BAMBERG, Germany - Military community members will now see a symbolic icon representing the progressive goals of Installation Management Command, the headquarters of Army garrisons worldwide.
The logo, developed to coincide with the 2010-2017 Installation Management Campaign Plan rollout and to run in conjunction with the IMCOM emblem, is representative of the four major facets of Army community life: stewardship, readiness, facilities and Families.
Kathy Aydt, chief of Strategic Communications of Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management/IMCOM, was asked by IMCOM Commander Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch to create a logo representative of the new goals, following the rollout of the plan March 5.
"He is very interested in instilling pride and ownership within the workforce and wanted something that really symbolized the importance of the work that we do and for the Soldiers," Aydt said. "He felt it should be a logo that people could really relate to and get behind."
The team drew on the creative efforts of Family Morale Welfare and Recreation Center and Army Evaluation Center marketing divisions as well as engaging members of the Installation Management community to ensure the new image magnified the most significant aspects of the Army community.
"We extended it to our community at large in a type of contest format and solicited all the input," Aydt said.
The result, after only a one-week window for submissions, was more than 70 different versions of a logo to represent IMCOM.
More than 2,000 people then contributed their opinions by voting on a symbol. The top choice contained all the elements the project team had hoped for.
"We were thrilled that it was the one selected," Aydt said. "It was designed to invoke pride in our command and our mission. The symbols are strong and the colors are bold, as is our mission and our commitment to fulfilling that mission."
Aydt explained that each element in the final design had a specific significance to representing Army communities and IMCOM's objectives for the coming years.
"You have the green with the tree which symbolizes our stewardship," she said. "You have the flag at the top that symbolizes our readiness in support of the Army. You see the facilities, the structures which represent the infrastructure that we're responsible for and of course you see the family grouping at the bottom. You may note that you can't tell who are Soldiers or if there are Soldiers there...we also have a large civilian workforce that is very important to us. In this day and age not only Soldiers deploy but [so do] civilians. Those things were intentionally built into this logo, and probably on some level it's why it has such a wide appeal."
The campaign plan, published March 5, outlines the goals and areas deserving particular focus over the next seven years.
Lynch, who implemented the campaign, outlines the purpose of the plan in the mission statement; "To provide standardized, effective and efficient services, facilities and infrastructure to Soldiers, Families and Civilians for an Army and Nation engaged in persistent conflict," -emphasizing the focus on increasing the effectiveness of post programs and agendas.
Lynch further underlined his aspirations for garrisons by choosing six major topics to focus funds, energy and manpower on.
"My intent is to provide the facilities, programs and services required to support Army readiness, sustain the All-Volunteer Force and provide the infrastructure for current and future mission requirements," Lynch wrote. "I will do so through six Lines of Effort: Soldier and Family Readiness, Soldier and Family Well-being, Leader and Workforce Development, Installation Readiness, Safety, Energy Efficiency and Security as imperatives in all that we do."
Lt. Col. Gary A. Rosenberg, garrison commander of U.S. Army Garrison Bamberg, attended the campaign rollout conference and assessed the multivalent approach of the new logo.
"IMCOM, through the garrisons, clearly plays a key role in sustaining Soldiers, Families and civilians but we also provide significant support to continue efforts to restore balance and establish an integrated management system for Army business operations," Rosenberg said. "I think the new logo clearly helps us focus on what is important."
Rosenberg added that he thinks it is important to recognize that the bottom quadrant, the family grouping is, by design, a bit nebulous.
"It is not clear who is the Soldier, nor is it clear that either is a Soldier; and this is the point," he said. "Our Army is made up of people, men and women, Soldiers and civilians, who also deploy in support of our Army, and their Families. This portion of the logo clearly speaks directly to IMCOM and the garrison's role in sustaining our wonderful Soldiers, Families, and civilians. When we think of sustaining however, we must also consider our facilities, which are represented by the right quadrant of the logo. These structures, whether family housing, barracks, unit office spaces or other facilities like gyms or child care centers, are also important to sustaining our Soldiers, Families and civilians.
"At the top of the new logo is the flag, which symbolizes our readiness in support of the Army. Clearly IMCOM and the Garrisons have an impact on readiness and balance; we are, after all, the Army's home. When our Soldiers and their Families are enjoying the increased dwell time between deployments, which is a part of the efforts to restore balance, they do it at the garrison.
Finally, we come full circle to the left quadrant of the new logo; with a green background and white tree, which symbolizes our stewardship of resources," Rosenberg said. "This goes not only to our obligation to be good stewards of the resources we get in terms of money and the process we use to ensure it is efficiently invested to support our people and the facility infrastructure, but also to our obligation to improve our energy efficiency and energy security - in general, to try and be 'greener' in the way we do things."
USAG Bamberg plans to move forward with the Lines of Effort in the months ahead, according to Rosenberg, particularly implementing LOE 6 to further the creation of a supportive, sustainable and eco-friendly environment.
"The objective of this LOE, Energy Efficiency and Security, is to maintain and improve energy and water efficient installations," Rosenberg said. "This will be accomplished by holding users accountable. IMCOM is in the process of installing meters on all buildings so that the energy and water usage can be measured and individuals will be held accountable for their usage. Also modernizing facilities, both by updating existing infrastructure with more efficient systems and by ensuring new construction meets energy efficient designs and uses energy efficient systems, installing new technologies and by leveraging partnerships."
Rosenberg said USAG Bamberg is a good model for increasingly eco-friendly living.
"Here in Bamberg I think we are actually out in front in this arena," Rosenberg said. "In 2008 Bamberg won the Secretary of the Army Award for Energy and Water Management in the Small Group Category and in 2009 Bamberg won the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Defense Environmental Award for Environmental Quality in the Overseas category. Additionally we partnered with the Stadtwerke city utilities of Bamberg who installed and paid approximately $250,000 for the Solar Photovoltaic Panel Array on top of the heat plant which generates enough electricity to power seven to 10 houses per year and resulted in a 19 ton annual reduction in carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.
"Even before all of these achievements Bamberg was leading the way in Energy Efficiency and Security. We converted our heat plant from coal to natural gas which was a big increase in efficiency and was a much cleaner fuel for heating. We have privatized nearly all of our utilities which has resulted in a higher level of maintenance and thus efficiency and it also allows us to take advantage of the fact that Germany is a world leader in the use of renewable energy."
As garrisons move forward in meeting the goals of the 2010-2017 Campaign plan, the new logo will continue to serve as a reminder to what IMCOM is built upon, the Soldiers, civilians and Families that make up the worldwide Army community.
"It doesn't replace our emblem," Aydt said. "But the logo is something General Lynch wants everyone to relate to and everyone feel like they have a part of."
Commanders from all IMCOM-Europe garrisons are scheduled to meet in Heidelberg April 22-23 to develop action plans based on the six LOE's listed in the campaign plan.
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