[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 106 (Friday, July 29, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9445-S9446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            MILITARY CAREER OF COLONEL WILLIAM A. GUINN, USA

  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise today to offer remarks on the 
military career of Col. William A. Guinn,

[[Page S9446]]

U.S. Army, and to offer my appreciation to Colonel Guinn on his years 
of dedicated service to our country.
  Col. William A. Guinn has made numerous and significant contributions 
to the U.S. Army in a career of over 27 years, culminating with his 
assignment as Commander, Letterkenny Army Depot from July 2002 to 
August 2005. During the past 10 years, Colonel Guinn distinguished 
himself through meritorious service while serving in positions of great 
responsibility. His leadership and support to members of the Armed 
Forces, the units and commands in which he served, and local 
communities mark him as an exceptional leader and contributor to the 
Armed Forces of the United States.
  From 1996 to 1998 Colonel Guinn commanded the 123rd Main Support 
Battalion, MSB, 1st Armored Division Support Command, Dexheim, Germany. 
In July of 1996, the same month he took command, Colonel Guinn was 
ordered to begin redeployment of his unit while not losing any levels 
of support to the Multi-National Division-North. In less than 1 year, 
Colonel Guinn was again directed to deploy his units into Bosnia as 
part of the NATO lead stabilization force, SFOR. After 26 months of 
command duty, Colonel Guinn moved forward and became one of the select 
few chosen to attend the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
  In June 1999, Colonel Guinn reported to the headquarters, U.S. 
Pacific Command, as a member of the J4 staff. Within his first 90 days, 
he assumed the challenge of coordinating the United States' support in 
the emerging nation of East Timor. While assisting the U.S. commitment 
to Operation Stabilize, the Australia-led operation to bring peace and 
stability to East Timor by international forces, East Timor, lNTERFET, 
he planned and executed the first major deployment of contracted 
support to military forces. Within a year Colonel Guinn would be given 
another mission of international and U.S. strategic importance when 
Navy surveillance aircraft, the EP-3E BUNO 15651, was forced down in 
the Peoples Republic of China, PRC, after an in-air collision with a 
PRC Air Force fighter aircraft on April 1, 2001.
  After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Colonel Guinn was 
tasked to coordinate the regional U.S. response in the opening stages 
of the global war on terror. Colonel Guinn's knowledge of establishing 
forward logistics bases in remote locations was instrumental in 
establishing a base in Zamboanga for special forces units to train 
Philippine soldiers in tactics to resist terrorist insurgents.
  In July 2002, Colonel Guinn took command of Letterkenny Army Depot, 
LEAD, in Chambersburg, PA. When he arrived, LEAD was still wrestling 
with the effects of the downsizing and reductions from the base 
realignment and closing, BRAC, actions. The infrastructure was being 
shed to comply with the BRAC 1995 realignment and Letterkenny was 
struggling to define its future.
  Because of aggressive and progressive planning, Colonel Guinn has 
been able to more than double the workload and output of Letterkenny. 
He developed a strategy to grow the workload, which in turn made the 
depot a more competitive and efficient producer of materiel in support 
of global war on terror. First, he identified niche areas where the 
core capabilities of the depot and its skilled tradesmen could best 
utilize their strengths. Second, he went directly to nontraditional 
military customers such as the Special Operations Command, SOCOM, to 
show what the depot had to offer and how the depot could meet the needs 
of the warfighter. Finally, he built on the existing core depot work 
supporting air defense and tactical missiles to grow that part of the 
business in a competitive environment. During his tenure workload is up 
over 200 percent in dollars and over 100 percent in terms of manhours.
  Colonel Guinn directed an analysis and a strategic plan for human 
resources and workforce replenishment at the depot. Recruitment targets 
and strategies of tying into technical schools were put in place. The 
first 4-year apprenticeship program was adopted under Colonel Guinn. 
Interns began to arrive for the first time in a decade. Colonel Guinn 
instilled a sense of importance in the everyday tasks of civilians at 
the depot. He demanded high standards in workmanship and in orderliness 
of the workplace. He began with the first levels of Lean, Six Sigma, 
6S, to improve shop effectiveness and to instill pride in the 
workforce.
  Following the BRAC 1995 round, there were challenges in merging the 
goals of BRAC and those of the depot. Under his leadership, Colonel 
Guinn looked for opportunities, was entrepreneurial, and he set the 
depot up to be a model of efficiency. In 2002, the Army launched its 
``lean implementation'' initiative. Colonel Guinn decided LEAD would be 
at the forefront of this initiative. The activities undertaken under 
his leadership set the pace for lean implementation across all of Army 
Materiel Command.
  The summary of a military career is the opportunity to command and 
transform an organization. Some officers will manage an organization; 
others lead and challenge the organization to excel. Colonel Guinn led 
Letterkenny Army Depot and its people to achieve more than they thought 
themselves possible. Colonel Guinn did what a great connnander should, 
he got all his organization was capable of doing.

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