# June Employees of the Month achieve dynamite duo status in achieving excellence in warfighter support

/ Published Oct. 8, 2021
RICHMOND, Va, 
There’s an age-old adage that states “lightning never strikes the same place twice,” simply meaning an extraordinary event never occurs twice under the same circumstances. Well, try telling that to the folks at Defense Logistics Agency Aviation at Jacksonville, Florida where this phenomenon occurred over the summer.

John Watson and Tamika Williams were both selected as DLA Aviation’s Employees of the Month for June. Watson won in the general schedule (GS) 10-13 category, while Williams beat out the competition in the GS 1-9 category, making it a clean sweep for DLA Aviation at Jacksonville.

Since chivalry is not dead, let’s start with Williams. She’s a customer support technician in the Order Fulfillment Aircraft Components Branch. As DLA’s primary face for the F/A-18 canopy platform at Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, her communication, coordination and teaming were pivotal in all material matters related to six component production work centers, supporting the Navy’s F/A-18 super hornet, H-60 helicopter, P-3 Orion, P-8 Poseidon and F-5 tactical fighter aircraft.

In his nomination, Branch Chief Anthony Kosloski wrote that Williams’ contributions directly supporting the F/A-18 Legacy Canopy Enhancement Project culminated with a 79% reduction in canopy related unfilled orders, the number two fleet degrader for the F/A-18 weapons system. F/A-18 canopies now fall outside the top 20 fleet degraders. Kosloski went on to say that Williams’ can-do attitude, combined with her expertise, have had a direct impact on achieving an all-time high fill rate and material availability rate, 96.7% and 97.1% respectively.

“Miss Williams demonstrated unyielding dedication in support of the warfighter. Her deliberate and precise communication with peers, leads and supervisors helped put in practice efficient, expediting actions best serving our FRCSE customer,” Kosloski said. “Her performance and contributions cannot be minimized nor overlooked. She demonstrates tremendous pride representing DLA Aviation at Jacksonville.”

Williams said while it’s a good feeling knowing her contributions and efforts have not gone unnoticed, being awarded the June Employee of the Month Award just fuels her fire even greater to provide world class support to the warfighter.

“I am on the right track and will continue to push myself to be better all around. This is a very humbling experience,” she said.

Humility also runs in the veins of Watson. As a material planner supporting FRCSE, he is responsible for generating local stock number purchases, coordinating material requirements and oversight of kits, made up of consumable, low dollar, high usage items such as washers and gaskets, for the Pre-Expended Bin Program.

Damon Heemstra is a supervisory inventory management specialist and nominated Watson for the June EOM because, in his words, Watson is the epitome of professionalism at DLA Aviation at Jacksonville.

“He demonstrates tremendous pride and dedication and continues to make great strides in providing superior internal and external service to the customer,” Heemstra said.

He noted that Watson researched and generated 35 purchase requests for material in 55 PEB kits directly supporting the F-5 tactical fighter jet program, the highest platform priority at FRCSE.

Watson coordinated FRCSE requirements with aviation  supply chain analysts, leading to precise forecasting of 20 LSNs, preventing $81 thousand in over-procurement charges and performed extensive research and validation of material requests for the local FRCSE manufacturing process. As a result, 52 material requests, totaling $838,730, were transferred to the military inter-departmental purchase request for local manufacturing, reducing customer wait-time by 25% for multiple FRCSE production lines.

“John is an outstanding team player, highly sought after by his peers to assist with the most challenging issues that arise, always conducting extensive research and providing recommendations to staff, peers and customers.” said Heemstra. “He frequently collaborated with contract specialists and purchasing agents ensuring material procurement and planning needs receive the highest priority for the warfighter.

“I was very honored to be nominated for employee of the month out of all the outstanding personnel working here at DLA Aviation Jacksonville and was humbled when I found out I was selected,” Watson said.

**About the DLA Aviation Employee of the Month Award**

*Employee of the Month is awarded to DLA Aviation non-supervisory civilian employees. Two recipients are selected based on individual general schedule pay levels – one from GS 1-9 (Category 1) and one from GS 10-13 (Category 2). Recipients receive a coin, a certificate of achievement from the DLA Aviation deputy commander and a cash award.*