WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 7, 2009) -- New Army Secretary John McHugh recognized outstanding quality-of-life improvements, programs and best practices from around the Army during the second Family Forum of the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition Tuesday.
Developed by former Secretary of the Army Pete Geren last year, the Secretary of the Army's Quality of Life Awards honor individuals, commands and team efforts in improving Soldier and family quality of life.
"The pre-eminent (challenge) in my mind, is ensuring that we take care of the Soldiers and that means taking care of their families ... if Army leadership doesn't take care of what we proudly call the Army family, we have failed," McHugh said.
"I think it is absolutely critical and why we are here today, and why I'm so thrilled to join with you, to ensure that we encourage, the bases, the unit-level Army on up across this country, to think innovatively, to try to implement programs that tend to the needs of Army families. And that's the intent behind these awards," he continued, explaining that family programs are essential to unit readiness.
The Superior Quality of Life Award is for an initiative that can be emulated by all installations and commands worldwide. The winners were:
Aca,!Ac Small installation or command: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Carl R. Darnell Army Medical Center, Fort Hood, Texas.
Aca,!Ac Medium installation or command: 108th Training Command, U.S. Army Reserve, Charlotte, N.C.
Aca,!Ac Large installation or command: U.S. Army Garrison Fort Campbell, Ky.
Presented to the Military Intelligence Ready Command, U.S. Army Reserve, Fort Belvoir, Va., the Command Team Quality of Life Award is for a command team that best demonstrates personal involvement in initiating single or multiple quality-of-life improvements within its command.
Presented to the 108th Training Command, U.S. Army Reserve, Charlotte, N.C., the Quality of Life Award for Best Practices is presented to an installation, command or group that has demonstrated the ability to develop "best practices" that can be adopted by other installations or commands.
Presented to U.S. Army Garrison Fort Hood, Texas, the Quality of Life Partnership Award is for new or exciting partnerships that have improved Soldier or family quality-of-life programs. Partnerships can be between commands, organizations and individuals. The Joint Family Readiness Program, Ohio National Guard, Columbus, Ohio, received an honorable mention.
Presented to U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, the Quality of Life Award for Communication Excellence is for individuals or commands that have employed new or unique communication efforts in telling primary and secondary audiences about Soldier and family quality-of-life successes.
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