Month: April 2024

Source: United States Navy

Winners were announced March 23 by Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP).

The Jacksonville and Mayport fuel operations sit on either side of the St. Johns River, near the river’s opening to the Atlantic. The Jacksonville site is the Navy’s largest deep-water fuel terminal in the Southeast, providing a strategic advantage to the Atlantic Fleet.

In 2023, the 35-person, military-civilian group operating the two locations received, stored, maintained and issued tens of millions of gallons of fuel. They replenished hundreds of U.S. and partner-nation ships, in addition to supporting Naval Station Mayport aircraft via pipeline transfers. They also supported fuel requirements for Department of Defense units around the Southeast.

“While I’m not surprised, it’s great for the Jax-Mayport fuel team to be recognized for its hard work,” said Capt. Matt Bolls, commanding officer of NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Jacksonville, which has administrative oversight of the fuel personnel.

“They are the center of gravity for fuels in the region and the lifeblood that supports every warfighter, aircraft and surface combatant in the tri-base area,” Bolls said.

The teams are led by Southeast Regional Fuels Officer Lt. Cmdr. Tyson Biddle, who was 2022 Navy fuels officer of the year. The management team includes Steve Schultz, Kirk Moats, Romie Blackshear and Jack Bays.

Among the teams’ accomplishments in 2023 was 100% product inventory accuracy while operating with only 70% of the allotted workforce. The group still provided full mission support with no impacts on customers. It also sustained zero safety mishaps.

In addition to regular work, 2023 also brought Hurricane Idalia and Tropical Storm Harold. The storms flooded critical facilities at the Jacksonville site and damaged fencing at Mayport. It tested the resiliency of the workforce. But the damaged spaces and fence lines were repaired and returned to full service. Additionally, in the 72 hours prior to Idalia, the teams issued 700,000 gallons of fuel to Jacksonville military assets in preparation for the rough weather.

“This is such a huge accomplishment for our team! They work so hard every day to support our warfighters, and it is great for them to be recognized for their contributions,” Biddle said.

“The Navy fuels ecosystem is a complex supply chain and management structure. Maintaining sound operational practices, while keeping our infrastructure mission-ready, is a huge effort that requires extensive coordination between our mission partners at Defense Logistics Agency, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, the Naval Petroleum Office, Naval Station Mayport, Navy Region Southeast and many more. Our team does an incredible job of coordinating and executing the mission in this complex system each and every day,” he said.

This win comes just after another prestigious honor for NAVSUP FLC Jacksonville’s teams in Jacksonville. The supply and aviation support detachments at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Mayport and Naval Air Station Key West were awarded the Commander Naval Air Forces Ashore Supply Excellence Award (Blue E) in February.

Source: United States Navy

The visit served as an opportunity for Epps to engage with NAVSUP BSC leadership, speak with employees, and recognize their outstanding achievements during an all-hands meeting.

“I wanted to make sure I thank you for the work you all do. We cannot work without the systems you develop, sustain, and deploy,” said Epps. “You are an amazing organization with great talent.”

During the all-hands, Epps presented the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award to Megan Nichols for extraordinary service from February 2020 through March 2024. Nichols performed her duties in an exemplary manner as director of NAVSUP Enterprise Business and Logistics Solution division, director of NAVSUP BSC Data Analytics Solutions department, and interim executive director of Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka, Japan. She delivered upgrades to the electronic Retrograde Management System and successfully transitioned the Navy Data Platform (NDP) to the Yellowbrick data warehouse.

“I know [Megan] through her work and reputation. Anytime her name has come up and anyone I speak to who has worked with her or led by her is always effusive in their praise for how good she is,” said Epps. “I am certainly honored to present this to you. I think it’s a real testimony to what a great leader you are and I sense that there are much bigger things to come.”

