Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield is a winner of the 2019 Commander in Chief’s Annual Award for Installation Excellence.
The Department of Defense announced the recipients Friday. The Commander in Chief's Annual Award for Installation Excellence recognizes the outstanding and innovative efforts of the people who operate and maintain U.S. military installations. The installation’s status as 2019 Army Communities of Excellence gold winner was a prerequisite to compete for the DoD award.
Outgoing Stewart-Hunter garrison commander Col. Jason Wolter said the support of the southeast Georgia communities helped secure both wins. He thanked the communities for their support at an ACOE ceremony hosted by Maj. Gen. Lee Quintas, the outgoing 3rd Infantry Division commander and installation senior commander, on May 28.
“Without your commitments, we could not be where we are today,” Wolter said. “You’re an outstanding community that exhibits the support necessary to meet the unmatched readiness of your Army today. There’s no place other than Fort Stewart or Hunter Army Airfield our Soldiers would rather call home. We could be here all night talking about the things you do for Soldiers without asking for recognition.”
To win the Commander in Chief’s award, installations compete on how well they achieve the department's objectives in several areas of installation management, including mission support, energy conservation, quality of life and unit morale, environmental stewardship, real property management, safety, health and security, communications and public relations.
Excellent installations enable better mission performance and enhance the working and living conditions for military men and women, DOD civilians and their families, stated Fort Stewart public affairs. Each of the winning installations succeeded at being the best in achieving excellence in performing installation management within their military service and the Defense Logistics Agency, according to public affairs.
Each winning installation will receive a commemorative trophy and flag and a congratulatory letter from the president.
Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield has won the Army Communities of Excellence gold seven times, in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2019.