capability being used for items that need to be destroyed.” He challenged the group to reduce demil stocks by 10% for fiscal year 2012. “Work as a demil team to execute our goal,” explained Perna.

In Maddux’s role as the Single Conventional Manager for Ammunition he stressed the importance of a concentrated effort among the services.

“Doing the right thing, at the right place, at the right time, with the right R&D;effort is critical,” stated Maddux. “We must understand and embrace our demil initiatives " make sure we are getting the best value for our collective tax dollars.”

Perna and Maddux jointly presented the distinguished John L. Byrd, Jr. Excellence in Munitions Demilitarization Award to Tyrone Nordquist. Nordquist has been employed with the federal government for thirty-one years, with twenty of those years with Defense Ammunition Center . Nordquist has actively served as the Chairperson for the Joint Ordnance Commander’s Group, Munitions Demilitarization/Disposal Subgroup since 2008 and has been deployed to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Larry Gibbs, Product Manager for Demilitarization, provided closing remarks for the annual event.