Epps also presented NAVSUP Commander’s Coins to Sharon Williams for her professional support to the NAVSUP software license management program; Stephanie Maldonado for validating migrated data to the Warehouse Management System; John Raudenbush for leading integration of legacy financial systems to Navy Enterprise Resource Planning; Jacob Csencsics for implementing data-analytics solutions to improve Naval Aviation Enterprise; and Sydney Bruckner and Julius Igarta for delivering performance improvements to the Navy Data Platform Statistical Analysis Software environment.

Capt. David Carnal, commanding officer, NAVSUP BSC, Brian Zirbel, executive director, NAVSUP BSC, and command leadership provided briefs following the all-hands meeting and discussed command priorities, current and future operations, modernization of information systems, and financial requirements to execute NAVSUP BSC’s mission to deliver resilient and relevant business information systems that empower the Navy, NAVSUP, and mission partners.

“To put in place the necessary actions to meet command priorities and position us for continued success in the future, NAVSUP BSC released a multi-year campaign plan framework entitled Information System Pillars to Drive Supply Chain Success,” said Carnal. “This framework includes six pillars that each have a set of key performance outcomes to be accomplished now and in future years.”

During the visit, Epps was accompanied by Kurt Wendelken, vice commander, NAVSUP, Brian Laird, assistant commander for Supply Chain Technology and Systems Integration, NAVSUP, and Capt. Kelly House, assistant commander for Supply Chain Management and Performance, NAVSUP.

NAVSUP BSC provides the Navy with information systems support through the design, development, and maintenance of systems in the functional areas of logistics, supply chain management, transportation, finance, and accounting and is one of 11 commands under Commander, NAVSUP.

Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, NAVSUP employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics, and Sailor and family care activities with mission partners to generate readiness, sustain naval forces worldwide, and prevent and decisively win wars.

Source: United States Navy

Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) recently engaged thousands of Eastern North Carolina students with interactive, STEM-based learning activities as part of National Engineers Week. 

The depot’s STEM Outreach Team conducted a total of 54 events at 39 local schools, engaging over 4,700 students in celebration of National Engineers Week. Also known as E-Week, the national observance is one of the largest science, technology, engineering and math events in the United States.   

Outreach efforts play a pivotal role at FRCE, enabling the depot to expand its reach and connect with the local community, according to FRCE Executive Director Mark Meno.  

“Engineers Week is a great opportunity for the depot to reinforce its commitment to the community and inspire the next generation of engineers and aviation professionals,” said Meno. “By inspiring students to explore STEM-based career paths, we not only help shape their future but also foster a more innovative future workforce for Eastern North Carolina.”

While National Engineers Week officially falls on Feb. 18-24, FRCE’s STEM Outreach Team extended its efforts over a four-week period, beginning Feb. 15 and ending March 13. This year’s E-Week outreach efforts was the largest in FRCE history, according to FRCE K-12 STEM Education Outreach Coordinator Michelle Smith. 

“Engineers Week continues to be one of FRC East’s largest STEM outreach efforts,” said Smith. “With the depot’s ongoing growth, our outreach efforts have become increasingly critical in shaping the depot’s future workforce by allowing us to engage, inspire and educate students about the STEM-based careers at FRC East.

“Over the years, the popularity of E-Week has grown,” Smith continued, “giving us the opportunity to extend the event beyond just a single week.”

Over 100 FRCE engineers volunteered to visit local schools to discuss the importance of STEM education and the role it could play in their future careers. FRCE aerospace engineer Timothy Gillikin said the outreach events positively impacted many students.   

“We use E-Week as a time to talk about STEM and engineering,” said Gillikin. “But we also really like to share what we do with the students because many of them know about Cherry Point and the base, but most don’t know about what FRC East does. We go into schools and really open their eyes to the sheer number of jobs and opportunities there are at the depot.”  

Kari Stallings, Academically or Intellectually Gifted Program teacher for A.H. Bangert Elementary School in Trent Woods, said the depot’s E-Week outreach efforts were beneficial for her students.

“It was a positive, hands-on learning experience for my group of fourth and fifth graders,” said Stallings. “They had a great lesson prepared where the students were able to test their engineering skills and learn through trial and error as many engineers do.

