FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Fort Leonard Wood garrison leaders hosted a quarterly town hall for garrison employees today at Nutter Field House.
Col. Anthony Pollio, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Leonard Wood commander, kicked off the town hall — his second since taking over garrison command here on June 28 — by thanking everyone for attending.
“First and foremost, I just want to say thank you so much for everything you guys do day in and day out,” he said. “You are what make Fort Leonard Wood a great place to work and live.”
Pollio and U.S. Army Garrison Fort Leonard Wood Command Sgt. Maj. Danny Castleberry then recognized some of the garrison’s exceptional employees.
The following individuals received two-star notes from Maj. Gen. James Bonner, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood commanding general, for various acts of excellence:
Dave Robinson, from the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security; Amanda Krause and Angie Merritt, from the Directorate of Human Resources; Dan Danzo, Jeremiah Harcourt, Karen Robinson and Aimee Rodriguez, from the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation; and Brittany Marsh, from the Directorate of Emergency Services.
After recognizing the two-star note recipients, Pollio presented Length of Service awards to Jason Ploss, from DES, for more than 30 years of service; and Angela Alley, from the Directorate of Resource Management, Rhonda Hutsell, from Army Community Service, and Huynh Turner, from DFMWR, for surpassing 35 years of service.
Pollio then highlighted some of the garrison’s accomplishments in fiscal year 2022, making special mention of USAG Fort Leonard Wood's recognition as the best garrison of the 16 installations comprising the Installation Management Command Directorate – Training, also known as ID-T.
During a video and slide show presentation, some of the other highlights included DES firefighters being directly credited in saving lives during a 1,700-acre wildfire that also saw no loss to government property; more than 1 million personnel trained on ranges and training areas managed by DPTMS; more than 3,500 coffee cups recycled by DPW; and 529 commercial buses chartered by the Logistics Readiness Center, moving more than 18,000 passengers.
“We took a sampling from all the directorates of some of the great accomplishments we did throughout the year, just to remind you that while we still have work to do, and we still have challenges and issues we need to address, that we have made a lot of progress over the last year,” Pollio said.
Farrah Overman, a Workforce Development Specialist here, spoke about upcoming civilian training opportunities, including a new employee onboarding course, from Dec. 6 to 9; a leader development course, from Feb. 6 to 10, 2023; and a supervisor course, from Feb. 28 to March 2, 2023. Each course takes place at Countee Hall. Overman also noted instructors are needed. Call 573.563.4005 for more information on these and other upcoming development opportunities here.
Craig Reeves, from the Garrison Safety Office, provided some holiday safety tips, including Christmas tree safety.
“If you have a real tree, make sure you’re watering it on a daily basis, keep trees at least three feet away from a heat source and get rid of any damaged extension cords,” he said.
Reeves also spoke on deer season.
“They’re on the move, so if you see a deer crossing sign, remember, it’s there for a reason,” he said.
Reeves reminded employees deer tend to travel in groups, and most people tend to hit the second or third deer crossing the road. He also advised drivers not to swerve off the road or into the opposite lane, when trying to brake and avoid a collision with a deer.
Reeves advised drivers to keep a winter kit in their vehicles that includes a flashlight, gloves, blankets, a shovel, jumper cables and an ice scraper – and slow down.
Finally, Reeves said no holiday safety briefing would be complete without discussing deep fryers.
“Remember, it’s an outdoor fryer, not an indoor fryer,” he said. “Don’t do it in your garage, under your awning, on a deck – bad things can happen.”
Pollio said the next garrison employee town hall is tentatively scheduled for March 1, 2023.
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