Photo By Eric Pilgrim | Members of the IT Call Center at U.S. Army Human Resources Center field calls for IT...... read more read more
Fort Knox is beginning to look a lot like a ghost town. Streets are much quieter. Schools are out. The mass exodus for Christmas and New Year’s has begun.
Left behind are some employees who will work during the holidays, maintaining critical missions and guarding the installation from potential dangers.
At U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Army Call Center, about 75 people will be answering phone calls from anybody who calls in with a question throughout Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
“We’re one big team,” said Matthew Ennis, senior Call Center specialist. “We do a lot of listening.”
The human resource side of the Call Center operates 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. during the work week with another shift operating on the weekends. The internet technology side maintains a 24-hour/7-days-a-week presence. About 100 people work at both locations normally.
“At the Service Center itself, we’re looking at roughly 1,100 calls a day,” said Ennis. “You pick the topic, it happens. It ranges from retired pay to TSP to, ‘My spouse just passed,’ to ‘I want to join the Army.’ We get a little bit of everything, and we try to direct people in the direction they need to be in.”
Ennis said the people who work at the Call Center are a special group of people who love to research answers to anything relating to the Army and love serving the Soldiers.
“Everybody here has the desire to learn, and everybody tends to grow into that learning as they serve the Soldier,” said Ennis. “We have like a 2-3% turnover, so for the people who work out here, they stay. It turns into a family because they take care of each other.”
At the IT side of the call center, Shelly Dezelich, an Army Service Center supervisor, said holidays tend to be quieter since people are off during this time.
“It’s kind of slow this week, which is really nice for the analysts,” said Dezelich. “It gives them a chance to breathe while they’re here.”
On average, 38 contractors and 11 civilian employees field 800 IT questions daily from HRC, U.S. Army Cadet Command, U.S. Army Financial Command, U.S. Army Recruiting Command as well as anyone else who uses HRC applications.
“We can get anything from a telephone pole went down to phones, communications, to the basic ‘I need my password reset,” said Dezelich.
Over the holidays, however, two people will work each shift which, and according to Dezelich, it can feel a little lonely at times.
“For anybody, it would be tough to work over the holidays,” said Dezelich. “But I believe that each person who walks through the door really enjoys serving the customer. Every one of them would go out of their way to help a customer.”
A fire team at Fire Station 1 worked on rope and rescue techniques Dec. 23 while preparing for the holidays. They knew they would be the fire team on duty over Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
“We’ll come in and do our daily duties. We have a set schedule for the week,” said Lt. Scott Harper, the on-duty captain for the crew. “For Christmas, they’re talking about having a family dinner for us at the station, so we’ll cook some kind of lunch and hang out with them for a while.
“During that time, we’re still taking calls if they come in – people burning their dinners or worse, a tree catches fire. Knock on wood, we’re hoping for the best and that it’s a decent day.”
While others on post are drinking eggnog, singing carols and enjoying Christmas lights, some policemen from the Directorate of Emergency Services will remain on point.
“We’ll be out there trying to keep everyone safe,” said Sgt. Christopher Anderson, desk sergeant. “That’s what we’ve signed up for; to assist the public.”
Another quiet group of heroes working through the holidays this year, and every year, are the employees of U.S. Army Casualty Operations Division, also located at HRC. They are often the first line of notification whenever U.S. Army Soldiers, veterans, retirees or their family members die anywhere in the world.
Calls typically come in from one of the 32 regional casualty assistance centers or from a unit representative when a death occurs. Upon receipt of the notification, the center begins the process of next-of-kin notification and generation of the necessary paperwork to assist the next of kin in burying their loved one properly and receiving benefits.
“It’s our mission, and I’m glad to be here to help families. It’s something I signed up for,” said Sandy West, with the Notifications Cell. “I’m going to have my Christmas holiday whether it be on that calendar date or some other date.”
Lieutenant Col. Shaalim David, chief of the Casualty & Mortuary Affairs Branch, said it’s that mission mindset that motivates them to work on cases, even when they fall on the holidays.
“As Soldiers and civilians who preserve the mission and our way of life and the freedoms that we protect, we’re mission oriented. We’re protecting everybody else’s ability to have holidays on the days that they are observed,” said David. “We own this mission. We believe in what we do, and we’re proud to do it day in and day out, regardless of what day it falls on.”
West said their mission is one that they all take personally because they are working with families who are having the worst day of their lives, sometimes during the holidays.
“We think about the family and what the extended family is going to go through, so we carry on and make sure they are taken care of to the best of our ability,” said West. “That’s our part in it, making sure it’s done right.”
| Date Taken: | 12.23.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 12.23.2019 15:55 |
| Story ID: | 357136 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 413 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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