month, she recognized the skills of her new deputy logistics chief, even as he was still learning the job. “I trusted him almost immediately,” said McSpadden. “His demeanor and his professionalism and his understanding of the whole process of supply chain was just outstanding. I didn’t have to question anything. I gave him my eagles and we went forward making changes.” Though fluent in law enforcement operations, Dellamura realized he had a lot to learn when it came to understanding the Coast Guard’s mission support platforms. Learning the financial systems was like putting new names to old faces— many of them similar, smaller-scale versions of nationwide processes and supply chains he understood at DHS. The Coast Guard was still getting used to Dellamura too. McSpadden said she needed to run interference occasionally with approvals, holding meetings and making introductions for her deputy, but once the connections were made and Dellamura’s reputation was established, the supplies began to flow. “We were able to get buy-in from the bases to update their records to see where the shortfalls were so we could monitor levels and get supplies in when we needed them,” said McSpadden. Previously, each ship and land-based unit had been handling their own supply requests, but items would show up late, orders would require multiple shipments, and products were not standardized. Dellamura could see that the current systems were more costly and inefficient. “It’s like when you’re ordering more than one thing online, and it all comes in the same box,” he said. “It’s the same idea.” Lt. j.g. Mary Sweet, the supply officer on the Coast Guard Cutter Confidence, had been on the job for the last year, covering all logistics and supply for her ship. Sweet said the ship’s crew had begun to see an increased flow of migrants, and everyone worked hard to keep up with the pace of operations. At times, the Confidence held several hundred migrants, working with the Coast Guard’s smaller fast response cutters to safely care for the migrants aboard as they were processed and awaiting disposition for repatriation. “We’d have to put in requests with line items to be transferred like property, like ‘300 spoons, 300 cups…’ or whatever we needed,” she said. “It was a lot of moving pieces.” “We needed all kinds of supplies—infant formula, markers for wristbands, trash bags, blankets—we needed to be able to restock at the rate that we were bringing people aboard,” said Sweet. “At one point we were cutting blankets in half to be able to have enough for each person.” Sweet and other unit supply officers were sending requests to Sector Miami and Sector Key West. As the cutter crews would come in for port calls, they’d grab supplies. Other times, station boats would run more items out to the cutters, or ships departing the Florida Straits would pass on leftover supplies. Cutters shared supplies on scene as well, combining stashes of items to support operations. Sweet worked to order enough supplies, but ordering large quantities of each type of item and coordinating to get them on board when she needed them was difficult. Within weeks of his arrival, Dellamura began to change the process in a noticeable way. Day by day, more logistics solutions dawned on him, and he greased the skids with the supply officers and commanding officers of the units working OVS operations. Dellamura said he made a lot of introductions, telling his story again and again. He’d explain that he wasn’t the average ME1, and he asked for their trust in him. “When I’m looking at three sectors, four bases, two air stations, half a dozen cutters, and 15 small boats, I see that they’re all submitting their logistics needs to me— equipment requests,” said Dellamura. “I have a real opportunity to streamline this process.” SPRING 2024 — 15
