FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The commanding general of Installation Management Command (IMCOM) traveled to Fort Carson this week to learn more about the post and its programs.
Lt. Gen. David D. Halverson, IMCOM commander, who also serves as assistant chief of staff for installation management, toured Fort Carson, spoke with participants from the garrison's Leadership Drives Results and Success (LDRS) Academy and visited the World Class Athlete Program and other garrison programs. He also presented two awards to garrison staff.
"It's special to have the senior commander for (IMCOM) come to meet face to face with the employees that on a daily basis are really making it happen. (IMCOM) is all about customer service," said Col. Joel D. Hamilton, garrison commander. "Up in Washington in his role as assistant chief of staff for installation management, he sees the statistics, he sees a lot of the reports that we send up in terms of life here at (Joint Task Force) Carson. But truly, there's no substitute for getting out and walking the ground and seeing not only the great opportunities we have here in southern Colorado and on the installation but also the great facilities."
Halverson presented the Gold Medal Award given by the National Recreation and Park Association to Michael O'Donnell, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation director, at a lunch with garrison staff Tuesday. The award honors communities that demonstrate excellence in long-range planning, resource management and agency recognition. Fort Carson was one of four finalists in the Armed Forces Recreation category. Halverson also presented O'Donnell with an award recognizing Fort Carson's reaccreditation with the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies.
"The work here at IMCOM, as you all know, is that we are here to take care of Soldiers and Families," Halverson told a group of representatives from across all garrison directorates during the award presentation. "It really has to be an affair of the heart … so I just want to say thanks for what you do on a daily basis for that. It really means a lot."
During his address to the LDRS Academy Monday, Halverson stressed the importance of communication.
"I would tell you that the most important aspect of (leadership) is communication skills, because it's lacking," the general told the group of about 20 people. "I call it the human dimension. What I've been trying to tell all my leaders … (is) you have to talk to your people.
"What I've found out is that if you invest in people, they will pay you back tenfold," Halverson said.
Michele Magrini, workplace development program manager, Directorate of Human Resources, said Halverson's comments reinforce the training the LDRS Academy offers.
"We are on the right track," Magrini said. "We don't often have the opportunity to hear a three-star general talk candidly about (his) own leadership lessons, so the examples of his personal lessons learned encouraged our 'emerging leaders' to continue learning. It was an honor to meet Lt. Gen. Halverson and hear him speak on such an important subject."
Halverson talked to the LDRS Academy about four C's that are important in their work with customers.
"First it's about your character, making the right decision when no one's watching," he said, adding that it's important for leaders to confront their supervisors and superiors when they think something isn't right.
"You've got to be committed," the general said. "That commitment is to your team, to your garrison and, really, it's to your Army and then to your country."
Halverson said leaders should be competent, work daily to get better at their jobs and strive for excellence. He said pushing peers and supervisors to improve will make the whole team stronger.
Finally, he said, "Being in the IMCOM business, you've got to be caring, too. You really do just have to turn the other cheek sometimes. I really want to say thanks for what you do dealing with that sometimes.
"You deal in the people business, and it's really important for us to have that confidence in ourselves and in our mission that we can be caring and turn the other cheek even when people sometimes don't deserve it," he said. "It's not easy. Trust me, I know that, and I see it all the time."
Halverson told the group, "What we're trying to do is create an environment where (Soldiers) can grow together and enable each other so that they can have a good, strong profession in the Army. I think it's important that we put that in perspective."
He drew laughter from the group when he told them he has an idea for IMCOM public relations.
"When the lights come on, people will say, 'Thank you, IMCOM.' When they turn on their water, they can say, 'Thank you, IMCOM.' When you see a young person bring his child into the day care center and hand him off and he's screaming -- 'Thank you, IMCOM.'
"We're going to work on this PR thing because a lot of the things we do are the quiet professionals behind the scenes. It's really important, what we do. Sometimes folks don't realize it. It's amazing what we do to provide capabilities and services to great Soldiers and their Families," the commander said.
Hamilton said that during the visit, the IMCOM commander was also able to meet athletes and tour the WCAP facility on post as well as the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Halverson also got a first-hand view of the construction that has recently taken place on post.
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