Photo By Scott Sturkol | A scene from the retirement ceremony for Tonya Townsell, former public affairs officer...... read more read more
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Tonya Townsell gave her last presentation as the Fort McCoy public affairs officer March 27 as she gave her farewell remarks during her retirement ceremony at the Fort McCoy History Center at Fort McCoy, Wis.
Townsell started her career in Army Public Affairs in 1990 when she enlisted in the Army and completed the Defense Information School Basic Journalist Course at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind. From there her career took her to places all over the world, including assignments in the United States as well as Europe.
Her early days as a Soldier included supporting a presidential inauguration in the 1990s, and more. During 11 of her 30 years of service, Townsell served as a Soldier both on active and in the National Guard. After that, she transitioned to a career as a civil servant in Army Public Affairs.
Townsell said she spent the longest part of her career — nearly 10 years — as the Fort McCoy public affairs officer. She said many people helped her succeed along the way and that she had a great career.
“My mom and dad have been my biggest cheerleaders all my career, and I just can't say enough about them,” Townsell said. “Then I decided to have my daughter, and they moved with me wherever I was going, and the Army has been just wonderful to me.
“I loved public affairs as an enlisted Soldier, so this is what I wanted to do, and this is what I was able to do,” Townsell said. “I kept getting moved back into garrisons, because apparently, I do garrisons well. I don't regret anything about this, and it's time to spend some time with my daughter. … I’ve had some wonderful opportunities here at Fort McCoy. We got to see cold-weather training when it was going. We had this amazing mission of helping some evacuees (from Afghanistan) come and become new American citizens.
That’s probably going to be one of the huge highlights of my life — being able to help people out when they really needed it,” Townsell said. “It was an amazing thing that this installation pulled together. But I’m excited now to spend time with my family. … I’m leaving a great team.”
Over the years, Townsell has been a part of a lot of professional awards too. At Fort McCoy, the number of awards received by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office staff has been significant during her leadership between 2015 and 2025.
During those 10 years, her office earned 16 Army Materiel Command public affairs awards, 40 Army Installation Management Command public affairs awards, and more than 150 monthly trophy awards on the Defense Visual Information and Distribution Service monthly recognition.
Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez, who presided over Townsell’s ceremony, discussed her career.
“Today we are celebrating Tonya’s accomplishment for over 30 years of federal service,” Baez said. “We have many things to say about Tonya. … For the last 10 years at Fort McCoy as the public affairs chief, things at Fort McCoy have taken a turn. When we look at social media, when we look at any type of … media that is out there for the Army, ort McCoy is all over the place.
“You and your team put Fort McCoy literally in the map,” Baez said. “Everything that we do here at Fort McCoy, from training to changes in infrastructure, from changes of command to initiatives that improve the environment, you and your team have been able to highlight that and get the word out.
“You can see all the wonderful things that our public affair team (has done) under your direction have been able to put out there,” she said. “Now people know about Fort McCoy. Now people understand the capabilities that we have at Fort McCoy, and all of that is thanks to you and your team. So, we are very thankful for everything that you have done to highlight the things that we have here at Fort McCoy.”
One of the biggest events Fort McCoy has every year is the Armed Forces Day Open House. Townsell was the public affairs leader during seven of those events as several were canceled because of the pandemic. Baez said it’s been impressive what Townsell, and her team were able to do, even at times when manning levels were lower than needed.
“We’re really thankful for all the work that you have done for the garrison,” Baez said. “We don’t get to the place we are today without help. And you have been part of that team. You have been part of that group that have pushed things forward within the garrison. … So, thank you, Tonya, for all of your service, to the federal government.”
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: | 04.01.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.01.2025 18:02 |
| Story ID: | 494318 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 295 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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