Sill signs Army Covenant

By Hiro Chang, the CannonerNovember 20, 2007

A covenant is a binding agreement between parties that must be honored once signed.

The senior leadership of Fort Sill signed the Army Family Covenant Nov. 19.

They pledged to strengthen the bonds between themselves and the Fort Sill families by ensuring that quality support would be given to them.

But they also recognized that it would be a tough feat.

"Our work is cut out for us, in recognition of the sacrifices our Soldiers and families make keeping our nation free," said Col. Robert S. Bridgeford, Fort Sill garrison commander.

"Now through the commitment of our leadership, we will be busy implementing many new programs and issues that will directly enhance the quality of life of our Soldiers and families stationed on Fort Sill," Bridgeford said.

The garrison commander spoke on the programs already implemented and future plans.

"We have joint partnership (with) Picerne housing for a new residential community initiative to provide privatized housing and great support," Bridgeford said.

The partnership will also see future renovations done on the existing on-post housing.

"This partnership will not only renovate, (but) will also meet the needs of our community, the growth we'll get from Fort Bliss and those families already stationed here."

There has also been renovation of the golf course and club house, playground areas and a new spray park said Bridgeford.

With the post being a mobilization hub for deploying Soldiers, lodging will also be receiving a fine-tuning from help from another of their partners.

"Our partnership with Intercontinental Hotel to bring first class lodging accommodations to our installation," Bridgeford said. Personnel growth was also addressed to increase service for the families.

"In addition to improvement of our facilities, we are increasing our staffing for critical programs such as our Army Youth Services... and our community recreation programs," Bridgeford said.

Bridgeford reiterated the importance of the signing of the covenant what it means for the command and the families.

"Our senior leadership has made a commitment to our Soldiers and families through this covenant and the leaders of this installation will also (meet) that commitment (with) the absolute best programs and services as possible," he said.

"We are proud to be a part of this great Army team, we are extremely proud of our Soldiers, families, civilian workforce, contractors and private sector partners. Together we are Army strong."