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U.S. Army Garrison-Fort McCoy has a new motto as well as new mission and vision statements starting in 2026.
The changes coincide with Fort McCoy’s 2026-2030 Five-Year Strategic Business Plan, according to officials with Fort McCoy’s Plans, Analysis, and Integration Office (PAIO).
The motto was updated from “Total Force Training Center” to “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909.”
“The change came about during the development of the 2026-2030 Strategic Business Plan when Fort McCoy’s senior leaders met to review the garrison’s mission, vision, and values,” said PAIO Chief Bonnie Hilt.
“The inclusion of ‘1909’ highlights the year of the installation’s establishment, adding historical significance,” Hilt said. “Furthermore, the phrase ‘shaping the future’ was incorporated to align with the Department of War’s focus on transformation and future readiness. The updated motto, ‘Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909,’ now represents a blend of historical pride and forward-looking commitment for the installation.”
The installation’s mission statement also reflects the new Strategic Business Plan, officials said.
The new Fort McCoy mission statement states: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”
Similarly, Fort McCoy’s vision statement is also reflective of the plan for the next five years. It states: “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”
In a previous news article, Fort McCoy Garrison Deputy to the Garrison Commander Cameron Cantlon described Fort McCoy’s mission and why these statements are important to the strategic planning process.
“Fort McCoy is 60,000 acres, and the primary mission of Fort McCoy is training Soldiers,” Cantlon said. “The … Soldiers who are here with units to train, (include) … Reserve, … National Guard, … active duty. In the case of mobilization, we are mobilizing Soldiers for contingent missions, for war, or for operations.
“Fort McCoy is the only federal installation (of its kind) in the Midwest,” Cantlon said. “We are the primary and premier training center for our Reserve and National Guard formations. Yes, there’s other places that could conduct mobilization. … But when things get big, when the operations get large and the numbers get large, Fort McCoy stands up.”
Cantlon also described in the article how the post can also be a strategic support area for the U.S. government in a wide variety of roles.
“What’s a strategic support area? It’s basically a government saying, yeah, we want you to do this thing as well. Or for a while, you’re going to do this,” Cantlon said. “That happened (several) years ago, and we had 13,000 Afghans show up. So, we can take on those types of missions as well. We don’t have one of those going on right now, but you never know when we’ll be asked to do something similar to that.”
He additionally described how Fort McCoy can support a disaster response or similar event.
“We also support federal government and federal resources from disaster response to emergency response or preparedness,” Cantlon said. “If something’s going on in the Midwest and the federal government’s ramping up for it and there needs to be support for potential operations, potential protection, potential anything, we are the place that holds and hosts our federal partners across the federal government. That could be FEMA, federal marshals, Secret Service, you name it — we support it here at Fort McCoy.”
Garrison leaders also say the work for the motto, mission, and vision statements also help plan each year’s support for troop training. During fiscal year 2025, 109,962 troops trained at Fort McCoy, stated Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS) personnel.
DPTMS officials said the training numbers include Army Reserve Soldiers; National Guard service members; and active-duty troops from not just the Army but also other services, such as the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.
Training statistics also reflect many types of training opportunities that take place at the installation by active- and reserve-component forces and other governmental agencies, according to DPTMS.
During fiscal year 2025, training included battle-assembly (weekend) training; annual training; mobilization; institutional training; and numerous exercises, including a Combat Support Training Exercise, Global Medic, and numerous other training events.
DPTMS Range Officer Brooks Lundeen said the training numbers were split as 46,047 troops completing annual training, and 63,915 troops completing battle assembly training.
As Fort McCoy moves forward with the new statements and motto, Fort McCoy PAIO will continue to apply them in support of the Army Installation Management System and Fort McCoy objectives and goals.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. 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: | 04.08.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2026 15:55 |
| Story ID: | 562276 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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