Richmond course spotlights the people powering wholesale logistics

Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support brought nearly 80 Marines and civilian aviation supply professionals to Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia, in June for a three-day course designed to demystify what happens after a part is ordered on the flight line and before it arrives in a maintainer’s hands.

Participants, ranging in rank from lance corporal to lieutenant colonel and traveling from U.S. bases and as far as Iwakuni and Okinawa, Japan, stepped through the wholesale side of military aviation supply: how planners, logisticians, engineers, program offices, original equipment manufacturers and DLA specialists coordinate to keep Marine Corps aircraft mission ready. Instructor-led discussions, interactive scenarios and practical exercises emphasized how choices made in squadron supply shops ripple across the global system that buys, stores and delivers parts.

Many of the students spend their days at the organizational, or “retail,” level—identifying requirements, ordering parts and supporting maintenance within their units. The course showed how DLA operates at the wholesale level, managing inventory and industry relationships and orchestrating distribution to customers across the services.

Marine Lance Cpl. Paulett Ruiz Guillen, who works in aviation supply with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 39 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, said she came to Richmond seeking clarity on what happens after she submits a requisition. “I work with DLA every day,” Guillen said. “I wanted to understand more about the whole process.” By the end of the course, she said her view had changed: “You just see a whole different side from what you usually work on,” Guillen said. “You don’t see what they’re doing on their side. It’s amazing to see what they’re doing, how they see it and how it works.”

Capt. Lance Winkler, DLA Weapons Support H-1 and H-53E weapon systems program officer, said that giving Marines a clear picture of the larger system helps them make better choices long before a missing part threatens a sortie. The curriculum introduced students to the people behind the email addresses and phone numbers—DLA planners, program offices, fleet support teams and manufacturers—and placed them in realistic scenarios to illustrate how each organization contributes to keeping aircraft flying.

Officials said the collaboration is paying off. Since Marines began partnering with DLA Weapons Support in 2015 to improve aviation supply processes, the share of Non-Mission Capable Supply requisitions ultimately canceled because the parts were no longer needed has fallen from nearly 44% to about 22.7%, a decline Winkler credits largely to education and stronger ties between retail and wholesale communities.

For some, the biggest takeaway was seeing the human side of a system that can feel impersonal. Karen Gonzalez Navarette, supply management division staff noncommissioned officer in charge with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, traveled more than a dozen hours to attend. “It’s very important for us to understand the whole process,” Gonzalez Navarette said. “I wanted to understand more how both sides work and how they work together.” She added that much of DLA’s effort had been out of sight. “A lot of times we make assumptions that it’s just an automated process and nobody’s watching our requisition,” Gonzalez Navarette said. “It was very important to see that there’s actually somebody who’s expediting our requisitions and how involved they are. It also put a face to the names.” The experience, she said, reshaped her view of the agency’s role: “It has changed my perspective as far as how DLA actually works to support customers,” Gonzalez Navarette said.

Staff Sgt. Ixchel Ortiz, an inspector with the First Marine Aircraft Wing Aviation Supply Management Team in Okinawa, Japan, said the course underscored how much hinges on clear communication between units and wholesale providers. “There’s a lot that gets lost in translation when emails are getting sent back and forth,” Ortiz said. “Having this knowledge and getting exposed to this again is kind of a reminder of how we’re falling short. These tools are accessible to us, especially as staff noncommissioned officers and managers, and we should be following through.”

One lesson resonated across classrooms: when a unit cancels a requisition, recording why the need changed is crucial. Without that feedback, wholesale planners lose insight that informs future buys and where to position stock, reducing the system’s ability to anticipate demand and pre-stage parts before aircraft go down. Ortiz put it plainly: “The customer…they cancel the requisition that’s outstanding in the external system that DLA is currently working, and DLA isn’t necessarily tracking why,” Ortiz said. “When it comes to future planning, forecasting and creating that demand so our locations can stock those parts, it really affects our supply effectiveness.”

Ortiz said she plans to share the material across the Pacific. “Especially at the managerial level, if you have staff noncommissioned officers that have never worked in operations, this gives them exposure to understand the support that DLA provides,” Ortiz said. “It’s kind of just emails sent back and forth. Definitely the exposure to the names that we are consistently emailing back and forth.”

Beyond the classroom content, participants and organizers pointed to relationship-building as the course’s enduring value. Working side by side with DLA employees, industry partners, fleet support teams and program offices allowed Marines to ask hard questions, explain the realities in their own shops and see how seemingly small actions—such as timely updates on cancellations—shape outcomes across the enterprise.

For Guillen, the course illuminated what happens after she hits “submit.” For Gonzalez Navarette, it put faces to the names behind her requisitions. And for Ortiz, it reinforced a commitment to closing communication gaps that can ground aircraft. Students left Richmond with a clearer understanding that every requisition launches a complex, collaborative effort to deliver the right part to the right place at the right time.