# Employee Spotlight: James Montoya

/ Published Aug. 11, 2021
RICHMOND, Va, 
*Employee spotlight regularly features outstanding non-supervisory personnel from throughout the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation and other DLA employees on Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia. Organizational directors may submit names of employees they wish to feature in this column to DLA Aviation Public Affairs. For more information, call (804) 279-3139.*

**Name:** James Montoya         

**Organization:** DLA Aviation at Ogden

**Years of Service:** 5 months

**What is your job title, and what do you do, specifically?** I’m a material handler. In this capacity, I receive and issue end item requisitions directly to the customer. I also store and deliver parts supporting the overhaul of end items at depot maintenance by issuing material requisition orders within one-and-a-half hours and maintaining a 95% delivery response time.

**What do you like most about your job?** The DLA employees coming together to get the job or tasks complete.

**What is your fondest memory of working for DLA Aviation?** Hearing the jets take off and knowing that I help make that possible.

**What kind(s) of training and education helps your work performance in your current role?** Hands on training I feel is the best training for me.

**What would you say has been your major contributions to your organization this year in your job?** Going to different buildings,  learning new things and seeing how other people do their job differently.  I feel that learning from them helps me to be more diverse.

**What aspect(s) of your current job gives you the most personal satisfaction and why?** Providing the right aircraft parts to the customer in a timely manner, making the aircraft safe and mission ready.  It makes me happy knowing I’m part of an organization that is providing critical support to the nation’s warfighters.

**If you could speak directly to the warfighters you support, what would you tell them?** I would thank them for all they do for our freedom.

**What was your first job?** My first job was as a bagger at a grocery store here in Ogden.

**What advice would you have given yourself 10 years ago?** The advice I would have given myself a decade ago is don’t be afraid to take risks.

**Where do you see yourself five years from now?** In five years, I still see myself working at DLA Aviation helping the warfighter, but at a supervisory level.

**Do you have an unfulfilled wish?** The unfulfilled wish I have is my son going off to college and then graduating.

**What’s your biggest pet peeve?** Leaving a task undone.

**What are some of your passions outside of work?** Hiking, mountain biking and skateboarding.

**If you could pick a personal motto, what would it be?** My personal motto would be “You miss 100% of the shots you do not take.”

**If you could start your life over again, what would you do differently?** I wouldn’t do anything differently. I feel like I’ve learned from my mistakes and that’s what made me the person I am today.

**What five things could you absolutely not live without?** Those five things would be coffee, skateboarding, the mountains, friends and family.

**What type of music do you most enjoy?** I listen to just about everything! I love all types of music.