FORT SIll, Okla. -- Col. Glenn Waters, Fort Sill Garrison commander, presented his state of the garrison message Sept. 19 to some 200 government employees, contractors and Soldiers at Sheridan Theater here.

"I want to thank everybody for coming. I really appreciate everything the garrison does. I've been at Fort Sill for a little over two months now and coming onto this side of the Army, I am blown away by how much the garrison team accomplishes on a daily and often on an hourly basis," Waters said. "I spent some time at the Academy at West Point, but most of my time has been in tactical arenas. I am truly awed and amazed at what you accomplish every day."

Waters then explained how the Army's goals set the tone at each level for how the Fort Sill community operates.

"I'm going to talk to you about the IMCOM (Installation Management Command) Top 10 list of priorities. Then I'm going to list some of the focus areas that Major General McDonald (Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill commanding general) has given to us. I want to show you these focus areas so you will know what's going on above us," he said.

Waters then listed the 10 focus areas from Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, IMCOM commander:

1. Empower the senior commander and the garrison commander.

2. Prioritize and deliver programs and services to achieve greatest positive impacts for Soldiers, families and civilians. Measure what is important.

3. Communicate effectively to tell the IMCOM story. Operate as a team of teams through ongoing, open collaboration with senior commanders.

4. Enhance Soldier and family resilience through critical programs such as Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, Army Substance Abuse Program, transition assistance, child development centers, Exceptional Family Member Program, family fitness and suicide prevention.

5. Provide care and comfort to support survivors and wounded warriors.

6. Develop the IMCOM workforce. Build the bench through talent management, while fostering innovation and creativity in all team members. Develop the Army's best 3-star headquarters staff.

7. Operate efficiently and effectively, within fiscal constraints, through a reshaped organization and optimized infrastructure in order to meet mission commander's requirements. Move toward Army Installation 2020.

8. Maintain the post's environment. Reduce energy demands

and costs to meet Army-directed goals.

9. Run the enterprise by integrating installation services in accordance with Army standards and in support of senior commanders.

10. Demonstrate inspired leadership, communicate effectively and provide world-class customer service.

Next Waters listed how McDonald's senior commander priorities align with the IMCOM guidelines. These are:

1. SHARP

2. Leader development

3. The Army profession

4. Reduce redundancy

5. Physical fitness

6. Information distribution

7. Customer service

"I'm still trying to figure this job out and I'm working with the professionals here to help me work through the different challenges and directions, to understand what goes on from day to day," Waters said.

"We asked for input from the brigade commanders' perspective across the installation and based on what we heard, these are the priorities we are going to be focusing on for the garrison.

Enhance Soldiers and family resilience through critical programs Ready and Resilient Campaign;

Operate programs and infrastructure efficiently and effectively, within budget constraints;

Prioritize and deliver programs and services to achieve the greatest positive impact for service members, families and civilians;

Foster innovation and creativity for civilian and military workforce development; and

Reduce energy demands and costs to meet Army-directed goals while protecting the environment.

Waters emphasized that he doesn't have the answers right now because Washington is still trying to figure the budget out. And all of the issues that are being faced can have a negative effect on everyone.

"So the last thing I'm going to say is look out for the person next to you. With Soldiers, the commanders won't be the ones that see if things are going on. The person who will notice something is not right is going to be the Soldier who is with you every day. In the civilian circles, it probably won't be the supervisors who notice if someone is having issues; it will be the person in the cubicle next to them," Waters emphasized. "I ask you to be aware of people are struggling with issues. Don't be afraid to say something to the chain of command, either military or civilian, to let them know someone is having a rough time right now.

"I know things have been hard for you all as we have endured furlough and you lost 20 percent of your paychecks for a while, so I want to say thank you for sticking with us," Waters said. "I need your help in what we are trying to do here at Fort Sill."