Photo By Capt. Robert Holmes | Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Ford (center), the environmental compliance officer...... read more read more
FORT HOOD, Texas – “I dig in peoples’ trash cans.”
The duties of an environmental compliance officer are not necessarily glamorous or often appreciated.
However, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Ford, the ECO for 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, received that appreciation and the Environmental Stewardship Award for a Military Individual Feb. 17, at Club Hood, here.
Ford received the award during the installation’s quarterly Hood Hero Award Ceremony.
The Environmental Stewardship Award for a Military Individual is given to the ECO who is going above and beyond the standard to support the unit commander and the commander’s environmental program, said Glenn Collier, an environmental protection specialist with Fort Hood, who nominated Ford for the award.
“They actually have to take it seriously [and] get personally involved with the commander’s program and make sure that they’re going by the standards and regulations,” he said.
Even though being the brigade’s ECO is an additional duty for Ford, who is the electronic missile systems maintenance technician for 69th ADA Bde., he takes the duty very seriously, he said.
“The job of the environmental compliance officer is to ensure that all of the subordinate units and [Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 69th ADA Bde.,] are in compliance with Fort Hood environmental regulations as well as [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations and … Texas regulations,” Ford explained.
Ford performs multiple courtesy walk-throughs of battalion motor pools and administration areas and looks at the units’ hazardous materials (Hazmat) and recycling programs, he said. He also makes written evaluations of his findings.
Ford said he was humbly surprised by his win.
“I really don’t feel like I did anything except what my job is,” he explained.
To Collier, Ford went “above and beyond” his requirements as a brigade ECO.
“[Ford] does weekly inspections on all the battalions within the brigade to make sure that they’re doing the right thing,” Collier said, explaining that Ford even notifies the appropriate commander in writing of the deficiencies every week. “In true warrant officer fashion, he holds them accountable to make sure it gets fixed.”
Most people don’t like when the environmental compliance officers comes around, said Ford.
“People don’t realize I’m actually helping them,” he explained. “I’m protecting them because if it’s the EPA or state that comes down, commanders can get personally fined for violations.”
His efforts paid off and he received recognition for his hard work, though Ford remains humbled by his success.
“A long time ago I was told regardless of what your job is, do your absolute best at it, so I give it a lot of my attention,” Ford said. “I work hard [and] I stay involved.”
Ford’s win says that 69th ADA Bde. picked the right person for the job, Collier said.
“If he took his uniform off and showed up in civilian clothes, you’d think he was actually on our team because he knows the standard [and] he enforces the standard,” he said.
Ford’s advice regarding environmental care is straightforward.
“Protecting the environment is very important,” Ford said. “It starts at the lowest level with the simplest-seeming things.”
| Date Taken: | 02.17.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.17.2015 17:10 |
| Story ID: | 154656 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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