NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Nov. 10, 2022) – Pamela King, general supply specialist in the Logistics Section, is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District Employee of the Month for August 2022. She is recognized primarily for her efforts to recover a missing property within the district office and streamlining the sub-hand receipt process.
Lt. Col. Joseph Sahl, Nashville District commander, announced King’s selection stating, “Pamela is a fantastic choice, representing our unsung heroes, working thru unglamorous challenges, like hand receipts!”
As a general supply specialist, King is responsible for a wide array of duties including expediting, directing, and identifying necessary actions to assure timely support of inventory processes. She is also responsible for managing all property and hand receipts for the Nashville District, issue and disposal of excess property, managing the upload of purebred software onto government cell phones issued within the district office, and ensuring all equipment is tracked through the logistics’ section property books.
King was nominated by Jason Klinger, district chief of security. Klinger is not her supervisor, but felt it was important for him to show his appreciation and gratitude for King’s efforts to go above and beyond her prescribed duties.
“Everyone deserves a pat on the back. It means even more when it comes from outside your direct chain [of responsibility],” said Klinger.
She discovered a handheld radio missing during a recent inventory. According to Klinger, “it’s not uncommon for small items with low costs to get transferred erroneously from one position to another.” While smaller items tend to go unnoticed, they still have an impact because the government incurs the cost of the loss. Additionally, it pulls employees away from other important tasks to investigate the loss.
King’s effort and dedication did not end with locating the missing hand-held radio. She went on to identify a better process to help the security office manage and account for end user property. Her data processing efforts makes it easier determine the radio’s last known user and streamline the accountability process.
Theuron Owens, district logistics’ manager and King’s supervisor, said it’s an honor to see King receive this award. “It’s not uncommon to see Pamela go the extra mile. She loves what she does, and she is dedicated to helping people.”
Owens believes King’s professionalism and dedication to the mission and values of the Nashville District has put her on the path to becoming a district logistics manager herself.
The logistics section has come to rely on King. Since she began her Corps career in 2017, she has demonstrated a solid track record of locating missing property for hand receipt holders. “When hand receipt holders have missing property, Pamela works with them to locate the property, before a Financial Liability of Property Loss (FLIPL) is initiated,” said Owens. Her efforts have saved the Nashville District thousands of dollars and prevented hand receipt holders from receiving adverse actions for missing property.
An Army Veteran, King served as a “92Y” Unit Supply specialist for nine years. She was assigned to a unique company with teams and equipment spread out in more than one location.
“I always had to find ways to make it easy on me and the company to complete inventories,” King said. She attributes her ability to meet the unique needs of the Nashville District to her time spent meeting mission goals while deployed.
“Be patient and calm; no one can catch a fish in anger,” said Herbert Hoover. King offers this quote as a reflection of her professional ethics. “Not all property account holders understood my goals, or know I am here to make their job easier,” said King. Instead of getting frustrated with her customers, King is inspired to identify pain points for the customers and alleviate them to build trust and collaboration.
During her onboarding, King noticed account holders did not have a clear understanding of how much property they needed to inventory. Often, account holders underestimated the time it would take in addition to their assigned duties. To help alleviate the pressure, King, shipped out the property scanner 60 days prior to the inventory completion date. This ensured they had plenty of time finish the inventory. She didn’t stop there. “I also created a SharePoint site to keep track of inventory due dates within 90 days of their overdue date,” said King.
“If we can help mitigate issues and fix information on their [account holders] accounts, inventories become easier and the account holder is happier,” King said. To her, receiving this award means not only is she doing her job well, but she’s making her customers happy in the process.
(The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps.
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