Courtesy Photo | Keith McDonald at his Honolulu District work station. “It’s ideal to use the home...... read more read more
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By Keith McDonald
Realty specialist
Honolulu District
HONOLULU - When U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters sent out a call for volunteers to support the Defense Logistics Agency Program, I was pretty well prepared to sign on. And I did.
In 2008 I retired after a 20-year Army career. While I had active duty experience as a forward observer and a Firefinder radar technician, much of my experience was in the operations realm.
My last Army duty station was in Hawaii on Wheeler Army Airfield, where I was dual-hatted as a realty specialist and operations sergeant major for the Director of Public Works. They later hired me as a civilian.
I later transferred to Fort Benning, Ga., where again I was dual-hatted as a real property accountability officer and a realty specialist. There I had regular contact with the USACE Savannah District in terms of requesting their support to draft and issue real estate instruments. They also provided me professional guidance in managing Army real property. I did what I could to seize the opportunity to learn more about the USACE real estate operations.
Now I’m on the other side of the garrison fence, having accepted a job three years ago with the Honolulu District, bringing me back to my adopted home. Most real estate dealings the district has with the United States Army Garrison Hawaii now come across my desk. I have regular back and forth contact with the real estate personnel at Wheeler who I originally hired on to the federal government with. I truly believe serving on both sides has benefited myself as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District. I’m happy to be a part of the team working with a group of smart realty specialists.
The USACE is supporting the DLA’s efforts to comply with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, which requires auditable financial statements to improve accountability. This effort includes site visits at DLA facilities worldwide to assess environmental and facility conditions and to inventory real property.
When the request came across my boss Michael Sakai’s desk seeking DLA volunteers, I was able to provide insight to my district colleagues as they were deciding whether to get involved. This was based on my prior experience working as an augmenter to the Corps of Engineers.
I’d earlier volunteered for a program to help comply with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, which has a strong real estate component to make sure all assets are properly accounted for. During my initial tour of duty in Hawaii, I was flown from Hawaii to Fort Knox, Ky., where I was introduced to Sharron Montgomery of the Fort Worth District, one of the program leads. Teams paired a representative from the Corps with a representative from garrison-level real estate. Montgomery tucked me under her wing and taught me all that I needed to know to be effective in file management, taking proper photos, data collection and resolving issues and conflicts related to real estate.
My real estate colleagues Raymond Takamiya and Zandra Smith also signed on deciding to volunteer their time to support the DLA Program.
I got my feet wet with DLA in a site visit to Alaska. Facing the cold wasn’t the biggest challenge – I grew up a few miles outside of Philadelphia and knew enough to wear layered clothing. What did take some adjustment was meshing with the team’s real property battle rhythm.
I went in with my own ideas of how the DLA real estate inventory should be done. But Lovette Oporto, from Fort Worth District Real Estate, taught me the routine for being a useful and skilled realty specialist for a program already well-established and organized. I operated in the capacity of a data collector and recorder, took photos, and used a GPS to provide coordinates for equipment and facilities.
When the USACE DLA team landed for a three-week tour of installations in Hawaii last year, I was more than well-prepared with my knowledge of area installations. Again I was paired with Montgomery by supporting the real estate inventory team site visits to Wheeler Army Airfield, Schofield Barracks and Pohakuloa Training Area.
It was ideal to use the home team in Hawaii. We’re able to lead the way around installations that we’re already very familiar with. And you know what? I believe that the Honolulu District realty specialists also got a lot of valuable experience out of the DLA Program.
We enjoyed working and interacting with our Corps colleagues from across the country. It was enlightening to do something different from what we typically do. We have a better understanding of installations in our own area of responsibility. Typically, most of our work is done from an office setting and from map reconnaissance. The DLA support gave us a hands-on, detailed look in the field. This benefits us with ongoing work that supports the garrison.
I stand ready to volunteer for the DLA Program in the future. In the meantime, I’m building another relationship with the mainland. My daughter has recently enrolled as a student at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, just an hour’s drive up the road from the Fort Worth District office.
More ties that bind!
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2014 16:00 |
| Story ID: | 123343 |
| Location: | HONOLULU, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 365 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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