Fort McCoy’s senior commander as well as leaders with U.S. Army Garrison-Fort McCoy led the first pair of garrison town hall events Jan. 22 in building 905 at Fort McCoy.
To open the event, Chaplain (Maj.) Walter McCall, Fort McCoy Garrison chaplain with the Fort McCoy Religious Support Office, gave an invocation.
“Oh, blessed Lord, we thank you for this day that you have made,” McCall said. “Weare rejoicing, and we are glad in it. We thank you for giving us life and life more abundantly, andwe thank you for the opportunity to be able to hear these people. I continually pray forthem.
“I pray for our leadership,” McCall said. “I pray for our leadership above so there may be peace with us.I thank you that all wisdom comes from you, and we ask that you provide it liberally to all. We know that you’re able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think, and we thank you Lord for your sovereignty. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your hand beingwith us and moving us forward in the direction not only that we desire to go but the directionthat you desire for us to go. We ask and thank you for all these things in your mighty and preciousname, we pray, Amen.”
McCall was followed by Fort McCoy Senior Commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Ricciardi, commanding general of the 88th Readiness Division.
Ricciardi updated the workforce members and Soldiers present on news and information affecting Fort McCoy. He also took questions from several Fort McCoy team members.
When wrapping up his discussion, Ricciardi said he was proud to work with the Fort McCoy team.
“I want to thank you for all you do. ... I wear many hats. One I am so proud of is that of senior commander,” Ricciardi said.
The major general was followed by the Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez who discussed ongoing activities at the installation, and more. She addressed the ongoing personnel challenges as well as planned priorities in the coming year.
“For those of you who might not know what our (Integrated Priority List) IPL items are, we go through planning in theheadquarters, and we talk to the senior commander, and we look at what are the priorities for McCoy,” Baez said. “We go to a planning process, and we get from the senior commander his priorities. Wedetermine which project, which initiatives, which things we are doing for the garrison during a… fiscal year.”
Among the priorities discussed were garrison reshaping, which is also being completed across the service with the Army Transformation. Also discussed were training improvements and changes, many which extend beyond 2026.
Baez also discussed communication as one of the Fort McCoy team’s main priorities for fiscal year 2026.
“We have communications as one of our priorities in there,” Baez said. “When I stand here in front of you, I want to make sure that we that we providetransparent communication to the workforce. Anything that we know to the level that we know, and we can share with the team, we would do so.”
For all the IPL items planned by the garrison, Baez said it’s important to remember there’s a lot of thought and work that goes into them, and they are designed to project the installation’s action in a positive direction in the future.
“The main thing that I want to tell you about this priority system is we try todo everything so that we can to be relevant,” Baez said. “To be relevant, we have to make sure that we can train ourSoldiers to standard, that we are complying with the senior leader’s directives,and also that we are meeting their priorities as well. So, every time … this is a domino effect. Every time that we do a project or a planning session here at Fort McCoy, we look at how weare synchronizing those projects those priorities to make sure that those are trickling down to our workforce, into our the units that we train, and trickling up to make sure thatthey are meeting and are satisfying the priorities from the senior leaders.”
After Baez spoke in both sessions, then numerous Fort McCoy workforce members were presented with awards they earned. These included longevity awards for federal service as well as medals for commendable service.
Updates were also provided by representatives from the Fort McCoy Exchange discussing the ongoing upgrades and renovation of the exchange; from the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation; from the Directorate of Public Works; and closing comments from Command Sgt. Maj. James Riddle, garrison command sergeant major.
The next Fort McCoy town hall sessions will take place in April.
Fort McCoy has supported America’s armed forces since 1909. Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The post’s varied terrain, state-of-the-art ranges, new as well as renovated facilities, and extensive support infrastructure combine to provide military personnel with an environment in which to develop and sustain the skills necessary for mission success.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: |
01.26.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
01.26.2026 18:46 |
| Story ID: |
556830 |
| Location: |
FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
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22 |
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