# Town Hall focuses on fiscal 2019 achievements and future changes

/ Published Oct. 7, 2019

A milestone fiscal 2019 and upcoming changes were highlighted during the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Commander’s town hall meeting Oct. 2.

Army Brig. Gen. Gavin Lawrence spoke about the many achievements the organization accomplished over the past year, as well as what to expect in fiscal 2020.

Lawrence expressed his admiration of the workforce for their contributions to the 2019 Feds Feeds Families campaign. The FFF food drive supports Philabundance, a non-profit organization that provides hunger relief to local counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This year Troop Support donated 4,279 pounds of food to the cause.

“I want to thank you for your kindness, generosity and support for that program,” Lawrence said. “I take pride that we are good stewards and good members of the local community, and you demonstrated just that with your kindness and generosity.”

Lawrence also stated that fiscal 2019 was a milestone year for Troop Support sales, surpassing fiscal 2018 by approximately $1.4 billion, making it the highest sales year to date.

He then praised employees for their support to Hurricane Dorian relief efforts, including 1.1 million shelf stable meals, 1,900 operational rations, and more than 1,000 cases of water provided by Subsistence.

The Construction and Equipment supply chain, who also had a record breaking year, provided critical generators and equipment to assist in the relief efforts adding to their sales for the year, which were above $6 billion, according to the Commander.

Lawrence also spoke about the achievements and contributions of the regional commands: Troop Support Europe and Africa and Troop Support Indo-Pacific.

“They’re out at the tip of the spear, doing what I call ‘preaching the gospel of DLA,’” he said. “They’re bringing the products and services we provide to the warfighter, and doing phenomenal work educating and supporting the armed services there.”

The conversation transitioned from present achievements to possible changes that may occur with new leadership in the Department of Defense, new perceived external threats and changes in military force posture.

Lawrence said these changes may affect the demands that will be placed on the organization and that there may be restraints on resources, but Troop Support’s task will remain unchanged.

“With all these changes there has to be one constant,” he said. “That one constant is the high level of response support that we’re called on to provide the warfighter.”

Other changes discussed focused on workplace improvements.

DLA Philadelphia Installation Management Site Director Brian McWatters updated employees on topics such as an updated parking policy pending approval of the installation command, and a cubicle steam cleaning contract which will improve current workspace areas until future improvement projects can be funded.

Lawrence ended the town hall with a thank you.

“When you look in retrospect at what this organization did to generate readiness for our services, readiness for our whole government partners - it’s absolutely phenomenal,” he said. “So as we look towards [fiscal 2020], I know you’ll bring your ‘A-game’ everyday so we can provide the same level of support, if not more, than we did this past year. I thank you and look forward to serving shoulder to shoulder with you as we take this organization to the next level.”