“It really opened their eyes to the different career paths in engineering that they may not have ever considered before,” Stallings continued. “My students are very inquisitive, so they enjoyed learning about all the different engineering opportunities available to them in the future.”

FRCE electrical engineer Zach Shuler emphasized the importance of introducing students to STEM-based learning at a young age.

“When investing in people and potential future employees, finding those who are already local to the area as they are more likely to stay and build a career here is very beneficial,” said Shuler. “It’s important to raise awareness early to get people invested in pursuing a career at FRC East.”

Many of the E-Week activities included open-ended design challenges rooted in engineering to encourage students to think outside of the box, according to Shuler.

“These challenges are always fun because there’s no one solution. The purpose of this is to help them work on their creativity by encouraging them to think outside of the box to find a solution,” said Shuler. “With every activity, I would see a group of students make something and I’d think to myself, ‘Wow, I would have never thought to do that.’ It’s very cool.”

One E-Week activity presented the students with a challenging scenario, according to Gillikin. Known as “flying paper devices,” the activity challenged students to design a flying device made entirely out of paper with two objectives: cover the maximum distance possible and remain airborne for the longest time.

“With this challenge, we have to make sure to emphasize that this is not a paper airplane challenge; this is a flying paper device challenge,” said Gillikin. “You might be pigeonholed into one way of thinking about a problem, but you’ve got to make sure you understand the objective. This is huge in engineering. You can’t begin to solve a problem until you know what you’re being asked.”

Shuler agreed with Gillikin that this challenge can be difficult for some students.

“When people hear us say, ‘flying paper device,’ they immediately think of paper airplanes,” said Shuler. “But actually, if you take a piece of paper, crumple it up into a ball and throw it, that’s a flying paper device that we know will go pretty far.”

To reach as many young minds as possible during E-Week, the FRCE STEM Outreach Team offered both in-person and virtual events, said Shuler.

“Virtual events can occasionally be less interactive but when I paused for questions, the students asked so many great, engaging questions,” said Shuler. “They were super interested in what was going on and they really loved the activity we did with them. The teachers even said the students really got something out of it. It was a great experience.”

FRCE is North Carolina’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.

Source: United States Navy

PMA-260 manages the procurement, development and fielding of common ground support equipment and automatic test equipment for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and is composed of 20 different teams covering areas like acquisition management, test and evaluation, and sustainment of equipment that allows the Navy and Martine Corps team to operate, repair and service aircraft. FRCSE’s AMAS team is one of those 20 teams. 

The AMAS team, located at Cecil Commerce Center, earned the award for imaging, repairing and logistics associated with Portable Electronic Maintenance Aids (PEMAs). 

PEMAs are laptops that are configured according to the type, model, series aircraft being serviced, and works like an interactive technical manual. The AMAS team’s primary responsibility is ensuring that PEMAs are provided to those who maintain aircraft operated by the Navy and Marine Corps – about 30 different types.

“Our warehouse is about 1,200 square feet,” said John Mason, FRCSE’s AMAS team lead logistician. “We have racks around the perimeter of the room that nearly reach the ceiling, and back in March 2023, our entire warehouse – including the floor space – was full of new PEMAs and others needing repair. The pallets covered every surface in the room, and at any given time, the Support Equipment Managing System, which is the system we use for processing, was tracking about 16,000 PEMAs requiring support.”

Year to year, the AMAS team, composed of about 22 personnel – is responsible for buying, processing, tracking, unboxing, imaging, repairing and shipping thousands of PEMAs.

This year alone, they completed 5,362 refreshes, which happen every four years, including replenishments for the team’s largest consumers — F/A-18 Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers. 

A refresh consists of the team purchasing new laptop computers to replace all the existing PEMAs for customers at the organization (O), intermediate (I) or depot (D) repair level. The team buys, tracks, images and sends the ready-for-issue devices to the maintainers. Based on timelines and the amount of PEMAs delivered at a time – usually thousands – a refresh needs to be carefully planned to ensure timely delivery.

