FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- One Fort Drum employee is answering the call to better help Soldiers and Families, arming herself with compassion and knowledge.
Rochelle Fletcher, benefits casualty case manager, said she was just doing her job when she was recognized for her exceptional work on a recent fallen Soldier's case. Fletcher works in the Directorate of Human Resource's Military Personnel Division.
While working on the case, Fletcher received information that the Soldier's father was homeless and living on the street. She contacted local organizations in his area, including the Massachusetts Military Hero Foundation and the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Survivor Outreach Services, for help.
As a result, the Soldier's father received gift cards for food and clothing, as well as money for a suit to wear to his son's funeral.
Fletcher also helped the mother of the fallen Soldier's children -- who were living in the basement of an apartment building -- secure a permanent home through Habitat of Humanity.
On May 23, Fletcher was deemed Installation Management Command's Hero of the Day -- a program designed to identify outstanding civilian employee accomplishments.
Fletcher's actions -- decisive and motivated by a deep compassion -- made a difference in the lives of a fallen Soldier's Family, noted Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, commanding general of IMCOM, during a video teleconference with Flet-cher; Michael McKinnon, Fort Drum deputy to the garrison commander; James Swords, acting DHR director; and Robert Ormsbee, MPD chief.
Ormsbee, Fletcher's supervisor, nominated her for the recognition.
"Rochelle continually goes above her actual duty description. (She is) a caring person who's doing everything that she can do to help a Family Member at such a trying time," Ormsbee noted. "She has been a mainstay in the organization."
Fletcher, who has been with the organization for three years, provides information about finances and benefits / entitlements to surviving Family Members.
Although Fletcher is required to give survivors a better idea of their financial future, she said going the extra mile is a no-brainer for her.
"It takes two minutes to pick up the phone, tell someone a situation and (ask) for help. I'm willing to take two minutes out of my day to make those phone calls to make it happen -- it's what I'm here for," Fletcher said.
Fletcher and the other case managers with MPD don't just assist Fort Drum survivors -- their territory reaches across seven states. To accommodate each survivor, case managers enlist the help of coordinators with Survivor Outreach Services.
On any given day, Fletcher can be working on 25 cases.
She said resiliency plays a big role in coping with her job. One thing she doesn't do is take the hardships of her job home with her at the end of the day.
"I have my own little system of how I leave it all here," Fletcher added.
At the end of each day, she puts everything she worked on that day into one pile.
"It's like I'm saying 'OK, it's going to be there for me in the morning,'" she said.
She noted that the hardest part of her job is when she wishes she could do more for the Soldier's Family, which drives her to want to help even more.
Fletcher said when she first found out she received recognition at the IMCOM level she was surprised because she was just doing her job.
"Then I started thinking about it, and I realized I made an extra effort," she said. "I had to come to terms with (the fact) that the Family's life had changed."
"Death is one of the most trying times in a person's life. We can't bring their loved one back but we can help them through this process, and that's what we do," Ormsbee said.
"We, here at Fort Drum, along with many others across the Army, have suffered great numbers of causalities. We are extremely proud of our casualty team," McKinnon noted during the VTC.
"The extra mile that (Fletcher) has gone to take care of surviving Family Members and making sure she has done that with the utmost care and concern is just indicative of what our casualty team has been doing for many years," McKinnon continued.
Ferriter thanked Fletcher for the "very special thing you did for this Family."
"You represent all of our casualty case managers around our installations who are so dedicated. Your story is one that we enjoy being able to tell," Ferriter told Fletcher. "We want to continue to tell that story when we talk about just how great out IMCOM team is … because it's people like you who make a difference."
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