The end of fiscal year 2010 marks an excellent time to take stock of the life cycle logistics workforce, and the DAU life cycle logistics learning assets, tools, and references available for the professional development, skills enhancement, and academic growth of the Life Cycle Logistics community. It’s been another remarkable year for our workforce, with a record 29,076 students graduating from DAU life cycle logistics courses in FY10, including 24,441 from web-based distance learning course and  4,635 classroom course graduates, an increase of almost 4,000 students over fiscal year 2009 alone.

Quality of courseware continued to improve this past year as well, with the deployment of two new logistics courses, LOG 103 Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) and LOG 206 Intermediate Systems Sustainment Management, both of which address key career field competency areas identified in the 2008 DoD Logistics Human Capital Strategy. In addition, enhanced, updated versions of LOG 101, 102, 200, 201, and 204 were also deployed. The Logistics Community of Practice (LOG CoP) remains the largest and most robust community of practice at on the Acquisition Community Connection, with more members, postings, and page views than any other. There are now also 49 Life Cycle Logistics ACQuipedia articles, 29 Life Cycle Logistics Continuous Learning Modules, and in addition to this one, 135 Life Cycle Logistics blog postings available for your reference.

In addition to enhanced learning and professional development opportunities, end of FY10 defense acquisition workforce (DAW) data indicate the Life Cycle Logistics workforce grew by approximately 13% this past year, reaching 16,861 at the end of FY10, an increase of approximately 2,000 personnel over the previous 12 months.  A few other interesting life cycle logistics workforce “factoids” include:

·         9,045 are Army personnel (54%)

·         5,219 are from the Navy & US Marine Corps (31%)

·         2,427 come from the Air Force (14%)

·         170 are Defense Agency personnel (<1%)

·         LCL is the third largest DAW career field behind Systems Engineering and Contracting communities

·         There are more personnel assigned to the Life Cycle Logistics  than Program Management, Test & Evaluation, Production, Quality & Manufacturing, or Business, Cost Estimating and Financial Management career fields

·         94% of our workforce is civilian, 6% are uniformed military personnel (military personnel are from the Navy, USMC, and Air Force)

Although workforce growth continues, it is important to note that although the Components have deemed life cycle logsitics workforce growth in particular to be essential to achieving mission critical acquisition outcomes, the vast preponderance of this growth are not new hires or "insourcing", but rather are current DoD logisticians whose positions have been designated or recoded as defense acquisition workforce positions.  

It is also essential to remember that we here at DAU remain as committed to quality, if not more so than quantity. At the end of the day, providing the readily available references, resources, tools, and learning assets to support and enhance the quality – and professional success -- of our life cycle logistics workforce and the organizations in which we all work, is far and away a more critical measure of merit.

And so, I offer a hearty "well done" to not only our DAU staff and faculty, but also to each and every member of our Life Cycle Logistics community for yet another outstanding year. Kudos to you all!