Maj. Gen. Timothy Brennan, Deputy Commanding General — Support for First Army at Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., visited Fort McCoy on Nov. 12-14 to learn more about the installation
According to planners for the visit with the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade, the main purpose of the visit, which was alternately named a “terrain walk,” was to inform the major general “on Fort McCoy’s large-scale mobilization operations sustainment capabilities and shortfalls through 2030.”
Brennan’s main day of activity on post was Nov. 13, where he had a full day of visiting sites, meeting with installation personnel, and much more.
His day on Nov. 13 started out at building 2000 with a teleconference meeting and then a sustainment overview brief with a full conference area of Soldiers and personnel from the installation. This briefing lasted 90 minutes and gave the leader a detailed overall look at capabilities at Fort McCoy.
Joining Brennan at the overview briefing were Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez, 181st MFTB Commander Col. Charles Wells, Fort McCoy Deputy Commander Lt. Col. Mike Corkum, and many other unit leaders and directorate personnel from Fort McCoy.
Following the overview briefing, Brennan then went to visit several areas and training venues on post. This included visiting the installation rail areas.
As one of the few installations to have Army locomotives a part of regular transportation operations, that also means Fort McCoy has to have the right people in place oversee the rail operations when those locomotives are in use.
Those people are the Fort McCoy rail operations support team. That team is staffed by people working with the Fort McCoy Logistics Readiness Center (LRC) Transportation Division and contractors partnering with LRC. This includes people operating locomotives to move railcars in place for loading, people working with units and unit service members to get training on how to load railcars, people to assist with moving cargo, and more.
Installation Transportation Officer Douglas “Terry” Altman said in a past news article that the Army locomotives used at Fort McCoy are an important part of the post’s transportation operations.
“These (locomotives) support our MFGI (Mobilization Force Generation Installation) mission,” Altman said. “(For example), anytime the Army has to deploy engineers, transportation companies, and large equipment, we’re here to support that mission with rail.”
Brennan then visited the Regional Training Site (RTS)-Medical complex. Fort McCoy’s RTS-Medical is active year-round completing training. The facility also supports major exercises on post to include Global Medic and the Combat Support Training Exercise.
Brennan’s visit also brought him to the Fort McCoy Central Issue Facility (CIF), which is one of the busiest in the Army Reserve.
The Fort McCoy CIF is one of several organizations on Fort McCoy that provides direct support to troops, and in fiscal year (FY) 2024 the facility had a “great year” supporting those troops, said the facility’s Property Book Officer Thomas Lovgren.
“This … CIF is a newer one that was built … at a cost of approximately $9 million, and it’s 62,548 square feet,” Lovgren said in a previous news article. “We typically do about between $30 and $40 million worth of CIF transactions annually, which equates to about 400,000 to 500,000 pieces of equipment being issued out and turned in each year.”
During FY 2024, Lovgren said the CIF completed 19,212 transactions, which was $37.07 million worth of transactions.
“Through the work completed in this facility, we also had a transportation cost avoidance savings of $438,725,” Lovgren said.
After his CIF visit, Brennan stopped at one of Fort McCoy’s newest facilities located at the Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer Academy complex in building 1362. The facility is managed by the Fort McCoy food-service team, which also recently had a busy year in FY 2024.
During fiscal year 2024, nearly 74,000 troops trained at Fort McCoy in a variety of venues, and through that whole year the Fort McCoy food-service team was there making sure those troops had all the food supplies they needed.
“The installation’s food-service team always makes sure those needs are met,” said Jim Gouker with the Fort McCoy Logistics Readiness Center (LRC) Food Program Management Office (FPMO).
The FPMO and the LRC Subsistence Supply Management Office (SSMO); the full food-service contractor DCT Inc.; and food suppliers, such as Sysco Foods of Baraboo, Wis., make up the Fort McCoy food-service team.
For food service in FY 2024, excluding three major exercises, the SSMO supported training with Class I in the following quantities: Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs), 8,684 meals; Kosher meals, 38; Halal meals, 118; Sun Meadow meals, 6,580; Unitized Group Rations (UGRs), 1,450 cases; UHT milk, 2,506 cases; bagged ice, 1,238 bags; and additional enhancements such as cereal, fresh fruit, salad mix, and salad dressings.
After his dining facility stop, Brennan then visited Fort McCoy’s Soldier readiness processing area, and then saw the Fort McCoy Mission Command Configuration Center.
The rest of the visit, Brennan stopped at the Equipment Concentration Site-67 area, the Installation Materiel Maintenance Activity, and some of the new barracks buildings at Fort McCoy. Brennan also went to Volk Field for a special visit as well.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
Date Taken: | 11.13.2024 |
Date Posted: | 11.19.2024 01:23 |
Story ID: | 485627 |
Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
Web Views: | 25 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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