PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The garrison-level Armed Forces Action Plan Conference was held, here, Nov. 6-7 at the General Stilwell Community Center on Ord Military Community.
AFAP is an Army-wide program to improve Army quality of life. Through AFAP, all members of the Army, including active, reserve, and National Guard Soldiers, family members, retirees, surviving spouses, and DOD civilians have a forum to voice concerns to Army leadership and make recommendations for change at the local as well as at the "Big" Army level.
The annual conference is organized by the POM Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation and hosted by U.S. Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey. The AFAP process does not end or begin with the conference; it is a year-round process.
Toni McIntyre, AFAP program manager, said approximately 80 delegates and subject matter experts attended the conference. Delegates were assigned to working groups to review issues, suggestions and concerns previously submitted for consideration by members of the community.
The POM garrison AFAP Conference consisted of three work groups that reviewed issues, then focused on exploring options and making suggestions that would assist the garrison commander and his staff to resolve them. The groups presented their findings from the lectern to the commander and fellow participants at the culmination of the conference.
The top issues considered by the three working groups were housing and proper billing procedures, medical and dental issues, local employment; family support, education and teen issues, DLIFLC student support services such as internet access, library hours of operation, gate access and parking on the Presidio.
"One of the keys to getting conference participants engaged and working on these problems was having the garrison commander, Col. Fellinger, taking direct part in our discussions." said Charles Davis, one of the conference working group leaders and facilitators. "When you see the commander is involved in your issues and really listening to the discussions and proposals you're making you can't help but want to contribute to and improve your communities, whether you're a spouse in housing in the OMC or a student learning a language at the DLIFLC on the Presidio."
"Also of tremendous importance is the preparation that went into the event," said fellow AFAP facilitator and working group leader Mandy Couch. "Each group leader was trained and prepared by Toni McIntyre, the conference chairwoman, in order to get the best results from and maximum return on the sessions," she said.
"It was practical, quality training and included things like how to run a project group, how to promote positive interaction of participants, how to draw out less prominent voices and personalities among participants, and how to formulate and write a proposal for consideration. We even had training in how to avoid common group project pitfalls and proper courtesy when debating the issues and solutions." Couch said.
When delivering their findings to the garrison commander and the assembled conference participants, each group representative speaker not only presented suggestions to improve the quality of life in the POM community, but also used the opportunity to mention the things they thought the Presidio did exceptionally well: The POM MST bus program, local MWR, (particularly the Outdoor Recreation program), ACS, the POM Police, the Aiso library staff and facility, the POM Newcomers program, and many other garrison services that make the POM a one-of-a-kind place to live and work.
At the close of the conference Col. Fellinger addressed the delegates, subject matter experts, facilitators and conference administrators, thanking them for their efforts and proposals. "You're my eyes and ears in the community." he said. "If we can't find a solution to an issue at the local level, then I will see that it moves up to the right people in the chain." said Fellinger.
"Everyone is a stakeholder and I can't encourage you enough to keep looking for ways to improve our community," said Fellinger, "It's important to me and it's important to the service members who live here -- and who will live here in the future."
ABOUT THE U.S. ARMY INSTALLATION MANAGEMENT COMMAND
The IMCOM mission is to provide standardized, effective and efficient services, facilities and infrastructure to Soldiers, Families and Civilians for an Army and Nation engaged in persistent conflict. Army installations are the Department of Defense standard for infrastructure quality and are the provider of consistent, quality services that are a force multiplier in supported organizations' mission accomplishment, and materially enhance Soldier and family well-being and readiness.
IMCOM is made up of more than 80,000 civilian employees across the world. IMCOM employees bring continuity and technical expertise that is critical to maintaining the quality of life on Army installations.
AFAP was created in 1980 through focus groups but was fully developed with the first official AFAP Conference held in July 1983. Its mission is to help Army leaders address the needs and concerns of the total Army family. The program uses representatives from the total Army family from around the world to identify issues that will improve the standard of living for Soldiers and families. This feedback to leaders provides for policy changes that become tangible end-products for the Army family. In the more than 30 years AFAP has been operating, 651 issues have been adopted into the HQDA AFAP and have resulted in 112 changes to legislation, 159 changes to DOD and Army policy and 178 improvements to programs and services.
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