FORT STEWART, Ga. - People know him as the director of the Directorate of Public Works. People call him Mr. Baumgardt, which is a sign of respect. People associate him with planting the seed for the Chip and Haul Program, which is an energy-reduction, cost-saving innovation at Fort Stewart. But, at the end of the day, the director Mr. Baumgardt is just Robert Baumgardt or Bob, as he prefers to be called -- a man with a plan and no stranger to the military world.
"I'm an Army Brat. I was born into the Army," he said. "My dad was an enlisted Soldier who later became a warrant officer. My dad did 26 years. I just remember living in Family housing, playing with kids. We all were just Army Brats."
A fluent German speaker, Bob spent 35 years in Germany. Thirteen years were with his parents and 22 years on his own working various DPW jobs. Among the different places he has resided include Nuremberg, Manheim, Stuttgart, Heilbronn and Baumholder.
His journey began with a summer internship opportunity.
"My very first, official job that I ever had was as a summer hire," Bob said. "I kept grasp for the DPW in Manheim a thousand years ago, and I never thought that I would one day end up working in the DPW. As a matter of fact, I worked for the Navy as an engineer for four years. I ended up in the DPW. So, it was a lot of fun, and I just made a career of it."
Bob worked his way up through different parts of the organization. He held positions such as the chief of the Operations and Maintenance Division, Chief of the Automation Branch at 7th Corps, Chief of Engineering and Plans and Chief of the Resource Management Division. He then became the deputy director then the director of DPW.
"The Directorate of Public Works, we take care of all the infrastructure and all the facilities here at Fort Stewart," he explained. "So, if it's heating, cooling or repairing your building or fixing anything from a leaky faucet to a building that needs a total renovation, we're involved in that."
Bob shared that one of the aspects of DPW he is most proud of is the Chip and Haul Program.
"One of the things we are really involved in is energy reduction and saving costs," he said. "If there is one thing that I would say that we're really proud of is the Chip and Haul. We're going out to the woods, and we're harvesting our own wood. We're probably going to save a million dollars a year this year, this first year."
The Chip and Haul is a program introduced to the Fort Stewart community in an effort to reduce energy and save costs. By harvesting Stewart's natural resources such as pine wood, the wood is chipped then hauled to the Central Energy Plant. From there, the wood chips are utilized as a renewable energy resource to produce steam, chilled and hot water to approximately 25 to 30 percent of the installation.
"Chip and Haul has never been done at Fort Stewart before," he said. "We looked at the resource. We knew that we needed fuel to run our Central Energy Plant. We knew we had a lot of slash out in the woods. We kind of combined the two ideas and said maybe we can do something and save some money."
He said that supporting Soldiers and their Families is part of his job. It's important that they feel comfortable and part of the community, he said.
For DPW Administrative Officer Sophia Davis, working for Bob for over two years has been a learning experience.
"Being around Mr. Bob is like being around someone with a wealth of knowledge," she explained. "He has so much experience in the DPW world. He believes in upward mobility and giving everyone a fair chance. He encourages education and growth."
Davis recalls an incident in which Bob assisted with a planning strategy.
"My daughter graduated a couple years ago, and she was unsure of what she was going to do and where she was going to go," she shared. "I discussed it with Mr. Baumgardt. He actually took the time to write on the board exactly what I told him, and he helped us draw up a plan to try to get her to where she needed to be. With his knowledge as an engineer, he was able to show me. He showed me that it was not going to happen right away, that it will take time. She had to have a plan on how to get there. For that, I'm grateful for. That's a true story, and she's at West Point now."
Bob had one final message for the community.
"I would ask everybody to just go ahead and save a little bit of energy if they can," he concluded. "Turn your thermostats down during the winter and up a little in the summer. It'll help save some energy and help us meet our energy goals."
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