NCO Club manager puts Soldiers first

FORT JACKSON, SC -- Providing Soldiers a home away from home has been Carole Coveney's mantra for more than two decades.

And it's a mantra Coveney intends to live by in her new position as general manager for Fort Jackson's NCO Club.

"Soldiers are defending our country, they're putting their necks out for us," said Coveney, who has been helping the Army's Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation take care of Soldiers for 23 years.

"So I want to make sure that while they are here training - or if this is their permanent duty station - that they enjoy themselves, that their families enjoy themselves, and we have nice activities for them that make them feel at home."

Coveney plans to make changes to some of the catering menus for the many events that take place at both the NCO Club and Magruder's Club and Pub, as well as drumming up more nightly entertainment for both clubs.

She said she also plans to add more exciting promotions for Victory Bingo, which she also manages. Coveney said she is excited she will be able to do more to increase the quality of services, and customer service overall, for all three venues.

"She is very customer service focused," said Rose Ann Turner, chief of Family and MWR's business operations division.

Coveney was selected for the position not only because of her proven leadership skills but also because

her experience in Army club management far exceeded all other applicants' job qualifications, Turner said.

Coveney's career in hospitality began in 1987, when, as a Florida State University student, she was recruited by Family and MWR to become a club management intern.

She headed to Germany, where she worked as the general manager for a community club at an installation in Nuremberg. Two years later, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management, she was asked if she would like to keep her position in Germany.

She loved her job so much, she said, she decided to stay. Two years later, she was offered a job at Fort Jackson to become the assistant general manager of the Officers' Club. She accepted and worked in that position for only six months before she was promoted to general manager.

During the next nine years, she remained at Fort Jackson, married a Soldier and began a family of her own.

In 2000, Coveney traveled back to Germany with her husband and daughter to their next duty station in Kaiserslautern.

There, the new mom, with another baby on the way, continued her career as yet again, a general manager.

In 2004, her husband received orders to Fort Drum, N.Y. Realizing that he was going to deploy to Iraq in the near future, Coveney decided to move back to Fort Jackson with her daughters. She has been the assistant general manager of the NCO Club ever since, until her promotion three weeks ago.

Turner said she envisions many positive changes within the clubs as Coveney takes over, because the patrons will see what she sees - that Coveney "sets high standards and challenges her staff to do the same ... she is creative and willing to try new ideas."

Turner added, "She is positive, professional and a pleasure to work with."