Quantico CO fosters positive relations with community, key leaders at VMAC

Photo By Capt. Aaron Moshier | Participants of the Virginia Military Advisory Council take a group photo at the Clubs at Quantico, Virginia, March 14, 2024. The VMAC holds quarterly meetings to explore issues impacting the quality of life for service members, their families, relations between the installations and surrounding civilian communities, and the effects on Virginia's growing infrastructure. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Michael Lujan)  

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, VA, UNITED STATES

03.28.2024

Story by Shaehmus Sawyer 

Marine Corps Base Quantico

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – U.S. Marine Corps Col. Michael L. Brooks, the commanding officer of MCBQ, met with Virginia leaders at The Clubs at Quantico to discuss the base’s overall impact on its personnel and surrounding communities, March 14.

Held quarterly, the Virginia Military Advisory Council maintains collaborative, communicative, and coordinating relations between the Virginia Governor, the executive branch of state government and leaders of each military installation across the commonwealth.

While there, Brooks met with key leaders across Virginia, such as such as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Defense Affairs Craig Crenshaw, Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Earle-Sears, the Chairman of Falmouth District Meg Bohmke, Senator Adam Ebbin of 39th district of Virginia, and many others.

“Establishing and maintaining positive relations between our neighbors is an everyday job,” Brooks said. “We try to ensure we maintain that relationship through constant communication, and the VMAC gives us an additional opportunity to do that.”

During VMAC, he and and Bohmke signed an Intergovernmental Support Agreement, which lays the foundation of future, mutually beneficial relations between MCBQ and Falmouth District.

The purpose of VMAC is to gather community and key leaders to explore the issues of the quality of life of those who work within the installations, such as service members, their families, and DoD civilians. They also seek to understand the relationships between the installations and surrounding communities, the economic impact they have on those communities, and potential encroachment of the installations to create a plan to procure a positive outcome of those potential issues by the end of the meeting.

“Each leader who attends VMAC is responsible for the welfare of the people who reside or work within their respective boundaries, whether that be county lines, base property, or towns,” said Brooks. “That’s why we get together on a quarterly basis; see how far we have come, what we’re doing now, and ways we can improve, not only in relations with the surrounding counties we touch, but also the lives of servicemembers and their families on our respective installations.”

For additional information regarding VMAC, previously held meetings and what was discussed during them, visit https://www.vada.virginia.gov/initiatives/vmac/.

• Date Taken: 03.28.2024
• Date Posted: 03.28.2024 11:32
• Story ID: 467222
• Location: MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, VA, US