Photo By Melissa Dubois | Members of the Fort McCoy (Wis.) Garrison command team and Fort McCoy personnel visit...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez and Deputy to the Garrison Commander Cameron Cantlon were two of the garrison command team members from Fort McCoy who toured the Western Technical College campus Jan. 27 in Sparta, Wis.
Baez and Cantlon were among several Fort McCoy team members — others from the Fort McCoy Army Community Service Office and Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office — who visited the campus to learn more about the facility and meet with staff. The campus borders Fort McCoy’s South Post, and the staff there works regularly with Fort McCoy workforce members in numerous capacities.
The visit was organized between Fort McCoy and Western’s Kevin Ruetten, the college’s business services coordinator. Those meeting with the Fort McCoy members from Western were Ruetten; Western President Roger Stanford; Kevin Dean, Western’s dean of health and public safety; Josh Gamer, Western’s dean of integrated technology; Brian Barquest, veterans affairs coordinator with Western; Angie Martin, Western’s director of business and industry services; and John Zimprich, Western’s business and industry sales lead/training consultant.
The Army community relations visit featured a sit-down discussion about the college and Fort McCoy’s ongoing partnership.
“I recognize the good relationship that we had had for years, and I want to make sure that we maintain that or expand that as much as we can,” Baez said during the visit.
“My experience here at Fort McCoy is most of the Soldiers who come here to Fort McCoy — they extend for an additional tour,” Baez said. “They love the area. … So I think that we have a lot of opportunities to leverage the services that you are offering and, you know, the community that we bring here to Fort McCoy. … We have a lot of families … to come in into Fort McCoy. Fort McCoy fuels the economy in this area. It was $1.38 billion in the last fiscal year.
“So yeah, we have a pretty amazing impact to counties, multiple counties,” Baez said. “Over the last 10 years, (Fort McCoy) averaged $1 billion or higher. … So there’s a lot of great things out there. And like I said, I want to continue our partnership, and we should grow the partnership in areas where there might be some room for growth.”
Dean said that Western also appreciates the partnership and at the Sparta campus the college offers a wide range of criminal justice and public safety training to train future police officers, firefighters, and more. He said their programs support Fort McCoy’s Directorate of Emergency Services in both the police department and fire department there.
Dean also noted how Western has for a long time worked with Fort McCoy personnel to use ranges at the installation as well as coordinate training events.
“It’s been a really good partnership,” Dean said.
Ruetten said he thought the tour was a success.
“Thank you for the time and great tour of the Sparta Western Technical College campus,” he said. “It was a great tour and progressive conversations.”
Future events between the college and Fort McCoy are planned in 2025.
Community outreach is an important part of the Army mission. According to the Army, as stated at https://www.army.mil/outreach, “the Army is about more than ensuring our national security at home and abroad, it’s about giving back and getting to know the communities that support us.”
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: | 02.03.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.03.2025 14:27 |
| Story ID: | 489993 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 41 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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