FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- One of my seven command principles is "Be a Team Player." Team players are those who establish trust with other team members and always complete three tasks: coordinate, collaborate and cooperate, the three C's. I am proud to say that we are an effective team player within Columbia, the Midlands and South Carolina.

My special thanks to all of Team Jackson. It's because of your hard work and dedicated efforts that we are considered to be one of the most effective team players in the city and state.

We have teamed up with various community organizations, businesses and universities to make people -- service Members, Families, Civilians, Veterans and Retirees -- our number-one priority on and off post. Over time, we have built trust and used the three C's in maintaining these relationships.

Our effort with longtime team member, the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce is a great case in point. The chamber spearheads and helps us with a number of our activities for our Soldiers, Families and Civilians, such as job fairs for veterans and military spouses, community service projects and military Family friendly programs. Day in and day out, we are team members working toward a common goal of people first by using the three C's.

In addition, we partner with Lake Carolina Development for a program called, "Military Ambassadors." We have coordinated to create this initiative for our military Families who live in the Lake Carolina and Northeast Columbia areas to provide services such as Family readiness groups, military child programs and other Fort Jackson services because of their distance from post.

These are just a few instances that make us a key team player in the city and state. Keep up the good work, Team Jackson!

Our collective efforts can change our post and city for everyone. As many of you see every day in your workplaces, when we work together it builds collective competence and mutual trust. The effects of mutual trust will ultimately result in a change of environment that can fill our entire post and every single community team member.

This is what I like to call a contagious winning attitude. We can accomplish any challenge efficiently with teamwork -- which leads me to tell you about a great opportunity to work with some of our biggest team members in the community: the City of Columbia, University of South Carolina, SCANA, and many other businesses for an initiative called One Columbia: CityServe.

CityServe is an intensive week of service designed to involve thousands of Columbia citizens across all city domains (business, education, government, faith community, military, social sector, arts) working together to improve our city.

This is an opportunity for us to roll up our sleeves and work together for the continual improvement of quality of life in our city, and our military communities. Our efforts will help with ongoing community engagement projects that fall under the Army Community Covenant. This will make the City of Columbia a better place for all service members, Families, Civilians, Veterans and community members to serve and live.

Over the years, we have fostered and maintained our bonds of trust within the community to provide quality of life programs for our Army Family and the city to enjoy such as: Come See your Army Tour, Columbia Blowfish Baseball Club, National Night Out, Military Retiree Appreciation Day, Adopt-A-School program, Special Olympics, and Richland County Sheriff's Department -- D.A.R.E. Program, just to name a few.

I encourage our Soldiers, Families, and Civilians to take advantage of the programs, get involved in the community and continually be a key team player. It takes a strong community team effort to make our post and the city even better. Our teamwork has been and must continue to be nothing short of Army Strong. We have solid community team members who play a vital effort in ensuring we have a great city to serve, live and enjoy. We are truly grateful for all of our team members and their efforts.

Remember, team members are vital to any great purpose. We take pride in knowing that we have great team members, and we are a great team player in achieving a shared goal of people first.

Victory Starts Here and Army Strong!

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