MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. -- There are a plethora of different military occupational specialties in the Marine Corps; different jobs and skill sets that keep the Marine Corps mission ready. Today we dive into the distribution management specialist MOS and take you “On the Job.”
Name: Lance Cpl. Paul Anthony
Age: 19
Hometown: Sauk City, Wisconsin
Military Occupational Specialty: 3112, distribution management specialist
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Paul Anthony is a distribution management specialist assigned to the Distribution Management Office’s (DMO) passenger travel section at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (MCAS), North Carolina.
DMO’s goal is to provide fast, friendly, and effective services for shipment, receipt, pickup, delivery, and storage of all personal property for military and civilian members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and other DOD agencies moving into, within or out of the MCAS Cherry Point Area of Operations (Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Hyde, and Pamlico counties).
According to Anthony, the 3112 military occupational field is a paper heavy job that helps ensure Marines and their families have a stress-free move. Anthony states that the distribution management occupation field is comprised of three sections: passenger travel, personal property and freight.
“However, Cherry Point does not have a freight section but most bases do,” said Anthony, 19, from Sauk City, Wisconsin. “The Defense Logistics Agency manages freight on Cherry Point due to the fact that very little passes through here.”
Distribution management specialists, like Anthony, coordinate distribution operations for units stateside as well as forward deployed, expediting high priority and mission critical equipment in tactical environments. They also facilitate the transportation of household goods along with flights for service members and their families who are on permanent change of station orders in the continental United States or overseas. They also ensure that a Marine’s personal property like furniture, clothing and other household goods get sent to the right destination.
“It’s very important that you go through a DMO to get your port call situated,” said Anthony. “It is my job to arrange all travel accommodation for overseas transportation and work one-on-one with the Marine to fit it with their needs.”
Anthony states that most of his job is making sure that the paperwork for the flight arrangements are correct and properly filed in order for service members and their families to get where they need to go.
“I like my job because it is really satisfying in the way that every single customer has their own special case,” said Anthony. “There is always something different and getting to work with a customer face-to-face to make sure I am doing everything I can possibly do to make them happy.”