Leaders of the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation presented their organization’s annual operating plan, or AOP, for fiscal year 2025 on Tuesday at Defense Supply Center Richmond in Virginia. Brig. Gen. Chad Ellsworth, commander of DLA Aviation, said the plan will keep his team accountable and guide future actions.
“It won’t just be a plan that goes on the shelf … at any time, we can say this is where we stand,” he told DLA Director Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly and other agency officials.
DLA regularly reviews the AOP of its major subordinate commands.
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DLA Aviation’s Workforce Challenges
During the presentation, Martha Tuck, director of procurement process support at DLA Aviation, discussed the command’s strategy to improve recruitment, retention and training of personnel.
She shared that the overall attrition rate for the MSC in fiscal year 2024 is 10 percent, which seems good, but about 40 percent of the employees who stepped down from their roles were from the contracting field. Tuck also warned that GS-13 employees are also leaving at a higher rate, with some directorates seeing 30 percent attrition at the GS-13 level.
Agency-Wide Objectives
As part of his presentation, Ellsworth discussed how the Aviation MSC’s plan complies with the objectives and expected timelines for the agency’s recently released 2025-2030 Strategic Plan. The plan is designed to address military logistics challenges across the land, sea, air, space and cyber domains.
Simerly noted during Tuesday’s meeting in Virginia that cross-function integration is crucial to meet the objectives of the strategic plan and commended Ellsworth for the detailed presentation.
“Our necessity to think differently, to act differently and to operate differently is embedded in our strategy,” the agency director commented.