Photo By Jordyn McCulley | FORT CARSON, Colo. — A Rocky Mountain Arsenal employee briefs Michael Reheuser,...... read more read more
By Jordyn McCulley
Fort Carson Public Affairs Office
FORT CARSON, Colo. — Michael Reheuser, director of installation services for the Department of the Army, visited Fort Carson Sept. 14-15, 2022, at Turkey Creek Fire Station and Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Reheuser is responsible for policies, programs and resourcing for housing, environmental issues and logistics for Army installations worldwide.
“Working at the Pentagon you don’t get the perspective of what all is happening at the installation until you show up,” said Reheuser. “You get to see for yourself the scope of the problems and the issues that need to be addressed.”
Reheuser’s portfolio includes the oversight of fire emergency services for the Army.
“When I visit installations and see the fire stations and talk to the firefighters, I can better understand the training needs they have, what issues are important to them. So, when I advocate for those resources with the Army senior leaders, I can do a better job of that,” said Reheuser.
Mitchum Van Dyke, deputy fire chief for Fort Carson Fire Department, met with Reheuser at Turkey Creek to give him a tour of the Turkey Creek Fire Department.
Turkey Creek Fire Department is one of the first responders for Highway 115. With the fire station being located between Fort Carson and Cañon City, when there is a 911 call in the area, they are the first ones dispatched.
After returning to Butts Army Heliport at Fort Carson, Reheuser was about to view the new fire station site located by Gate 6.
“I didn’t realize how many new buildings have gone up that have improved the quality of life for Soldiers. Particularly new facilities and barracks,” said Reheuser.
Reheuser retired as a Marine officer and was a former trial attorney, he has the experience and skills to conceptualize and describe service members’ concerns from a global Army perspective.
“I broadly understand the issues we are dealing with in the installations portfolio,” said Reheuser. “Having worked as a lawyer helps me take complex issues and explain them to senior leaders who have numerous responsibilities and significant time constraints.”
He also received a brief about the Emergency Communication Center.
Recently, the ECC did a full-scale exercise simulation to test the response time if there is an emergency situation that would affect the mission across Fort Carson. The ECC successfully completed the simulation.
Reheuser ended his tour of Fort Carson with a trip to Rocky Mountain Arsenal Sept. 15, 2022. RMA is not only a wildlife refuge, but also has the mission to restore the environment to pre-Army conditions. RMA contains five groundwater treatment plants, two hazardous waste landfills and two soil cover systems that protect the environment from contaminated soils left in place. The Army continuously assesses harmful byproducts caused by past Army operations at RMA do not affect the public health and the environment.
“It was important for him (Reheuser) to see, firsthand, one of the Army’s largest environmental cleanup projects,” said Charles Scharmann, program manager at Rocky Mountain Arsenal. “The Army’s role was to clean the site up so that 15,000 acres could be turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and incorporated into the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Army now maintains approximately 1,200 acres of the site (landfills, cover systems, and groundwater treatment plants) that could not be transferred to the USFWS.”
Whether its Turkey Creek Fire Department or RMA, community partnerships help the quality of life for Soldiers and their Families.
“I’ve been really impressed with the teammates across the installation and local areas,” said Reheuser. “Meeting with the people and seeing what they do, I’ve once again come to appreciate the skills and values that they bring to Fort Carson and the greater Army enterprise.”
| Date Taken: | 09.15.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2022 10:45 |
| Story ID: | 429861 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 83 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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