RESPECT THE BALANCE OF THE EIGHTS


Logistics services are vital for Soldier readiness and effectiveness in mission execution. As a branch chief at the U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island, Danielle Gainey oversees the procurement of many of these high-visibility services to ensure that Soldiers have the equipment and base life support they need.


“I am proud to contribute to the quality of life that our Soldiers experience while they are deployed in support of our freedoms,” Gainey said. Te services that her teams support are critical to base life support services in numerous combatant commands, including U.S. Northern Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Central Command. “Tese services ensure that our deployed Soldiers can focus on fighting our nation’s wars,” she added.


DANIELLE GAINEY


COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island


TITLE: Supervisory contract specialist – branch chief


YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 15


DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Contracting professional


EDUCATION: MBA and B.A. in management, St. Ambrose University


AWARDS: U.S. Army Materiel Command Top Employee of the Quarter, fiscal year 2023


Gainey’s teams also oversee the transportation, supply and logistics of the Army Prepositioned Stock (APS) program, which strategically prepositions equipment worldwide to reduce deployment response times. “Te APS mission ensures that Soldiers have the equipment they need when they need it in order to respond to our nation’s wars.” Together, she said, “these missions are the lifeblood of our deployed Soldiers, and I am immensely proud of what my teams do to ensure their success.”


For Gainey, life is all about balance. “We work on balance in the gym for our fitness, and we also have to work on balance in our life. If you think about your day, there are 24 hours available to be used. You should sleep for eight of those hours, ideally; you should work for eight of those hours; and the remaining eight hours should be spent on what you value most, what brings you joy and what helps you grow as an individual.” Gainey refers to that approach as the “balance of the eights,” and encourages every- one she works with to apply it to their own lives. “Tere will be times when you have to give or take, but the key is the overall balance being in check. We can’t be our best if we are off-balance.”


Gainey joined the Army Acquisition Workforce in 2011 as a contract specialist support- ing the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center at the Rock Island Arsenal. “To be honest, I didn’t know much about the position,” she said. “A mentor of mine said that it would be a secure job because the government always has to buy things. It was quickly apparent that Army procurements are very interesting and no two days are alike.” One day she may be called to assist with a rogue wave in the Pacific that has compromised communications with U.S. allies; the next day, she might be discussing a capability that a contractor has to assist in repairing equipment to ramp up support to Eastern Europe. “As a person who is creative outside of work, I enjoy being presented with challenges and asked to craft solutions that are inventive,” she said.


“We can’t be our best if we are off-balance.”


32 Army AL&T Magazine Spring 2025


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