FORT JOHNSON, La. — Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Ashish S. Vazirani visited Fort Johnson Nov. 12-15 to learn more about a wide range of organizations, programs and quality of life initiatives taking place across the installation.
As the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Total Force Management, Vazirani’s mission is to ensure a strong, adaptable and ready force supported through exceptional policy, programs and services.
His top strategic goal is taking care of people and cultivating the workforce, which includes quality of life matters.
Vazirani and his team began their tour of Fort Johnson at the Home of Heroes Soldier Recreation Center, headquarters of the Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program. He talked to BOSS representatives and did a walkthrough of the center.
In and around briefs, his itinerary included an aerial tour of Fort Johnson, as well as stops at the 519th Military Police Battalion Gym, Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital, Commissary, Main Post Exchange, Transition Assistance Program, Louisiana National Guard Training Center Pineville, and Barksdale Air Force Base. One of the last stops was Fort Johnson’s Quality of Life Conference.
The conference is a semi-annual event that includes Fort Johnson leadership, Soldiers, civilians, retirees and Family members in a forum that provides the Fort Johnson community an opportunity to gather and discuss ways to improve education, housing, child care, health care, spouse employment and more.
Brig. Gen. David W. Gardner, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Johnson commanding general, was interested in hearing attendees’ ideas.
“What I can assure you is that no idea is going to get thrown out,” Gardner said. “This is part of a larger process of how we pull together the feedback to help us identify things that we may or may not necessarily be thinking about.”
The ideas brought to light at the conference are looked at to see what can be immediately done by directorates at the installation and Army Installation Management Command. It’s a way to look at where Fort Johnson is today and where it wants to go in the future.
“These ideas will continue to be looked at, pushed up and resolved. There are a number of things that have been instituted because of the feedback we have received from this venue,” Gardner said.
Gardner then introduced Vazirani to the attendees as someone who really wants to understand the issues at the grassroots level so he can take that information back to the Pentagon.
“Most of the good ideas come from the ground up. I’m so enthusiastic about being able to participate in and observe what you do today,” Vazirani said. “To think about the number of leaders who are in this room today, taking time to focus on how to make life better for Soldiers is really encouraging. I appreciate the amount of energy and thought you are going to bring to the discussion.”
Vazirani reiterated the impact his tour of Fort Johnson and attendance at the conference will have.
“I know there are going to be great ideas that we can take and learn from you. We want to enable, encourage, and when you generate these solutions, elevate and resource them appropriately,” Vazirani said.
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