Former DLA Troop Support commander returns as agency director, emphasizes transformation

PHILADELPHIA -

Mark Simerly was a colonel when he assumed command of Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support in June 2017. Two years later, he relinquished command as a brigadier general. Now Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly returned to Northeast Philadelphia as the director of DLA and its global workforce of 25,000 employees.

"There is no bigger fan of DLA Troop Support than Mark Simerly," he said to DLA Troop Support senior leaders April 18. Simerly and Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Alvin Dyer, DLA senior enlisted leader, have been visiting DLA major subordinate commands to learn about the MSCs and to share the director's priorities.

"There's a lot more I don't know about Troop Support than I do know," he said. "We have a uniquely talented team here, uniquely suited for challenges that we have … and you all are delivering every single day."

Between leaving DLA Troop Support in 2019 and becoming the DLA director Feb. 2, Simerly has served as commander of the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command in Dauegu, South Korea, and as the commanding general of the Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia.

He said it's a transformative era for the Defense Department, and DLA must also change.

"DLA transformation" is a phrase Simerly said will be heard frequently, "as we decide how we want to move out collectively to make ourselves better and to make ourselves better suited to support our warfighting partners.

Simerly also said it's important to think about contested logistics and what it means to DLA.

"Our ability to sustain is contested at every level of war - tactical, operational and strategic - and also every domain," he said.

Army Brig. Gen. Landis Maddox, DLA Troop Support commander, facilitated a discussion largely focused on changes that have occurred at the MSC since Simerly left. Maddox did, however, point to DLA Troop Support's forward presence across the United States and in regional commands in Hawaii and Germany as an enduring strength.

Leaders from DLA Troop Support's four supply chains - Subsistence, Clothing & Textiles, Construction & Equipment and Medical - and other support offices provided updates about ongoing operational initiatives, people and culture, and modernization efforts.

"Being here is a reminder to me … the collection of talent, experience and ambition that we have here on this team is just remarkable," Simerly said. "We've very fortunate as an agency to have you here doing this work.

"In the spirit of transformation, we have to think, we have to act, we have to operate differently than we have in the past in order to be successful … and all of us should be operating with urgency."

Simerly also presented coins to several employees to recognize their outstanding efforts:

• Kelly Callahan, Construction & Equipment
• Mara Cremin, Clothing & Textiles
• Air Force Lt. Col. Francisco Boral, Medical
• Jacob Slotnick, Subsistence
• Peter Monteleone, Command Support Office
• Christina Miller and Keven Gleaton, Internal Review
• Kimberly Horger, Procurement Process Support

The DLA leaders' visit ended with a tour of the Product Test Center Analytical, where laboratory staff test materials in harsh conditions to ensure their performance in the field. While there, Simerly and Dyer tried on the PTC's latest augmented reality headsets, used to remotely test materials at off-site locations.

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