Q. How has serving as garrison commander compared to previous assignments?
A. Aside from serving in combat zones around the world in various positions, garrison commander is the most demanding position I have held.
It requires me to be engaged 100 percent of the time to meet the needs of every one who lives, works and plays on the installation.
The quantity and regularity of face-to-face engagements and partnership efforts are really astounding, and necessary to build trust between all our partners on and off post.
While incredibly demanding, this is also the most rewarding position I have held, because of the valuable impact we make every day as an enterprise team.
Q. What were your objectives in pushing the Performance Triad and how did you accomplish them?
A. The health and fitness of our service members, DOD civilians and Family members have always been a focus of mine.
Whether it is the free 5k walk/run series, opening the Davidson Fitness Center track to parents pushing strollers or championing the Army Wellness Center, being active and fit is everyone's responsibility associated with military service.
We cannot accomplish our mission to the highest standard without proper physical conditioning.
I have especially enjoyed sharing the principles of the Performance Triad with our children who are more than happy to be active, eat healthy food and get their rest.
Our outstanding youth sports program and robust Waynesville School athletics programs are testaments to this fact.
Q. What experience, personal or professional, affected you the most during your command?
A. While I have enjoyed many personal and organizational successes during my tenure, I am most deeply affected by my inability to improve driver safety and especially speeding on base.
We know speeding leads to increased traffic accidents on and off post each year and what keeps me up at night is the thought of a speeder in one of our housing communities hitting a child who is running after a ball across a street.
Since our military police cannot be everywhere at once, I wish we self-policed better with everyone working harder to improve driver safety.
Q. What will you miss most about the post and area?
A. I will miss the friendly and thoughtful people here the most.
Regardless of unit, organization or community -- the folks here are the friendliest and most caring of all the posts and regions I have served.
In particular, I have enjoyed my partnership with our great city mayors and Waynesville school's superintendent, Mayor George Lauritson, Mayor Luge Hardman and Dr. Brian Henry.
Q. Anything else you would like to add?
A. I am so blessed by the Lord for guiding me throughout my life and especially during these past two years.
I am so grateful to have formed a wonderful relationship with so many dedicated professionals who shared this journey with me -- a journey very few have the privilege of experiencing in their entire lifetimes.
I have thoroughly enjoyed being always on call to meet challenges, solve problems, seek and seize opportunities at every turn, which improved our safety and security posture while always keeping a keen eye on quality of life.
Tuesday will be a sad day for me when I hand over my walkie-talkie and official mobile phone.
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