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All spouses were invited to connect with Col. Andres Nazario, 17th Training Wing commander, and other base leadership, during the 17th TRW Spouse Town Hall Social here at the event center on Sept. 26.
Spouses asked questions about Goodfellow’s mission, general military life, changes occurring on base, and specific personal concerns.
The military spouses in attendance provided an opportunity for networking and another source of knowledge for those in attendance to use.
The questions, along with the answers, from the town hall are provided below:
Q: Could you explain the housing situation here at Goodfellow?
A: Col. Andres Nazario, 17th Training Wing commander, said “We have good news coming. It may not affect you if you are at the end of your tour, but those of you who are just getting here are going to have a different arrangement of choices. There are 5 developments, which are in different stages, in the process of being built. We spend a considerable amount of time each week trying to find new solutions. Everybody from housing to the command team at both the wing and squadron level hears you and we are trying to work it as hard as we can.”
Q: What is going to happen to the Base Exchange?
A: Col. Tony England, 17th Mission Support Group commander, said, “The BX is planned to move out on 31 Oct. and will be moving into the Carswell Gym 1 Nov. but the renovation project will take approximately two years and they’re planning to reopen the BX in July of 2021. The Subway, the barber shop and beauty shop will not be affected and they will continue operations as normal.”
Q: Will the Commissary be merged with the BX?
A: England explained, “No, there was talk five years ago about merging the Commissary and the BX together, but those talks got so much flak from the retiree community that it is no longer being talked about.”
Q: Is the BX going to be closed while they are doing the renovation?
A: England said, “At no time will the BX close any of it’s services. It is going to be a seamless transition.”
Q: Why is it going to take two years for the Commissary to be completed?
A: Lt. Col. Nicholas Anderson, 17th Civil Engineer Squadron, said, “It is a very complicated construction process because what we are going to be doing is demolishing a portion of the building down to the foundation, because of the structural deficiencies that it has. We are going to keep that front portion open while we are doing construction. We are essentially constructing that portion like new. There is a lot of work and phasing that is going to have to go into that and that is part of why it is going to take two years to complete.”
Q: Why do we only have one pediatrician?
A: Col. Lauren Byrd, 17th Medical Group commander, said, “The way that we are resourced with all of our specialties is based on the number of people within our population and, as Col. Ramirez mentioned, we are a training installation so a lot of our population doesn’t have spouses or children. We earn a pediatrician based on how many children are in our population, so based on the number of kids that are here, that warrants us one pediatrician. We have a phenomenal referral network though so that if your child needs additional specialties beyond what we can provide. We have partners downtown that are well equipped to take care of them and have the ability to take them in with few exceptions.”
Q: What is happening to China Beach?
A: England said, “Our plan is to replace China Beach with a splash park. We are not funded, but we have it projected to open in the summer if we get the funding.”
Q: When will flu shots be available for dependents?
A: Byrd commented, “We get a certain allocation of flu shots from the Department of Defense and we prioritize them for our active duty, our child care workers and higher risk patients. We have received our initial dose and are giving them out to our oldest population, who are at most risk, but we anticipate that we will receive our full complement by Oct. You can receive your flu shot from TRICARE approved providers.”
Q: Are we going to get a provider for women’s health?
A: Byrd said, “Yes, we have a provider for women’s health. They just came on board within the last 30 days.”
Q: How are you accounting for the merger of Carswell and Mathis Gym?
A: England said, “There will be a peak use at the Mathis Gym, there is no way to avoid that. The good news is when the Carswell Gym reopens it will be mostly all new equipment.”
Q: Where is the running trail?
A: England commented, “If you go to the gym they have a running track map, but there are several paths around base.”
| Date Taken: | 09.30.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2019 08:59 |
| Story ID: | 345631 |
| Location: | GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Know your base, by SrA Zachary Chapman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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