Photo By Anderson Bomjardim | DORAL, Fla. -- The Honorable Ashish S. Vazirani, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for...... read more read more
The Honorable Ashish S. Vazirani, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, visited U.S. Army Garrison (USAG)-Miami and its tenant commands Jun. 24, 2024, to learn more about programs and quality of life initiatives taking place on the installation.
As the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, as of Sep. 8, 2023, Mr. Vazirani serves as the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary of Defense for force readiness; force management; health affairs; National Guard and Reserve component affairs; education and training; and military and civilian personnel requirements and management, including equal opportunity, morale, welfare, recreation, and quality of life matters.
During his visit Mr. Vazirani met with several key installation leaders, including U.S. Army General Laura J. Richardson, Commander U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) and Joanne B. Fitzgerald, USAG-Miami Garrison Manager. They discussed several installation quality of life topics, such as family childcare and youth services, recruiting opportunities for new talents; as well as the biggest of all, which is the increases in cost of living in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas and its burden to service members and their families assigned to the installation.
“The increasing cost of living in South Florida continues to challenge our service members and their families, and Mr. Vazirani's visit provided us with an opportunity to seek his advocacy to alleviate these issues. We hope USSOUTHCOM's request for a Cost-of-Living Allowance and an increase in Locality Pay is implemented,” said Fitzgerald.
The U.S. Army approved its first new privatized housing project in 13 years in support of USAG-Miami and USSOUTHCOM. The new housing complex, scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2027, will include 60 unaccompanied and 79 family units--focused primarily on junior-mid grade service members with three-to-four-bedroom requirements. The project leverages existing Army housing assets and land provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, to establish the privatized military housing at no/minimal cost to the Army.
After walking through the installation, Mr. Vazirani said he was “extremely impressed with the level of support and services provided to service members and their families on the installation,” and thanked the USSOUTHCOM and USAG-Miami team for “an exceptional job done in the face of constant challenges.”
USAG-Miami, founded in 2001, supports USSOUTHCOM, and is part of the U.S. Army's Installations Management Command. It is responsible for providing quality installation support services, infrastructure, and force protection to support mission readiness for USSOUTHCOM, Special Operations Command South, tenant units, their service members, families, and Department of Army civilians. For more information about USAG-Miami, visit www.southcom.mil/usag-miami/
| Date Taken: | 06.25.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2024 13:07 |
| Story ID: | 474788 |
| Location: | DORAL, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | MIAMI, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM)
Miami-Dade
U.S. Army Garrison-Miami
