599th captain garners SDDC Junior Officer of the Year award.

Captain Julia Bell is not only the best captain in the 599th Transportation Group, she is the top junior officer in the 595th Transportation Group (Provisional)," according to Col. Thomas A. Harvey, 599th Transportation Group and 595th Transportation Group (Provisional) commander.

And, he's not the only person that thinks so.

The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command recently selected Capt. Julia Bell as the 2004 SDDC Major General Henry R. Del Mar Junior Officer of the Year.

The award recognizes the outstanding leadership and personal performance of junior officer's in SDDC.

"It's quite an honor to receive the award," she said. "And, my gratitude and thanks is especially directed toward my chain of command--their hard work and dedication toward the submission process."

Bell was assigned to the 599th Transportation Group following a tour as the commander, D Company, 725th Main Support Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and, has recently returned from an 8-month deployment in Southwest Asia.

"She hit the ground running from the moment she arrived," said Lt. Col. Reggie Hall, assistant chief of staff, 599th Operations. "She was a vital member to several exercises, including the Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration (RSOI) in Korea where she stood up the first ever Deployment and Distribution Operations Center for U.S. Forces Korea."

Bell is considered an initiative-driven member of the team by the leadership here.

"She has laid the ground work for several improvements in the way we do business," said Harvey. "She helped develop 'Your Guide to Deployment' pamphlet which is the foundation for all division unit movement officers: and now, is standard operating procedure for the 25th ID."

The proficiency the 9-year Army veteran brings to the table was also vital to developing integrated active-duty and Reserve deployment team experts. As a result of her training programs, there was a reduction of frustrated equipment, allowing deploying units to process through the alert holding area in four hours versus the usual 12.

But, she didn't finish the job there. The captain led the first end-to-end unit deployment by the 599th of more than 3,000 pieces of equipment with 100 percent in-transit visibility from the unit motor pool to the tactical assembly area. Leading the way through the efficient use of Radio Frequency Identification tag technology and other automated systems.

Her experiences deploying units would later come in handy, when the tri-athlete volunteered to deploy to SWA in June in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

"I served as the 595th's battle captain in the brigade-level tactical operations center at the sea point of disembarkation in Kuwait," she said. "It was a tremendous amount of responsibility, but necessary to ensure the capabilities of our warfighters."

As the battle captain, Bell's duties included maintaining a common operational picture for U.S. and Coalition vessels in the Central Command area of responsibility, in addition to overseeing strategic and intra-theater sealift.

"Her dedication to the job truly enhanced my ability to effectively command and control SDDC's most complex operational support unit," Harvey said of her service for the 595th. "'Captain Bell's excellent leadership is the means for SDDC's highly successful deployment and distribution operations involving more than 75,000 pieces of warfighter equipment."

Bell now goes on to compete as the SDDC and the Transportation Corps Regimental nominee for the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award.

(Editors note: After this article was written it was announced that Capt. Julia Bell won the honor of becoming a General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award recipient.)

Robyn Mack, Public Affairs Specialist

599th Transportation Group