McLane Receives Thanks From U.S. Army

– McLane Advanced Technologies –

TEMPLE, TEXAS – May 11, 2006 Drayton McLane Jr., Owner of McLane Advanced Technologies, LLC (MAT) in Temple and the Houston Astros Baseball Team in Houston, received an Army Seal Commemorative Plaque on Wednesday, May 10, 2006.  While visiting the Pentagon this week with MAT’s President, Bob Reeves, Drayton received the rarely given memento.  General Richard A. Cody, Vice Chief of Staff presented the plaque on behalf of The Honorable Francis J. Harvey, Secretary of the Army.  General Cody wanted to thank Drayton for his leadership and support of the United States soldiers.

McLane Advanced Technologies, LLC (MAT) is a government contractor providing logistics information technology services to the Army and recently completed a software enhancement project for the Army’s maintenance and logistics software.  MAT is now fielding SAMS-E  to the Army worldwide.  In July 2005, MAT teamed with the Houston Astros when the players and management became the first baseball team in history to visit wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC and the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda.  The idea was born out of a trip to Fort Hood, TX where the players visited injured soldiers who had just returned from Iraq. 

Following the visit to Walter Reed, Drayton commented “These American heroes have taught me an invaluable lesson about heroism and the determination to see a mission through to the end.  I don’t believe there is any better way to honor their sacrifices than to stop and be thankful each day for the freedoms we enjoy because of their hard work and dedication.”  That spirit and support for our soldiers resonates throughout the McLane Group companies.

 Dr. Francis J. Harvey was sworn in as the 19th Secretary of the Army on November 19, 2004. Appointed by President George W. Bush, he has statutory responsibility for all matters relating to Army manpower, personnel, Reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management.

Secretary Harvey is responsible for the Department of the Army’s annual budget and supplemental of $160 billion. He leads a work force of over one million active duty, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve Soldiers, 230,000 Department of the Army civilian employees and 280,000 contracted service personnel. He has stewardship over 15 million acres of land.

Secretary Harvey’s number one priority is the well being of Soldiers and their families. He has traveled extensively to visit Soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and at over 60 Army installations in the United States, Europe and Asia. He has focused extensively on improving housing, day care and other quality of life issues for the Army’s most important resource – its people. He has also focused on increasing the Army’s warfighting capabilities through several major initiatives, including increasing the size of the Operational Army; updating the Army’s leader development program to reflect requirements of the 21st Century security environment; linking the Army’s most important modernization program, the Future Combat Systems Program, with the Army Modular Force; and Army Business Transformation – an Army-wide effort to improve cycle time, gain efficiencies and free up additional financial resources for the warfighting side of the Army.

Prior to becoming the Secretary, Dr. Harvey spent much of his career with corporations that provided products and services to the federal government, particularly the Department of Defense. He has been involved in over 20 major defense programs and was a member of the Army Science Board in the late 1990s. Secretary Harvey also served for one year as a White House Fellow and assistant in the immediate office of the Secretary of Defense, Harold Brown, in the late 1970s.

Secretary Harvey earned his doctorate in Metallurgy and Material Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania and his Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering and Material Science from the University of Notre Dame.

He and his wife of 40 years, Mary, have two children and 5 grandchildren.

General Richard A. Cody became the 31st Vice Chief of Staff, United States Army, on June 24, 2004.

General Cody was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on 2 August 1950. He was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation on 6 June 1972 from the United States Military Academy. His military education includes completion of the Transportation Corps Officer Basic and Advanced Courses; the Aviation Maintenance Officer Course; the AH-1, AH-64, AH-64D, UH-60, and MH-60K Aircraft Qualification Courses; the Command and General Staff College, and the United States Army War College. General Cody is a Master Aviator with over 5,000 hours of flight time, and is an Air Assault graduate.

Prior to his current assignment, General Cody spent 32 years in a variety of command and staff assignments, most recently serving as Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3, United States Army. Other key assignments include Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell; Director, Operations, Readiness and Mobilization, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, Headquarters, Department of the Army; Deputy Commanding General, Task Force Hawk, Tirana, Albania; Assistant Division Commander for Maneuver, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Commander, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Commander, 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division; Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General, Combined Field Army, Korea; and Director, Flight Concepts Division.

General Cody has served several tours with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) as Commander, 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment (Attack) during Operation Desert Storm; Aviation Brigade Executive Officer, 101st Aviation Brigade; Battalion Executive Officer and Company Commander in the 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion, and Battalion S-3 in the 55th Attack Helicopter Battalion. He served as a Platoon Commander in the 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry and A Company (Attack), 24th Aviation Battalion and as Commander, E Company (AVIM), 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Awards and decorations which General Cody has received include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Air Medal (with numeral device “3”), the Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Achievement Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal (2 battle stars), the Humanitarian Service Medal, the NATO Medal, and the Southwest Asia Kuwait Liberation Medal.

General Cody and his wife have two sons, both serving as commissioned officers in the United States Army.

– McLANE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES –