About 40 local business and community leaders, all members of Leadership Middle Tennessee, clamored into the meeting room at 101st Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade Dining Facility for breakfast Wednesday before beginning a tour of Fort Campbell.
As part of their tour the guests ate breakfast with Col. James "Rob" Salome, garrison commander while he provided them an overview of the post, its services and its economic impact in the community. They toured the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment including the Allison Aquatics Facility where Soldiers learn how to exit submerged aircraft. They fired simulated weapons during a battle scenario in the Engagement Skills Trainer and rappelled at The Sabalauski Air Assault School. Leadership groups from Clarksville, Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Middle Tennessee visit the post annually to learn more about Soldiers and to better understand the economic impact and significance of the installation.
During breakfast, Salome discussed the importance of local businesses to the installation and encouraged the visitors to become involved with Fort Campbell's Soldier for Life-Transition Assistance Program. This program prepares Soldiers to transition out of the Army.
Lee Rucks, president of Leadership Middle Tennessee, said the program continues to bring leaders to post to expose them to different facets of a Soldier's life.
"We feel that it is extremely important for [these leaders] to see the military impact within the community and Montgomery County," Rucks said. "This experience broadens their horizon and allows them to see the vastness of the installation. It's huge and there are so many people who have never even been here before."
Jeff Truitt, Montgomery County chief of staff and a graduate of last year's Leadership Middle Tennessee, served on the council to plan this year's Fort Campbell tour. He said last year's participants said they wanted more interaction with the Soldiers, so they tried to achieve that this year.
"[Participants] wanted to get more information out of the [Soldiers] and to understand what a day in the life of a Soldier is like," Truitt said. "They wanted to know what it feels like to deploy and how it feels to come back home."
The Leadership Middle Tennessee group is comprised of members from 10 counties, including Montgomery County. However, Truitt said many people in Montgomery County take their proximity to Fort Campbell for granted.
"We are around Soldiers all of the time," he said. "They are our friends. We go to church with them. We go to school with them. We know more about their lifestyle than other civilians. People from these other counties don't have as much interaction with the Soldiers. We wanted to give them a chance to get to know the Soldiers and have a conversation with them one-on-one."
Later in the afternoon, the guests were treated to a Meal Ready to Eat lunch in one of the classrooms at The Sabalauski Air Assault School. One Soldier took center stage to demonstrate how to properly prepare the MRE. While several other Soldiers from the TSAAS cadre and volunteers from the Sgt. Audie Murphy Club ripped open the cardboard boxes, distributed the packs to the guests and assisted them with preparing their lunches.
Truitt said having an MRE for lunch is part of what makes this tour such an immersive experience for the participants. He said it has become a tradition for the tours.
"This whole day is a good experience for everyone," Truitt said. "For a lot of these people it's the only time in their life they are going to eat a MRE. It's one of the few times they are ever going to have to touch a helicopter. For most people in this group it's their only opportunity to rappel."
More than anything, having these business and community leaders on post, is a way for the Army to reach out and educate local communities, said Brendalyn Carpenter, Fort Campbell's Deputy Public Affairs and Command Information Officer.
The goal of the leadership post tour program is to enhance the understanding of civilian leaders and to increase their awareness about Fort Campbell.
"When you look at the statistic that only one percent of the United States population serves in the military, this is our way of reaching out to that other 99 percent to say, 'Here is what that one percent is doing and here is how you can help,'" Carpenter said.
The leadership groups visiting Fort Campbell are comprised of business and community leaders, but also council members and political leaders, Carpenter said. She said these are the people who have the ability to enact change in their communities to benefit Soldiers and veterans.
"For every one of those leaders who we bring out here, we are exponentially educating the community, because they are going to go back and tell somebody else," she said, "By doing that they reach out to their constituents and stakeholders. In turn, they help us tell the story of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell."
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