2024 Highlights: Southeast

Even a glance at Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services' Southeast region provides a day-in-the-life snapshot of warfighter support through avenues such as the nation's centralized demilitarization center, hurricane donation, and large-scale initiatives disposing of materials ranging from legacy platforms to benches and street signs.

The Southeast team was heavily involved in two major projects throughout 2024. The first of those is the turn-in of "Confederate States of America" property. Items that were deemed to commemorate the former CSA states - or those who served in the Confederacy - were either considered "unique property" or turned over to various museums for display, and DLA received all additional CSA items lacking historical, cultural, or monetary value for disposal, with Fort Liberty turning over the most items for destruction.

"CSA included renaming of the nine military bases," said Region Director Becky Watson. "Along with turning in a lot of the property signage, patches, helmets or anything that has the emblem or name of that base would get turned into a DS site. We were able to account for everything that was to be destroyed through a meticulous accountability process."

The second of the large-scale initiatives is the U.S. Army's Rapid Removal of Excess effort to modernize their workforce and legacy platforms. By eliminating this excess equipment, the Army plans to alleviate the burdens of storage, maintenance, and accountability.

"Basically, R2E is a process to support the Army's divestiture effort," said Danny Kim, operations program manager out of the Jacksonville site. "This process is taking place in a phased approach. They have to identify the requirement, and we respond to it."

This marks the first year of this program as the effort is scheduled to take place over a five-year window. Southeast is one of the initial footprints kicking off this effort as materials and equipment are turned in across the region. During fiscal 2024, approximately 132,000 pieces of equipment were approved for disposition.

As the year ends, the emphasis shifts toward how to best support the warfighter in 2025. One of the primary ways the agency will look to accomplish that is through reutilization.

"The big focus is on reutilization," said Watson. "We're here to take the services' property and give back to the warfighter, that's why we exist. We will continue to focus our processes and attention to detail in support of that."

Southeast not only saw major events operationally across the region, but also multiple modernization efforts. Construction and remodeling projects will provide improvements and prepare the sites to operate more efficiently.

"Our 2024 was defined in several locations by major construction," said Audrey Weber, deputy director of the region. "The Anniston military construction project is ongoing, Warner is going through a major renovation, and Eglin is almost done with their renovation as well."

Navigating the long and winding road of modernization while maintaining a high operations tempo is a testament to the hard-working members of the Southeast team, enduring not just the daily challenges of work but also Mother Nature - as Hurricanes Helene and Milton impacted the region. As Watson discussed Fort Liberty losing a beloved member of its staff earlier this year, it served as a reminder of how important each person is and how close knit they are as a team. These obstacles have not deterred Southeast as they come together, continuing to ensure DLA Disposition Services remains the nation's center for reverse logistics excellence.

"The Southeast team is resilient and very hard working. It's very demanding, but it's very fulfilling and worthwhile work supporting the warfighter," said Watson.