Many renovations are occurring at Aberdeen Proving Ground for base realignment and closure and the command boards, located in Garrison Headquarters, building 305, have also been revamped for a more modern look.
Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Pedro Rodriguez tasked the Visual Information Services Division to create six command boards for the Garrison Headquarters building.
"The Garrison Headquarters should have boards that have a modern look to reflect that APG is the Defense Department's Center of Excellence for land combat systems, vehicles, Soldier systems and chemical biological defenses," he said.
Rodriguez added that the boards should be educational and easy to read.
"I want people to be able to learn about the history of APG when they look at these boards, especially those who are new to APG and are forming their first impressions of the installation," Rodriguez said. "I want these boards to leave a positive impression."
The most recent board completed on May 1 is the past commander board.
"I wanted the past commanders' boards to also act as a timeline, showing different time periods on APG," Rodriguez said.
"I think the boards [that are completed] look really good, they are more eye-catching than the old boards," he said. "I didn't have much to do with the design of the boards. I wanted to leave that up to the experts."
Phil MacKenzie, current acting chief of VISD, gave the project lead to Diane Burrier, senior graphic analyst for Log.Sec, who created the design and did all of the research for the content on the boards.
The first three boards that were completed were the chain of command board, command sergeant major board and the Soldier/noncommissioned officer of the year combined with supervisor and employee of the year on one board.
The boards were designed and installed in October, after Rodriguez and Col. Jeffrey S. Weissman, Garrison and deputy installation commander, approved of the board concepts.
Burrier is still working on the past command sergeant major board, which will hang directly facing the commander's board and the chain of command board for the Headquarters and Headquarters Company office.
Burrier said that she had been working on the past commanders board since November, when she came up with a design for a board that would tell a story. All of the wooden boards were replaced with this new design concept.
The board starts with the first commander when APG was established, 91 years ago with Col. Colden L. Ruggles and ends with Weissman, with 12 more spaces for future commanders. The board is also broken up into eight panels, showing different time periods on APG. These time periods are: World War I, Inter-War Period, World War II, The Vietnam War, The Cold War, Operation Desert Shield/Storm and the Global War on Terrorism.
Burrier conducted research at the Bel Air Library, the APG News archives and in the office and archives of U.S. Army Research, Development & Engineering Command Historian Jeffery Smart, focusing on clippings of when the commanders took office and left office.
"I thought that would be the best way to find photos of the commanders," she said.
Burrier said she also tried to capture events that were going on at APG for the background photos, for people to notice changes that happened on APG and in the U.S. military.
"People usually notice that garrison commanders were generals until 1965, which is when the commander of TECOM [U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command] became commander of the post.
Burrier said that she is happy with the boards that have been completed so far.
"I had to spend a significant amount of time doing research for this project, but I am happy to see the end result," she said.
Burrier said that Rodriguez has been very enthusiastic and supportive about the project, giving her permission to carry out her design concepts and to think outside the box, and added that many people contributed to the completion of the command boards.
Burrier has worked at APG for nine years for various contractors as a graphic and Web site designer, starting with APG News as the graphic designer. She created the original APG News Web site.
"I feel that my years at APG News were most beneficial in the idea and research phases for the past commander board," she said.
Burrier has also worked on many projects for APG throughout the years including brochures, fact sheets, flyers, posters and exhibits. She worked at the U.S. Army Environmental Command for two years as a graphics designer contractor, and the RDECOM Data Imaging Team and VISD for three years, where she designed and developed the RDECOM Web site. Burrier stated that the command boards and the RDECOM Web site were the biggest projects she has worked on at APG.
She said she hopes to work on more projects for APG.
"I enjoy the work so much, and I hope to work on more projects in the future," she said.
Credits:
Supervisor: Phil MacKenzie, acting chief of VISD
Project leader, graphic design, research, photo retouching: Diane Burrier
Site photography, commander photo scanning, commander photo printing: Sean Kief, John Densmore, Scott Nieto, VISD photography
Assistant graphics and photo retouching: Sandi Heitzer
Production: Tony Jara, Data Imaging Team
Assistant Production: Deborah Scott, VISD
Installation and fabrication coordinators: Mike Fancher (past commanders boards), Earl Floran (lobby boards) VISD exhibits team
Installation: John Schorah, Bill Kilby Jr., VISD fabrication team
Past commander boards text editing and author of "2001-Present" text:
Pat Beauchamp, VISD team
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