Photo By Tim Hanson | Stefanie Adkins is the European Command division chief for the United States Army...... read more read more
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The civilian workforce of the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command consists of many backgrounds and experiences. From retired service members to those fresh out of college and every path in between, the security assistance enterprise professionals of USASAC prove that anyone determined and willing to learn and work hard, can succeed in whichever discipline they pursue.
Stefanie Adkins is currently the European Command Division Chief for USASAC, but long before she got to where she is now as a self-professed “security assistance dork” cultivating relationships with other nations for the sake of national and global security, she was a Food Service Management graduate with experience “slinging” blooming onions and overseeing social service programs as part of a nonprofit.
Seeing the need for personnel and taking a chance on a more stable career, Adkins said she walked into the SAE as a contractor knowing next to nothing about what she was getting into.
“At first it was all Greek to me,” she said. “But as I got up to speed, I ended up finding a career that I actually really love and enjoy.”
Adkins’s career as a civil servant started in 2010 as a weapon system manager with Communications and Electronics Command’s Security Assistance Management Directorate at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, where she stayed for five years.
Chasing warmer weather, she found herself in Huntsville at Aviation and Missile Command SAMD in 2015 first as a liaison officer to Program Manager Aviation Equipment (PM AME) then as an International Program Manager.
During this time, she initially served as the Foreign Military Sales liaison between a host of agencies and offices for all security assistance based avionic equipment within the PM AME portfolio before managing various aviation programs such as the Egyptian CH-47D and Afghanistan UH-60A programs.
“My time at AMCOM SAMD gave me that LNO and aviation experience that I think prepared me well for my transition to USASAC a few years later,” she said. “I started out at USASAC in 2018 as a country program manager on the Saudi (Arabia) team before becoming the team lead.”
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense leads all Army Foreign Military Sales with a total program value of over $25 billion. Adkins oversaw her team of two CPMs and two contractors ensuring not only that the FMS portfolio was kept up with but also that her subordinates were able to grow professionally on policies and procedures through formal and informal training.
While ensuring others the opportunity to develop and grow in their careers, Adkins, ever the go-getter, continued to push herself in her career, and landed professional development opportunity in Germany where she initially worked as a CPM Forward for AFRICOM.
“Going from working with Saudi Arabia and their high dollar portfolios to working with nations within AFRICOM created some rather unique challenges and complexities that I hadn’t necessarily had to navigate before,” she said. “We had to be able to stretch appropriated funds to get the biggest bang for their buck.”
She described the AFRICOM region as often overlooked and enjoyed being able to gain a better understanding of the importance of Africa on a global scale and how important it is to strengthen relationships there and make investments.
Just as she was getting comfortable working with AFRICOM partners, though, Adkins found herself dual-hatted with EUCOM now part of her workload just as Russia had invaded Ukraine.
“That transition was interesting because here I was brand new to the EUCOM portfolio, which is very different and presents its own sets of challenges and add an invasion so there’s an unprecedented amount of Presidential Drawdown Authority and equipment being expedited into theater in response,” she said.
As time went on, she said the operations tempo became more consistent but there were other factors such as the potential second and third order effects of the invasion to think about regarding nearby North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners and allies and the supply and production challenges that had followed the COVID pandemic that created more challenges within the EUCOM area of responsibility.
Having all that experience under her belt, Adkins is ready to take on this new role as EUCOM Division Chief.
“I’m very excited to be back here. It’s a dynamic and challenging time, but my time in EUCOM has really provided me a bigger picture insight into the why behind what we do and how it matters,” she said.
She went on to say she hopes to instill that bigger picture perspective in the workplace, especially with division chiefs and CPMs, as it is important to understand USASAC’s role in national defense policy and NATO objectives.
Asked what motivates her to continue pursuing security assistance after 15 years, Adkins said, “I believe in what we do. I believe in how we strengthen relationships with our partners and allies and how we strengthen them within their own countries and enable them to better secure and defend themselves.”
For those interested in a career with USASAC, visit USA Jobs for the latest openings.
| Date Taken: | 10.10.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.10.2024 08:19 |
| Story ID: | 482886 |
| Location: | HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 30 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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