Fort Stewart, GA
-
Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield garrison commander, Col. Kevin Milton, gave his final State of the Garrison briefing to the Fort Stewart Civilian workforce, April 9 at the Main Post Chapel.
Speaking to a capacity audience of Stewart garrison employee’s, he began by reminding those present of the Installation Management Command philosophy to the employees the importance of their customer base, as noted by IMCOM commanding general, Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, whose advice harbors on building teams, always doing right, taking care of people, and never quitting, to name a few. “You can never lose sight of being kind to customers,” Col. Milton said.
Some of the highlights of the briefing included the following; however more information from the slides can be found at www.stewart.army.mil/paiao/default.asp. • For an unprecedented fifth time, Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield has won the 2012 Army Community of Excellence Award. Previous years for the installation to win were 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009. In 2011, a Sustained Excellence Award was created and presented to the installation.
• The Directorate of Logistics transfers operations to Army Material Command. Final approval for the transition has been granted by the Chief of Staff of the Army. October is the target time frame for AMC to assume control of the directorate. James Niksch is now the Director of Logistics. He became the new director in November.
• The DoD STARBASE program has found a home in the first active-duty Army installation at Hunter. It’s object is raise interest and skill level of students in the area of math, science, and technology programs through hands-on curriculum. The program is totally funded by DoD.
• Civilians continue to process through the Civilian Education System programs. Of particular note was the first IMCOM CES Basic Course at Fort Stewart. This required training, along with the Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced courses, is being met by Civilians with the highest levels in IMCOM.
• Resiliency courses remain of high interest, especially among Civilians and Family Members. With the high interest in the training, evening classes will be offered in 3rd quarter to increase participation of Family Members and couples.
• The Civilian Fitness Program continues to be a success. The next session begins May 7. Applications are available online at www.stewartmwr.com and click on Newman Fitness Center.
• Though our Combined Federal Campaign ended in November, our $475,000 goal was met and exceeded with a final of $589, 751.
• The Army Emergency Relief Campaigns continues until May 15. Our garrison goal is $9,000 with the combined installation goal of $250,000.
• Many accomplishments have been made by garrison Civilians which have been recognized locally and throughout IMCOM. They include the following: Garrison Commander’s Award of Excellence 1st Quarter 2012 winners - Debbie Thompson (Directorate of Human Resources); Olivia Penrod (DHR); and Clara Schueler (Army Community Service); Garrison Employee of the Year Category III FY 11, Dorothea Mobley; IMCOM Keith L. Ware Public Affairs winners – Patrick Young and Kaytrina Curtis.
• Other notable accomplishments included receiving a certificate of appreciation from Georgia governor Nathan Deal as a partner of the Clean Air Campaign; being one of four large Army installations to have exceeded Presidential goals of energy and water reduction, municipal waste recycling, and demolition and construction waste diversion; winning the Fire Prevention Program for the Atlantic Region; becoming an Army nominee for the Defense Packaging Achievement Award by the DOL Supply Packaging Team 2011; recognition of SGT Rocky’s Neighborhood television production as a benchmark Army product.
• Completion or construction of facilities on Stewart-Hunter. Some of these include ACS building construction, renovations of JAG courtroom, 911 center, and Fire Station #2. Construction continues with latrines at Cottrell Field, Call for Fire Trainers and Engagement Skills Trainer.
• Automated Installation Entry systems are in place at all gates except two. Endurance testing continues through the month of April with the proposed sign over and registration beginning in May.
• When it comes down to the Civilian strength, Colonel Milton believes a Mock Reduction-In-Force would be an enlightenment to everyone. However, the Civilian personnel count of 1178 by Oct. 1 is still in the future. A request for another round of VSIP/VERA is in the works.
• The IMCOM vacancies are updated Tuesdays and can be viewed at the following site: https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/662838. The Stewart-Hunter garrison vacancies can be viewed at https://intra.stewart.army.mil/garrison/gc/)ages/default.aspx.
• The garrison command team at Hunter is now complete and at full strength with Lt. Col. Edward A. Kovaleski, Command Sgt. Maj. Stanley D. Hood, Sr., and deputy garrison commander Ernest A. Tafoya.
• The next state of the garrison is scheduled for Oct. 23.
And finally, one of the highlight changes of command will come this summer. Garrison change of command for Col. Milton and Command Sgt. James E. Ervin is scheduled for July 6. The tentative replacement for Col. Milton is former Hunter garrison commander, Col. Daniel Whitney, while Command Sgt. Maj. Louis Felicioni is on tap for Command Sgt. Maj. Ervin.