A Joint Basing Program Management Review conference held by the Office of the Secretary of Defense on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Feb. 2-3 provided a window to the ongoing struggles and successes of joint basing as installations realign and merge resources to achieve greater efficiencies.
The forum, held at JBM-HH's Spates Community Club, brought together Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment Dorothy Robyn, Department of the Army deputy assistant chief of staff for Installation Management Craig College and other Department of Defense officials to assess the progress of joint basing. Approximately 120 people attended.
Col. Gina Grosso, commander of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, spoke on the challenges of integrating support structures but also about the an esprit de corps achieved by bringing separate military cultures together.
JBMDL includes Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine components.
''You cannot calculate the takeaway from your military members living together and training together," Grosso said. ''It's a benefit you just can't quantify. It doesn't matter what uniform you wear," she said, ''when you walk into one of our Family readiness centers you'll get served."
The consolidation of contracts for services under joint basing has made contracting easier to monitor with less oversight needed, Grosso stressed.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Dixon, deputy joint base commander for JBM-HH, updated the audience on joint basing milestones the installation was achieving. He spoke of how the Fort Myer Military Community and Henderson Hall's newspapers had merged, how the consolidated dining facilities were being folded into one, how a new barracks would house Soldiers and Marines, and explained the implementation of an Energy Savings Performance program that saved money on utilities.
Col. Thomas Brittain, commander of Joint Base Lewis-McCord, spoke about how his installation had doubled in size over the past decade to the point that it would recognized at the seventh largest city in the state of Washington. He said there were difficulties filling vacancies for joint base positions as the installation had to compete with the nearby headquarters of Apple and Amazon.com for employees.
''Service delivery is better because of joint basing," said Air Force Col. Ken Weldon, JBL-M deputy commander, citing manpower and service delivery savings achieved through consolidation. Integrating the Family advocacy program for instance, he said, had ''saved time, people and money."
Gay van Brero, JBM-HH strategic planner, said she thought the conference was a success and that the installation had been a capable host for the event, with Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, the Directorate of Public Works and the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security teaming together to support it. She said JBM-HH had received positive feedback on its coordination of the event, along with the food and hospitality it provided attendees.
''It was great," said van Brero of the conference.
''People from all the services came together and shared their successes and challenges."
''I think everybody understands we are a success story for joint basing," said Dixon, explaining how the event provided an effective forum for leaders to compare notes on the conference floor and informally behind the scenes during breaks.
''Being able to talk to other joint base leaders was helpful," he said.
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