Fort McCoy holds second 2024 Area Development Plan workshop

Fort McCoy conducted its second Area Development Plan workshop in mid-April as part of the installation Real Property Master Plan update, said Fort McCoy Master Planner Brian Harrie.

Key stakeholders and leaders from various garrison and tenant organizations participated in the weeklong event. A similar workshop was also held in January.

The workshop focused on identifying projects across four different district areas for short-term (0-5 years), mid-term (6-15 years), and long-term (16+ years) timelines. The areas targeted for development were transient training, simulations, institutional training, and administrative, Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works (DPW) Director Liane Haun said.

The primary goal of the Fort McCoy Master Plan and Area Development Plans update is to validate existing plans and revise the master planning framework for installation development through a long-range planning horizon of up to 25 years.

Robert Weisbrod, training support officer with the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security, highlighted the importance of the workshop in shaping the future of Fort McCoy.

“It was a great opportunity to be a part of the area development workshop and provide feedback on the short- and long-term area development of the Mission Command and Simulation Complex,” said Weisbrod. “Mission command and simulation capabilities have grown in the past, and Fort McCoy needs to continue to develop new facilities and infrastructure to handle training capability growth as we look 20 years out. Area development ensures our customer base has the required facilities and training areas to successfully perform their mission. Obtaining valuable input from the various workshop participants facilitated the development of the plan.”

Caleb Kunz, administrative officer at Fort McCoy’s Regional Training Site (RTS)-Medical, emphasized the workshop’s significant impact on their strategic planning.

“This workshop greatly assisted RTS-Medical in developing a local strategic business development plan and master plan for our site,” said Kunz. “The ability to coordinate and synchronize efforts with all the stakeholders is going to set us up for success and growth and align ourselves with our proponent in a way that supports command directives and achieves goals set out by our requirements.”

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Kevin Gabrielson, maintenance tech at Fort McCoy’s RTS-Maintenance, also expressed appreciation for the workshop’s inclusive approach to planning.

“It was nice to have all tenants involved in the future planning of Fort McCoy,” said Gabrielson.

“The workshop served as a collaborative platform for stakeholders to contribute to the development and refinement of Fort McCoy’s long-term plans, ensuring the installation remains equipped to support evolving training needs for years to come,” Haun said.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”