One Team Warfare Center Logistics Community meeting emphasizes connection

PANAMA CITY, Fla. –

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Centers’ charge is to deliver readiness, capability and capacity by Innovating for the Fleet after Next, Building an Affordable Fleet for Tomorrow, and Sustaining the Fleet of Today.

The warfare center’s 10 Division – One Team mindset is focused on the mission success of the fleet and the warfighter by providing effective logistics – i.e., support for Fleet systems, which are operated and maintained by the warfighter.

The Warfare Center Logistics Community of Practice (WFC Log CoP)* recently came together as Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) hosted the in-person meeting, April 5-7.

Each warfare center previously rotated to host this event, but due to the health climate, this was the first in-person WFC Log CoP in two and a half years (September 2019).

Peter Halvorson, Lifecycle Logistics Competency Lead & E50 deputy division head for NSWC PCD, explained why the Florida panhandle became the restarting line.

“Panama City last hosted this event in February 2016 and since [2019’s face-to-face] we’ve had a lot of turnover in each activity’s membership. As one of the group’s elder statesmen, if you will, it just seemed to make sense to help kick it off again by hosting this face-to-face event,” Halvorson said. “Although the Logistics CoP meets monthly via Microsoft Teams, there’s just so much more to learn and share when you’re gathered together as a team and able to have real-time conversations and interact without the (oftentimes) inhibiting stiltedness of technology.”

The goal of this event was to bring together the logistics leadership from each warfare center to share best practices, lessons learned, and to collaborate on ways to improve the logistics competency as a whole across the One Team enterprise, Halvorson added.

Among many key topics, the group discussed Integrated Product Support Reviews, Battle Damage Assessments, Tabletop Exercises (TTxs), and the current state of the industrial supply base. Also, each participating activity contributed a “Getting to Know You” brief so that fellow attendees could learn about each other’s logistics organizations, their respective capabilities, and any unique logistics-related initiatives that might have value or benefit to the other warfare centers.

“In addition to the formal presentations, there is a lot to be learned from each other via the side bar conversations during breaks, the group lunches, social events, and other casual interactions where you get a chance to learn so much about your peers at the other warfare centers,” said Halvorson. “This particular face-to-face was also geared towards providing a chance for everyone to network and learn who the new faces are within the community. Most of us have only seen each other virtually, or listened via conference calls, but haven’t met or personally interacted with each other.”

The visit also included a tour of several NSWC PCD activities such as the Landing Craft Air Cushion facility, SEAL Delivery Vehicle/MK 18 lab, Mine Countermeasures / Littoral Combat Ship MCM lab, and the Hydrospace lab.

“The tour was informationally packed…led by their technical subject matter experts (SME) and it resulted in our group learning a lot about NSWC Panama City,” said Capt. Charles Tellis NAVSEA Warfare Center Headquarters chief logistician. “The technical SMEs were appreciated, as it facilitated some very good discussion. The group appreciated the tour and discussions with the Panama City team.”

Halvorson echoed Tellis’ sentiment and said the collaborative environment established and strengthened a sense of community.

“I wanted our attendees to walk away with a sense of community within the competency, and an overall willingness to work together and help each other grow and further Life Cycle Logistics as a functional area. One Team!” said Halvorson. “Now that we’ve re-started the face-to-face meetings with this one in Panama City, they should resume on an every six month schedule. Our next one is tentatively scheduled for later this fall.”

*The WFC Log CoP provides a forum for senior logisticians, representing each of the warfare centers, to promote and support lifecycle logistics strategic plan, support on-time delivery of ships and submarines, enable a culture of affordability and strengthen the warfare center team by providing the backbone to build and shape a next-generation product support and logistics workforce.

WFC L CoP members in attendance:

Joshua Erlien (NSWC Crane)

Michael Carothers (Naval Sea Logistics Center)

Brian Banks (NSWC Crane)

Tiffany German (NSWC Crane)

Robert Fried (NSWC IHD, Picatinny Det)

Michele Burk (NUWC Keyport)

Bill Carlson (NUWC Keyport, DTD)

Regina Dansbee (NUWC Keyport)

Caeleigh Villarreal (NUWC Keyport)

CAPT Charles Tellis (NSWC HQ)

Tim Carpenter (NSWC Port Hueneme)