DLA leaders get firsthand look at combat readiness at DLA Troop Support

Philadelphia — The Defense Logistics Agency’s top leaders spent two days at DLA Troop Support assessing how the Philadelphia-based command translated strategy into measurable gains in fiscal 2026 and setting an aggressive digital modernization agenda for fiscal 2027.

DLA Director U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly and Vice Director Brad Bunn met Sept. 10-11 with DLA Troop Support Commander U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Sean Kelly and his team to review progress on contested logistics readiness, workforce development, audit rigor and data-driven supply chain performance. The visit underscored the command’s role in delivering food, uniforms, medical materiel and other essentials to service members worldwide while building the data and analytics backbone the agency wants to scale across its enterprise.

“Troop Support is leading from the front in terms of digitization,” Bunn said. “I’m looking to develop my own control, or observation, tower for visibility at headquarters and am deeply interested in what Troop Support is pioneering.”

Kelly said the organization hit its combat support targets last year while laying the groundwork for faster, more predictive decision-making across its four supply chains. “This team is laser-focused on warfighter readiness,” Kelly said. “Across our fiscal year 2026 objectives, the workforce understood leadership’s intent and executed. As we brief our accomplishments and demonstrate our live supply chain capabilities, you will see progress made, momentum gained and readiness accomplished as we prepare to transition directly into fiscal year 2027.”

Under its “Set the Globe” priority, DLA Troop Support formalized an emergency operations staff, updated readiness tracking systems and stress-tested continuity by spinning up a 24/7 crisis coordination center in under an hour. The command also validated response times during major joint exercises Global Thunder and Keen Edge 26. “Our exercises directly prepared this organization for the complexities of the current operating environment and contested logistics,” Kelly said. “Throughout operations, we were constantly assessing ourselves, pivoting where needed and examining how we balance routine peacetime stocks against crisis reserves to ensure credible deterrence and forward readiness.”

The command highlighted people-focused progress as a linchpin for sustained performance. DLA Troop Support Deputy Commander Christopher Mosher said three Pathways to Career Excellence onboarding classes brought approximately 240 entry-level professionals into the workforce, backfilling critical vacancies and bringing headcount to 2,240 employees entering fiscal 2027. “Fiscal 2026 was a transformational year at DLA Troop Support from a human capital standpoint,” Mosher said. “We have an energized, new workforce, and we are building a team to be in place at DLA Troop Support well into the future.”

Simerly applauded the emphasis on career development and a transparent growth path for civilian logisticians. “I truly appreciate you investing in your people,” Simerly said. “I get excited about an employee development strategy like this because it clearly shows people where they are today and where they want to go tomorrow. I want to see how these principal gains across human capital directly translate into agility, precision and responsive support for each of our supply chains.”

Kelly said the command has embraced the Strategic Workforce Optimization Plan to standardize cross-functional training for new hires. “We are investing in our greatest asset,” Kelly said. “We have a significant number of new personnel, and each of our supply chains has developed cross-functional training plans to integrate them. The opportunities ahead for these employees and our mission are tremendous.”

Audit discipline featured prominently as a readiness enabler. The command reported that standardizing supplier-managed inventory practices and expanding on-site physical inspections across all four supply chains have it trending toward a 98% accuracy rate for commercial inventory balances. “Managing resources is a priority,” Bunn said. “Do we know what we have, where we have it and what condition it is in? It is our responsibility to manage inventory for warfighter support, ensuring we have what the warfighter needs when they need it, while remaining a dependable customer to our industrial base partners.”

Leaders also showcased live digital dashboards and data tools that, according to the command, helped generate more than $650 million in price savings, cut long-standing food backorders by 23%, reduced medical backorders by 15% and sustained recruit training center uniform fill rates above 98%. “As we mature our artificial intelligence capabilities, the question becomes what additional data we need to extract the full power of the system and increase our decision speed,” Bunn said.

In the Pacific, DLA Troop Support reported record shipments of combat field rations, operational supplies and emergency runway repair equipment, alongside expanded food service contracts across multiple countries to accelerate crisis response. “Our transition into fiscal year 2027 is about action and momentum,” Kelly said. “Each key result builds directly on the last, with an uncompromising focus on the end-user experience. As we scale AI through our digital acceleration teams, we are ensuring our digital assets are fully capable so that we are in the best position to deploy modernized systems across the command and the enterprise.”

Looking ahead, officials said the command will quicken execution on core priorities: mapping business workflows to remove bottlenecks, shortening contract award times, reducing supplier delivery delays, clearing backlogged accounting lines and deploying AI tools that can sustain the Joint Force at speed and scale. “Setting the agency is a top priority, and to do that we must deliver,” Simerly said. “Fiscal year 2027 must be about less deciding and more doing. We need to build products and AI tools that work for us, consolidating information for faster decision-making, eliminating operational friction and keeping our workforce engaged so they know their role in driving warfighter readiness.”

Bunn urged the team to keep demonstrating measurable outcomes to the military services. “I’m excited for what you have delivered and what lies ahead,” Bunn said. “In fiscal year 2027, remain focused on digital strategy and on DLA’s value proposition. When the military services look to us, they rely on our response, agility, readiness and cost avoidance. You have a great leadership team here, and I appreciate everything this team represents.”

DLA Troop Support, headquartered in Philadelphia and part of the Defense Logistics Agency, manages subsistence, clothing and textiles, medical materiel, construction and equipment, and industrial hardware for the U.S. military and other federal customers. The visit reflects a broader Pentagon push to harden supply chains for contested environments, harness data to improve decision advantage and deliver reliable, cost-effective support to forces worldwide.