Photo By Willliam D. Ritter | Brig. Gen. Ronnie Anderson Jr., commander of the Joint Munitions Command, listens to...... read more read more
RICHMOND, Ky. (March 20, 2025) — Brig. Gen. Ronnie Anderson Jr. recently toured the Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County, Kentucky, and he asked one predominant question: “What can I do to help?”
Anderson, the commander of the Joint Munitions Command, BGAD's higher headquarters, toured several key depot areas but started the tour by congratulating employee Adam Trent for winning JMC's Innovation Challenge.
Trent is a maintenance mechanic in BGAD’s Care of Supplies in Storage and Force Provider departments. Part of Trent's job is repainting metal shipping containers for the Force Provider, and that task is what generated Trent’s winning idea.
The Force Provider program is a modular military basecamp life-support center constructed within the confines of standard metal shipping containers. The containers are used for environmentally controlled billeting, food service, hygiene, power generation and distribution, petroleum and water storage and distribution, and shower water recycling and can be deployed to Soldiers around the world in 24 hours.
Trent stated it took two or three BGAD employees the greater part of a day to tape up one metal shipping container for painting with traditional painter's tape. He used his experience at home, using magnetic painter's tape, as inspiration for the heavy-duty magnetic painter tapes on BGAD's Force Provider containers. This magnetic painter tape goes on metal shipping containers twice as fast as traditional paper painter tape and can be reused. The idea is projected to save the JMC enterprise several million dollars annually in both man-hours and supply costs.
While touring BGAD's 155 mm facility, Anderson and Col. Sam Morgan, BGAD’s commander, were briefed by Dr. Joe Weis, Director of Safety for BGAD.
Weis and his team are implementing the depot's Process Safety Management program, an OSHA regulation requiring employers to identify, evaluate, and control hazards associated with highly hazardous chemicals and explosives. The goal of PSM is to prevent the release of dangerous chemicals and energy – to stop a catastrophe before it happens.
"I have started implementing PSM here at BGAD, and completion and full implementation are slated for the end of the third quarter of 2025," said Weis. "I developed the standard operating process whereas the PSM, while written for the 105 mm line, can be implemented for other process lines if needed at BGAD.”
BGAD refurbishes 105 mm and 155 mm artillery rounds and is looking to transition the 105 mm facility to handle other-sized munitions. The transition from the current 105 mm and 155 mm munitions will enable BGAD to provide a new 155mm variant with greater lethality.
Anderson also toured BGAD’s Special Operations Forces Munitions facilities and the depot’s Consolidated Shipping Center and received a demonstration from BGAD's Electronic Security Systems Manager regarding ongoing artificial intelligence surveillance capabilities and threat detection. BGAD has been testing artificial intelligence security possibilities for over a year, and the DOD is looking at AI's ability to enhance existing security.
BGAD, a 15,000-acre Army installation, is best known for its storage and demilitarization of chemical weapons. However, the depot’s primary and less known mission is to receive, store, ship, refurbish, inspect, and demilitarize conventional munitions around the globe.
Anderson's visit was an opportunity for him to see many of BGAD's lesser-known missions and offer assistance as needed for the depot to move forward. His questions highlighted his desire to help BGAD improve readiness and lethality, as well as securing new revenue streams moving forward.
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2025 16:26 |
| Story ID: | 493384 |
| Location: | RICHMOND, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Senior Commander Offers Help as BGAD Shapes Future Operations, by Willliam D. Ritter, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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