Fort Hood and Central Texas leaders highlight spousal employment for CSA spouse

Photo By Samantha Harms | Maria McConville, an Army veteran and spouse of Gen. James C. McConville, chief of staff of the Army, peeks inside a classroom in the Meadows Child Development Center April 20, 2023, at Fort Hood, Texas. She spent the morning at the CDC, having been given the opportunity to see the facility and learn what improvements have been made over the years. (U.S. Army photo by Samantha Harms, Fort Hood Public Affairs)  

FORT HOOD, TEXAS, UNITED STATES

04.27.2023

Story by Samantha Harms 

Fort Cavazos Public Affairs Office

FORT HOOD, Texas -- Army veteran and registered dietitian Maria McConville, spouse of Gen. James C. McConville, chief of staff of the Army, spent April 20 getting reacquainted with Fort Hood and everything it has to offer service members and their families during an official visit here.

McConville toured Meadows Child Development Center, walked through two of the new homes being built in Chaffee Village, met with members of the Fort Hood Family Housing resident advisory board and saw what the Fort Hood United Service Organizations offers to Soldiers.

“It’s amazing; the collaboration between the community, the greater Fort Hood community; … the dedication that the whole greater community has for our service members and their families is just remarkable,” McConville expressed. “From new housing to the childcare centers (that) are state of the art, it just makes it so that people feel good about being here and feeling good about their service.”

The highlight of her visit though was a discussion on spousal employment, held with the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center, Fort Hood Army Community Service, Fort Hood’s Transition Assistance Program and Workforce Solutions of Central Texas.

This provided McConville the opportunity to discuss candidly and openly what the installation is doing to support military spouses with Catherine Levandovsky, CPAC director; Sara Mitchell, supervisory resource specialist with CPAC; Marie DeCindio, community information, plans and ops manager at ACS; Mark Phillips, TAP director; Susan Kamas, executive director for WSCT; and Alan Wedding, WSCT.

Each person spoke on the intention of each of their programs or offices, what services it provides to Soldiers and to family members, and the outcomes of their efforts.

This included Levandovsky, who highlighted the newest informational event that CPAC has started, the Federal Employment 101 for the Military Spouse program. This 90-minute class gives military spouses a chance to learn the basics about federal employment, the advantages of federal employment, about hiring preferences, how to best navigate USAJobs, to join in a step-by-step application example and bust some common résumé myths.

The class is an initiative started by Sally Beck, spouse of Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck, III Armored Corps deputy commanding general of maneuver.

It all seemed to resonate with McConville.

When asked what she wished she would have had the last time she was here, McConville laughed and answered, “New housing? Yeah, just the spouse employment because that’s something that’s kind of near and dear to my heart that I’ve had my own journey with.

“I didn’t know of resources to help me with résumés or federal job applications or even just how to start my own business and telework and all that,” she continued. “So, I kind of had to navigate all that on my own. Just seeing the resources and then, the grants that you can get from DOL (Department of Labor) or some of the organizations that they’re really putting towards the importance of family member employment, I wish I had that.”

McConville visited the installation at the same time as her husband, who visited leaders and Soldiers to tour the multinational exercise Warfighter 23-4.

They were previously stationed at Fort Hood and with her husband’s quickly approaching retirement in August, this visit provided an opportunity for McConville to look back at her time over the last 35 years as a military spouse and to reflect on Fort Hood.

“Even though sometimes we get frustrated with this military way of life, I have found the last 35 years to be such an adventure. … It’s such a warm community. We all take care of one another and I don’t see that necessarily in the civilian world,” she shared. “It’s a community like no other where we support one another. We always have an instant connection to someone if you’re military, that I wouldn’t trade for anything. … It’s been a great life.

“Keep embracing the community and know that there’s always people out there who say disparaging things, but we know the truth,” McConville continued, “That everybody’s working together and collaborating and just really working hard to make it such an exciting place to live. It’s a big place. There’s a lot going on here. We enjoyed our time when we were here. And it just seems like it’s even gotten better since.”

• Date Taken: 04.27.2023
• Date Posted: 04.27.2023 11:15
• Story ID: 443490
• Location: FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US