GUARNG wins Army logistics award

The Guam Army National Guard won this year’s Supply Excellence Award (SEA) in the recent Chief of Staff of the Army’s Combined Logistics Excellence Awards (CLEA) competition, according to an announcement from the CSA recently.

The CLEA recognizes organizational achievement in the areas of deployment, maintenance, and supply operations for all components—Active Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve. The competition shines the spotlight on logisticians and recognizes the critical role they play in supporting the warfighter.

The three awards programs include: the Army Supply Excellence Award, the Army Deployment Excellence Award and the Army Award for Maintenance Excellence.

Representing the Guam Guard, the GUARNG Element (GE) Property Book Office (PBO) section was entered in the SEA Level 2(B) Property Book category for the final Army-wide level competition. But before getting to the overall contest, they had to compete and win against similar Army National Guard units that had already won in the six other regions around the nation. Then at the DA level, the compete against all Army components in their category.

Inspectors from the Department of the Army visited the section in October to scrutinize its records on property book operation, accountability, and how the section was assisting the other units. The section, under the J4/G4 manages five different Major Subordinate Command (MSC) PBOs, according to LTC David Francisco, Director of Logistics.

The section is composed of three Soldiers: WO1 Vincent Cruz, MSG Mark Blas and SGT Veronica Temong. This section is an extension of the GUARNG J4/G4 Chief PBO and the J4/G4 Supply Management Office. Along with the daily management of GE property book actions, the three also provide Subject Matter Expertise (SME) assistance to the other MSC PBOs and Supply Sergeant.

“They are experts at the Command Supply Discipline Program requirements and provide routine guidance to the entire command on supply related matters. They know the supply regulations that govern supply actions and ensure that all MSC’s stay within compliance guidelines,” Francisco explained.

“The SEA competition preparation was routine for this PBO team. Not to oversimplify their accomplishment but they simply adhered to the daily routine requirements of any property book section. This is the challenge, supply is a science and the management of property books is an exact science with multiple transactions to satisfy a single supply action.”

The inspectors were also looking into what new techniques are being done to make the system work better, according to Cruz. The CDSP is a compilation of existing regulatory requirements, directed at standardizing supply discipline throughout the Army. It is also intended to simplify command, supervisory, and managerial responsibilities, through efforts such as streamlining requirements, and formalizing follow-up procedures.

Participating in these competitions, with the requisite inspections that come with it, “shows a snapshot of where our section or organization is in terms of compliance and enforcement of regulatory guidance,” Cruz said.

Keeping on top of these supply actions can be overwhelming and can often lead to property book transaction backlogs that get larger and larger.

“The GE PB Section has virtually no backlog because they are the best in the command at managing their most precious resource – time. They are also the only PB section in the command with excess below the national standard of .5%. That makes them in the 1% bracket of all PB sections in the nation. That is one of the reasons they won the DA level SEA competition for their category. They are the best in the nation at staying the course,” Francisco added.

Cruz said winning at that level was a large accomplishment which he attributes much to the individual efforts of MSG Blas and SGT Temong. MSG Blas’ in-depth CSDP evaluations and supply assistance inspection team visits were instrumental in raising the level of unit supply standards, while SGT Temong’s dedication and attention to detail helped the units with maintaining the supporting documents for the property books, according to Cruz.

“This award is a monumental accomplishment. This is the first time the Guard has won this award at the Property Book Level, more so this was our first attempt. Rarely will you have this accomplishment done on the first time attempt,” Cruz said.

The challenge for this winning team now is to maintain that level of expertise, and at the same time have the other PB sections in the command experience the same success, Francisco added.