Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      The OSD Logistics Fellows Program: A glimpse from insidePublished Dec. 16, 2016
                    
                    By Bryan L. Jerkatis
            **WASHINGTON (AFNS) --**A friend and retired Air Force command chief would often use an analogy with young troops regarding the differences in their world views versus those of their leadership. “Your view of the ground (truth) depends upon the height of the branch in the tree upon which you are standing,” he would explain. 
Nearly 3 million men and women make up the Department of Defense; how few truly have opportunity for gaining insight and understanding of the origins of legislation, budget, policy, and oversight? The Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Logistics Fellowship provides selected logisticians the opportunity to broaden ones perspective and consider other points of view.
The “OSD Logistics Fellows Program” is open to field grade officer and DOD civilian equivalent logisticians. This one-year, unit funded “fellowship” is a developmental assignment, with a goal to provide an atmosphere that fosters learning, growth, and experiential opportunities. The program is administered by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for logistics and materiel readiness. As a fellow you will have the unique opportunity to participate in policy formulation and department-wide oversight responsibilities.  
Fellows are fortunate to travel and tour both the public and private sectors in order to observe, contrast, and learn firsthand how logistics operations compare in private industry and benchmark best practices. Fellows, through visits to Congress, gain exposure and insight into the legislative processes. They’re also able to attend national-level forums and engage in collaborative efforts with industry partners. 
Depending on assignments, fellows may have the opportunity to visit and become familiar with other government agencies as well. Perhaps even more important, the fellowship affords participants opportunities to observe and interact with both appointed and career senior executives, and flag officers including, “one-on-one” meetings with senior logistics leaders in the military departments, Joint Staff, OSD and agencies.  
The insights and “big picture” knowledge to be gained are virtually endless, and the fellows themselves determine much of their training and class agendas. During my fellowship, I was tasked to resolve a long standing logistics policy challenge within the department and was also given considerable leeway to gain needed expertise, and formulate a recommendation, which led to publication of a new DOD directive. Other fellows led financial accountability program initiatives, participated in department-level awards processes, led world-wide maintenance symposiums, participated in source selection committees and a number of other department-level initiatives.  
Lastly, there’s a fellowship component to the OSD Logistics Fellowship. Fellows share a common bond, form a support structure and face many diverse challenges together. The OSD Logistics Fellows Program provides an opportunity to forge life long bonds and friendships with other logistics professionals and build networking capabilities which will serve them for the remainder of their careers and beyond. Upon completion, fellows return to their sponsoring organizations or follow-on assignments with increased management skills, technical expertise, and networks that span DOD logistics.
The OSD Logistics Fellows Program provides DOD logisticians not only a rich experiential odyssey but perhaps more important, the opportunity to obtain a deeper career understanding of the OSD perspective and how it affects the DOD enterprise.DOD 



civilian 



Field Grade Officer 



OSD Logistics Fellows Program 



fellows 



commentary Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil