Marine Corps Logistics Command Albany, Ga. -- Each year, one individual throughout the Marine Corps is awarded the esteemed Logistician of the Year.
The recipient of the 2018 Marine Corps Civilian Logistician of the Year Award is Marine Corps Logistics Command’s own Harold W. Melching, branch head, Materiel Management Branch.
He was presented the award by Lieutenant General Charles G. Chiarotti, deputy commandant, deputy commandant for Installation and Logistics, during a ceremony held at the Pentagon, March 28.
“I am very humbled,” Melching said after receiving the award. “I just do my job every day. I love my job and I will continue to do it to the best of my abilities.”
He said the award was definitely not an individual effort, it was a team effort.
“This award may have my name on it but it is a team effort,” he stressed. “Everything we do, we do as a team.”
According to the award citation, Melching was nominated for his contributions and performance throughout the year in two different roles, the Marine Corps Logistics Command II Marine Expeditionary Force reparable issue point site lead and the lead logistics management analyst for the Marine Corps Wholesale Activity.
Melching said his team at II MEF managed secondary items owned by the Marine Corps.
He explained that a secondary item, such as circuit cards to engines, is something that can be repaired and in turn, will repair something else, the end item.
“We send assets in for repair and we purchase those secondary items that cannot be repaired,” Melching said. “Secondary repair items are purchased to fill an immediate requirement and the rest are stored for a future anticipated requirement.
“We go through a process called stratification where we try and anticipate future demands by looking at historical data,” he continued. “We try to have stock on hand to alleviate the customer having to wait for a part.”
The citation further states Melching’s leadership directly contributed to the Marine Corps Retail and Wholesale Secondary Reparable inventory valued at $1.6 billion being managed effectively and efficiently to result in record high levels of Secondary Reparable Readiness over 99.5 percent.
He also improved Wholesale Secondary Reparable management processes to result in a Requisition Objective Attainment metric increase from 70 percent to 90 percent and a Wholesale First-Pass Fill Rate metric increase from 30 percent to over 50 percent.
Melching emphasized that the numbers in the citation reflects this team here at Marine Corps Logistics Command and the team at II Marine Expeditionary Force.
“When you work together as a team, you are going to have numbers like this,” he said. “You always try and figure out what the right solution is and how to best take care of your customer, the warfighter.”
Customer service is very important to Melching because he served as an enlisted Marine.
“I know what it is like to be on the other side and receive the support that we give,” he said. “Having been over there and now here, I always ask the question, ‘what do we have to do to take care of the Marines?”
According to Melching, he served with a couple of infantry units and combat engineers while on active duty.
“Combat engineers are SECREP heavy,” he said. “I’ve got good friends in tank battalions that used to come in every day and ask what is going on with a certain piece of equipment. I had to be honest and tell them the truth, it may not be what wanted to hear but at least they knew what was going on with that piece of gear or vehicle.
“I know what it feels like to have to tell a command general, chief warrant officer or a private that you don’t have their parts and we are not going to get it until the end of next year,” he said. “That’s not good, especially when they are expecting to have their readiness up. It’s not what you want to tell them but it is what you have to tell them.”
Melching is not the only civilian-Marine in MARCORLOGCOM to receive the prestigious award.
“Jeff Melazo, Iris Perez, Andrew Trout and Patton Jones, they have all received the award and those are big names in the logistics community,” he said. “It’s an honor to be in this elite group.”
He added that Jones is his mentor and he now sits in the same cubical once occupied by him.
Phillip Kirkman, director, Retail Integration Division, Logistics Service Management Center, MARCORLOGCOM, has been Melching’s supervisor for four years. He said those who receive the Logistician of the Year Award are technical proficiency, have management experience, and have an unwavering commitment to increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of logistics support are at the upmost level.
“Melching's performance as a logistician is unparalleled among his peers,” he said. “His accomplishments during his years in the SECREP community, including multiple years of deployed service as the Coordinated SECREP Management lead both in Iraq and Afghanistan, placed him beyond his peers. He surrounded himself with achievement, built success in those around him, and was the glue that helped the team put it altogether.
Kirkman described Melching as an extremely hard and dedicated worker.
“He worked tirelessly to maximize retail-level secondary item availability with superb supply responsiveness at the local level,” Kirkman said. “His leadership, expertise in the management of secondary items, and unwavering commitment to increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of supply support have been invaluable.”
Melching has also had a direct impact on operational force combat readiness, according to Kirkman, “His technical proficiency and his significant supply chain management experience have made him the perfect teacher, mentor and lead adviser in support of the Marine Expeditionary Forces,” he added.