Photo By Christopher Jones | Neil Chittendon (left), range recreation assistant with the Fort McCoy Directorate of...... read more read more
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BY NEIL CHITTENDON
Range recreation assistant
Fort McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation
As I pulled into the parking lot behind headquarters (building 100), I took notice of a Soldier making haste for a white pickup truck holding up his hand for me to stop.
He moved his truck, and then motioned for me to park in the garrison commander’s parking spot. I got out of my truck (to start participation in the Commander for a Day program), and it was Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Messenger who immediately apologized for parking in “my” spot. I laughed and told him to not let it happen again.
We went upstairs, and I met Emily Chapman and Shannon Ontiveros of the garrison command team office. Col. Messenger agrees — these two are the actual ones who make this installation run smoothly. Great people and glad to have met them.
We then went into Col. Messenger’s office, and he does a short chat about my background and history, in general, and about where I work at the Fort McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation.
He then gave me a folder with the itinerary and the rundown for the day. I admire how tight he runs his schedule. He picked the chair that faces the clock, and he is continuously checking his watch. One thing for sure, his day does not drag on.
We linked up with the Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Calarco, garrison command sergeant major, and ran across the road. I sat in on the monthly Garrison Commander’s Update Brief covering a wide range of topics from every directorate.
This meeting was great because it put things in perspective for me. This meeting taught me that a lot of the issues I face at the “Neil” level are very, VERY miniscule compared to some of the more global issues around us. I gained the most from this meeting in understanding the sheer magnitude of the mission of Fort McCoy.
We left that meeting, and did a smaller meeting with the Fort McCoy Plans, Analysis and Integration Office and their director Scott Frosch in regards to the senior commander/garrison commander huddle they were attending in Puerto Rico. It’s a gathering of all the senior leaders of Army Reserve installations.
In our meeting, we went over the narrative of their briefing role to five two-star generals and U.S. Army Reserve Command leadership. And if anyone is wondering what my agenda was going into this, it was to sign a declaration making Commander for a Day into commander for about two weeks so I could also go to Puerto Rico. I did not find mission success.
We then split up with Command Sgt. Maj. Calarco and did a Fort McCoy tour. Even though I have become quite familiar with Fort McCoy, I still learned quite a bit from this little expedition.
After the tour, we met back up with Calarco and grabbed lunch at a Fort McCoy dining facility and saw the new Go for Green Program encouraging Soldiers to eat healthy — one of my initiatives also.
Immediately after, we attended a graduation at the Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Academy. This was a first for me. I’ve attended my brother’s advanced individual traning graduation, and it was similar. But this was its own experience. Perhaps it was sitting in the front row with command team.
From there we had another meeting with an inspection team. They were giving their closing brief, and I quickly lost track of what on Earth we were talking about. As with every meeting, Col. Messenger goes around the room and asks each person if they have anything to add.
He finally gets to me, and asks, “Anything you would like to add, commander?” To which I replied, “Thank you for allowing me to sit in on this. Unfortunately, you lost me around slide number two where I am completely lost in all the acronyms.” Col. Messenger comments that I nailed it, and that was exactly what he was going to say.
Immediately after this meeting, we pulled aside a gentleman that Col. Messenger referred to as “a friend of Fort McCoy,” and I presented him with a Fort McCoy challenge coin. I insisted that it would be more of an honor coming from the colonel, and the gentleman insisted that it’s an honor coming from the commander, which was me that day. I think I was more honored than anyone else in the room.
From there, we ran over to the Directorate of Emergency Services for a prescribed burn meeting. Man, these guys are on top of the entire operation. The main guy in charge of the burn, Charles Mentzel (Fort McCoy forester), seemed to know more about fire behavior and plant re-growth than I’ve ever seen. It was stressed to me, the importance of having prescribed burns here at Fort McCoy and how we do them safely and deliberately.
We then did another, much larger NCO Academy graduation. Col. Messenger and Command Sgt. Maj. Calarco were wearing their camouflage uniforms, and everyone else was dressed up. That was perfectly fine according to the invite, but I found out that they always put on their Army service uniforms for this event, and it was unusual they didn’t today.
Everyone was all commenting how Col. Messenger and Command Sgt. Maj. Calarco were “dressed down” for the event, and I knew they dressed down because of me. But it was funny to watch them both have so much fun with tenant units and the graduates. It gave everyone a chance to poke at the colonel a bit, which I would assume (and saw) is pretty priceless when done correctly.
After that, we went back to garrison headquarters (building 100). We made it back just in time for retreat. It was an absolute honor to not only observe, but be a part of retreat at headquarters with the command staff.
Col. Messenger and I went back up to his office and did a closing briefing before departing.
It was an honor to spend the day with him. He said that it was pretty much a normal day. He asked what I thought, and what I was going to take back to my team(s) from this experience.
I explained to him that I better understood how issues at my level won’t get noticed by his level, and I better understand why. But that is why he has such an extensive team under him, who head up their own teams, that make their own teams succeed.
I told him that I plan to continue with the message that I have held from the start here. Do not ever forget your mission. For instance, at McCoy’s Community Center … you may come into your job and think it’s tedious because you’re “just making pizzas.” That person has forgotten their mission. You are not “just making pizzas.” You are serving Soldiers and their families. You may be giving a Soldier his/her first actual meal after being in the field for the last two weeks and “just that pizza” means the world to him/her.
Don’t ever forget the mission.
| Date Taken: | 04.18.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.18.2024 15:09 |
| Story ID: | 468872 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 163 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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