As part of the commanding general's initiative, the U.S. Army Engineer School held the first outreach session for lieutenants and captains on official orders to other installations. This first session, held Nov. 12 in the Digital Training Facility, was for those moving to Fort Bragg, N.C.
"We've been working on this Fort Bragg Outreach Program for the past couple of weeks. What this consists of is a VTC (Video Teleconference) DCO (Defense Connect Online) networking brief with some representatives from Fort Bragg, and later a networking event at the Pershing Club," said Capt. Jared Hirschkorn, U.S. Army Engineer School operations officer.
Lieutenants and captains from the Chemical, Engineer and Military Police schools preparing to do a Permanent Change of Station move to Fort Bragg were able to gather information and ask questions of representatives from the housing division, civilian personnel, Army Community Service and representatives from each of the brigades.
"We designed a brief that I think covers a lot of the topics that you might have questions on," Hirschkorn said.
Hirschkorn also suggested that participants visit Fort Bragg's Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation's site to sign up for a welcome pack, which includes many useful materials such as a phone book and a map.
Lt. Col. Philip Secrist, U.S. Army Engineer School chief of staff, explained to the group that the outreach program was possible due to Maj. Gen. Leslie Smith's, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood's commanding general, vision of wanting students to know what to expect of their new duty station before they leave Fort Leonard Wood, and also to give them a chance to network amongst the Chemical, Engineer and MP Basic Officer Leadership Courses.
Participants spent the evening session networking with one another while getting advice from Soldiers that have already been stationed there.
"You never know when you get down range or you get to Fort Bragg and the (Soldier) that shows up to support your unit is somebody that you already know from Fort Leonard Wood. Five from now or 18 years from now you'll run into somebody that will depend on you for something or vice versa and you find that you were at Fort Leonard Wood together," Secrist said.
Also on hand to offer advice on such things as how to guide their careers and how important it is to build a strong network were Smith; Brig. General Anthony Funkhouser, U.S. Army Engineer School commandant and Command Sgt. Maj. Terrence Murphy, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence command sergeant major.
The After-Action Review information from this session will be compiled and shared with the Chemical School and MP School to improve future sessions.
"Again, this is a pilot program and the Engineers got tagged with it the first time. We're going to do it on a rotating basis among the three schools here, but also with different military installations -- Fort Hood is on the list to be targeted, along with Joint Base Lewis-McChord and there will be others," he added.
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