One-time engineer student back in leadership role
Fresh out of West Point, a 1980 student in an Engineer Officers Basic Course at Fort Belvoir has now returned, to continue his years of service.
"I loved Fort Belvoir then, and always thought I'd try to return," said Dr. John Moeller, who came on board here in December as deputy to the garrison commander.
"I lived in Knadle Hall and took classes in Humphreys Hall," Moeller said."It was beautiful then and now. Fort Belvoir has grown by leaps and bounds, which is a good thing, overall." He also served at Belvoir's Humphreys Engineer Center from 1995-1999.
Moeller comes to Belvoir as deputy after serving in the same position for more than a decade at Fort Meade, Md. He said it's great to be back, adding he'd applied for the Belvoir job in 2004, but JoAnn Blanks got the job. "JoAnn was the better person for the job, at the time, and she was a great lady."
Classmate provides direction
Moeller and Blanks had worked together at Installation Management Agency, one of Installation Management Command's predecessors.
But, it worked out well, Moeller said. He then called Col. T.W. Williams, Belvoir Garrison commander at the time and a West Point classmate of Moeller's, and asked him for advice about how to be more competitive. Moeller and Williams had also worked at IMA together. "It's a small Army," Moeller said.
Williams suggested Moeller attend the National War College. "My career's been 44 years and my year at the war college was the best year I've ever had," Moeller said. "I liked it so much, because you're in a military and academic environment. I like learning, reading, thinking, the camaraderie. It was a great group of people made up of all services, State Department personnel and foreign officers."
When Moeller graduated from war college, he landed the deputy job at Meade. Comparing the deputy positions at Meade and Belvoir, Moeller said the challenges are similar.
The uniqueness of Belvoir
"Every garrison has some differences, nuances and unique needs and I'm finding that about Fort Belvoir. There are a lot of similarities between garrisons, but it's exciting to be here," he said.
"There are more complicated partnerships here than at Meade, both on-post and off. It's more densely populated, here, and we have 150 mission partners on Belvoir, more than Meade's 118," Moeller said. "We thought we had a lot at Meade," adding he doesn't know of another post that has as many mission partners as Belvoir.
"It's a bit more challenging here, because of the number of partners and issues," he said. "However, the partners are very supportive and cooperative of Team Belvoir. We all have the same goals and mindset of accomplishing the mission and taking care of Service members and their families," Moeller said. "Relationships and being able to work with others, no matter the task, are very important."
Frank Hentschel, garrison director of emergency services, said of Moeller, "We're glad to have him here at Belvoir and have already seen his influence on the garrison," he said. "His previous expertise and tenure at Meade has allowed us a new way of looking at things. He's brought with him a different perspective and best practices that we can all learn from."
Moeller's advice for a young person considering the military? "If you work hard, the military's going to take care of you. Never stop improving and learning," he said.
For leaders, Moeller advised them to "Hire good people and let them do their jobs. Give them guidance, but trust them and they'll get the job done. It's absolutely beautiful here," Moeller said. "It's exciting to be met with new challenges and issues. So, I'm looking forward to being here a while."
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