Photo By Shelby West | Business and Strategic Planning Office (Code 1200) Service Acquisition Programs Branch...... read more read more
Not many people can say when the Navy recruiter came to their house, the recruiter had to be brought in by a snowmobile when it was dark outside. Business and Strategic Planning Office (Code 1200) Service Acquisition Programs Branch Head Matt Daigle experienced just that. At age 17, he picked up his Navy recruiter approximately two and a half miles from his house because the road was not plowed during the winter. Other than hiking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing in deep snow, there was no other way for the recruiter to get to the house.
“I was born and raised in house with no electricity,” said Daigle. “I lived in Fort Kent, Maine which is right on the Canadian border. We had a big log house in the middle of 250 acres of wooded land that overlooked the mountainside. We used propane gas for lights and cooking and our running water was gravity fed. During the winter months, a snowmobile was our main transportation.”
Daigle’s family owned a lumber company. This is one of the main reasons their house was built in an area that didn’t have common luxuries like electricity, cable television, and a telephone. Being the youngest of six children, he knew that the lumber company life would no longer an option after his father passed when he was 12-years-old. He decided to venture out into the world by joining the U.S. Navy.
“My first command was the USS Concord (AFS 5), a Mars class combat stores ship where I worked in the 600-pound steam plant and eventually becoming the Petty Officer in Charge of the auxiliary division (A-Gang) where I was a systems specialist who operated and maintained non-nuclear mechanical aboard the ship,” said Daigle. “After about five years, I transferred to Brunswick Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, where I was a Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) School instructor.”
At approximately his 10-year mark in the Navy, he decided to take an early retirement and go into law enforcement. However, after suffering a knee injury during the testing phase he entered the ship repair industry. After a stint at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, and at Oceaneering International, Chesapeake, Va., he started serving his country again as a federal employee for Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division as its Technical Services Program Manager, managing Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) SUBSAFE Contracts.
In 2015, Daigle made a move from the City of Brotherly Love to Hampton Roads where he assumed the Business Office’s contracting liaison position coordinating contract support from all the contracting authorities until Code 400 was stood up. Currently he is the chair for the Acquisition Review Board (ARB) where he is responsible for tactically and strategically assessing and approving overhead and depot and intermediate availability and emergent submarine and surface ship service contract candidates and strategy that are aligned with NNSY resources and capabilities. He schedules ARB sessions for the that have assessed and authorized the outsourcing of approximately 38,000 organic wrench turning man days via service contracts so far this fiscal year. Daigle is also the program manager for the Service Requirements Review Board (SRRB), which is a committee that validates what service contracts would be contracted out. The SRRB also decides an exit plan with any particular contract, to determine if it is work NNSY employees can do. He schedules SRRB sessions where the board has assessed and authorized the outsourcing of approximately $153 million worth of service contracts so far this fiscal year.
“I enjoy what I do because I get to work with so many people throughout the shipyard,” said Daigle. “Whether if it’s helping someone put together all the necessary documents together for a project or to ensure top quality for the project is being met. It’s really rewarding helping someone to accomplish their goal.”
Aiding others doesn’t stop at the shipyard’s gates for Daigle. He takes his love of riding motorcycles and combines it with his attachment to the Chesapeake/Virginia Beach Combat Veteran’s Motorcycle Association Chapter (CVMA).
“I am a combat veteran, so I ride with Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association,” said Daigle. “We are a 501(c)(19) non-profit organization and we ride and raise money through events and donations and turn it right back to veterans programs we support. We recently got back from riding to Colorado Springs and back for our national annual meeting and I typically average over 8,000 miles per year for the CVMA.”
Whether it be on his 2020 Harley Davidson Road Glide or sitting at his desk at NNSY, Daigle will continue to serve others until he is unable to serve anymore.
Daigle stated, “I believe charity first begins at home, for me, home are veterans and America’s Shipyard and I am proud to serve both.”
| Date Taken: | 07.19.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2023 07:23 |
| Story ID: | 449519 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 172 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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