First, the team determines the number of PEMAs required, then they order the devices from the manufacturer. The items ship to the AMAS warehouse where they are processed, unboxed, organized, sent to the lab for imaging and finally shipped out. The team gives each customer 30 days with the new devices before requiring them to return the old ones. 

The requirements for Super Hornets and Growlers made up 3,501 of the total PEMAs refreshed, and the work was expected to take the AMAS team well into fiscal year 2024. However, they kicked into high speed, knocking out upwards of 250 PEMAs a week. 

“I’m extremely proud of the team’s contribution to providing the warfighter the right hardware and software tools for performing maintenance and repair on Navy and Marine Corps aircraft,” said Brad Sherrill, FRCSE’s AMAS FST lead. “These tools may not be large weapon systems or used in direct combat, but each is a vital tip-of-the-spear resource needed to keep planes flying.”

However, the AMAS team workload didn’t just stop at fleet requirements. The AMAS team also processed, outfitted, repaired, loaned, transferred, delivered, demilitarized and disposed of almost 6,500 other devices during 2023 — totals far exceeding the expectations for the year.

“The AMAS Team provides PEMAs to all O, I, and D level repair facilities, but we also provides older repaired PEMAs to Navy and Marine Corps schools that are not part of the program of record and wouldn’t normally have access to these pieces of equipment,” Mason said. “This helps ensure students going through training have an actual piece of equipment to use while learning.”

Wherever there is an aircraft within the Navy and Marine Corps arsenal, there are PEMAs supporting the maintenance of that aircraft. Keeping that in mind, the FRCSE AMAS team doesn’t just come to work every day and do a job well; they provide essential support to the fleet, ensuring that every maintainer has a quality device that harnesses the data required for them to execute their piece of the mission. 

About Fleet Readiness Center Southeast

Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) is Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, employing approximately 5,000 civilian, military and contract workers. With annual revenue exceeding $1 billion, the organization serves as an integral part of the greater US Navy, Naval Air Systems Command, and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers by maintaining the combat airpower for America’s military forces. 

Source: United States Navy

“Conservation and environmental stewardship are top priorities for Navy Region Southwest,” said Rear Adm. Brad Rosen, Commander, Navy Region Southwest. “I’m proud but not surprised that the outstanding efforts of our environmental teams have earned recognition from the Secretary of the Navy. They have our admiration and gratitude for the important work that they do every day.”

Three Navy Region Southwest (NRSW) installations and one NRSW conservation program accounted for four of the nine award winners. They are:

• Natural Resources Conservation – Small Installation USN: Naval Base Point Loma, California
• Natural Resources Conservation – Individual or Team USN: San Clemente Island Endangered Species Act Delisting
• Environmental Quality, Non-Industrial Installation USN: Naval Base San Diego, California
• Cultural Resources Management – Large Installation USN: Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada

All four winners are nominated to compete in the Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards competition.

The environment is an essential part of the Department of the Navy mission and Navy installations take a proactive role preserving their inherited natural resources, striking balance between environmental management and mission readiness.

“Enabling warfigher readiness and being stewards of the environmental are not mutually exclusive goals.  Achievement of both requires both leadership and personal commitment and Navy Installations continue to exhibit both,” said Brock Durig, environmental program director for Commander, Navy Installations Command. “Our installations are the Navy’s foothold in the shore but they’re also an integral part of their local communities. For us to support the Navy’s mission, we must be good neighbors and take care of the land and environments where we train and operate.”

Commander, Navy Installations Command is responsible for worldwide U.S. Navy shore installation management, designing and developing integrated solutions for sustainment and development of Navy shore infrastructure as well as quality of life programs. CNIC oversees 10 Navy regions, 70 bases, and more than 43,000 employees who sustain the fleet, enable the fighter and support the family. Follow CNIC on social media: Facebook, Facebook.com/NavyInstallations; X, @cnichq; and Instagram, @cnichq.