Military Advocate Weekly Update
June 10, 2018
I had
a great week of engagements since I last wrote this column that made me understand, again,
why I chose to take on my current assignment as Missouri’s Military
Advocate. There are so many awesome
efforts going on around the state aimed at improving the lives of our Service
members and families, and preserving and increasing the impact of defense
investments in Missouri. I often think the best use of my time is “connecting
the dots” together and helping people and organizations be most effective in
their work. I get a great deal of satisfaction from what I see happening and I am confident we will only get better.
As
frequent readers of this column know, I write on a weekly basis—usually on
Sundays—to recap the many happenings around Missouri’s military and defense
sector, what I experienced and accomplished during the preceding week, and what
issues I will be following in the week ahead.
MMPEC
Last Tuesday members of the Missouri Military Preparedness
and Enhancement Commission (MMPEC) gathered in the MP Regimental Room at the
Mahaffey Museum Complex on Fort Leonard Wood for MMPEC’s quarterly meeting.
Special thanks goes to CSM (ret) Dorsey Newcomb of the Sustainable Ozarks
Partnership for arranging the wonderful meeting room. We had great participation from Commissioners, advisors and visitors. Chairman
Bob Hagedorn guided us through a busy agenda that included reports on my
work for the past quarter, an update from Mike Dubois of Kit Bond
Strategies—our consultant—on the work of Congress to pass a FY 2019 Defense appropriation
and National Defense Authorization.
We had updates from representatives of the Missouri
National Guard and the Missouri Veterans Commission and were particularly
pleased to get reports from the Community Alliance of St. Joseph, which
supports the 139th Airlift Wing and Rosecrans ANGB; the Whiteman
Area Leadership Council (WALC); and the Sustainable Ozarks Partnership at Fort
Leonard Wood. Kent Thomas of SOP did a
great job of giving MMPEC an overview of the strategies he and SOP are pursuing
to encourage the location of new missions at Fort Leonard Wood.
The next meeting of MMPEC will be on August 24 in
St. Joseph at the 139th Airlift Wing, and hosted by Steve
Johnston and the Community Alliance. Members will be invited to stay until the next
day for the “Speed of Sound
Airshow”, sponsored by the 139th and the St. Joseph community—and
featuring the Blue Angels.
Service
member and family study
As I have reported previously, we have been working
with the University of Central Missouri since early in 2018 to produce the
first ever study of the quality of life and access to services our uniformed
military members and their families have in Missouri. I am happy to report that
we have received the 1st phase of that study, “Analysis of Efforts
to Improve the Quality of Life of Military Service members and their Families”. The study is a collection of all the
programs and services offered by the state that somehow touch the lives of
those who are in uniform here (and their families)—including Guard, Active
Component and Reserves. The 2nd
phase of the study, which has already begun, will produce recommendations for
how we can systematically create an environment where those in uniform will
want to serve in Missouri. There are
several good reports to following over coming weeks!
MIC3
State Council
I was honored to join other members of the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission
(MIC3) State Council for a meeting of the Council last Tuesday afternoon. MIC3 is an
organization of all 50 states begun in 2006 that have signed onto an interstate
agreement that deals with the challenges of military children and their
frequent relocations. It allows for uniform treatment as military children
transfer between public school districts in member states. The state council,
which is headed by Chairman Dr. Brian Henry, Superintendent of the
Waynesville R-IV Schools, is in charge of making certain Missouri schools are
in compliance with the compact and that disputes are resolved. I am a member of the state council along with
Dr. Roger Dorson, Missouri’s Interim Commissioner of Education; Kathy Aydt, Deputy Garrison Commander, Fort Leonard Wood; State Rep.
Steve Lynch, Missouri House of Representatives; Dorsey Newcomb,
Leonard Wood Institute; Dr. Jerrod
Wheeler, Superintendent, Knob Noster School District; and Joan Barrett,
Military Child Education Coalition.
Army’s
243rd Birthday Celebration-AUSA
I had the tremendous pleasure to attend a
celebration of the Army’s 243rd Birthday coordinated by the Greater
Kansas City Area Chapter of the Association of the US Army (AUSA). The event, held at the historic Muehlebach
Hotel in Kansas City, drew hundreds of Soldiers, Veterans, and community supporters
from around the region, including Major General Maria Gervais, Deputy
Commanding General of the Combined Arms Center-Training, Fort Leavenworth. Emma
Toops, the Chapter President, and her team did a spectacular job of putting
the event together, even arranging for COL (ret) Roger Donlon, the first
Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam, to give the oath of enlistment to a group
of future Soldiers. The featured speaker
for the evening was Lt. General (retired) Perry Wiggins, executive
director of the Kansas Governor’s Military Commission—and my counterpart in
Kansas. General Wiggins retired as the commanding general of Fort Riley,
KS. My wife and I were delighted to be seated
with Keith Pritchard, Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the
Army-Missouri West and Rick Morris, AUSA 5th Regional President.
Week ahead
On Monday, Governor
Mike Parson will address a special joint session of the Missouri General
Assembly and I plan to attend. He will also be sponsoring a public reception in
the Governor’s office immediately afterward, and I expect many partners from
around the state will be traveling to Jefferson City for the opportunity to
greet the new Governor.
Also
on Monday, I will also be meeting with the Missouri Veterans Commission
leadership to discuss whether the Commission might be able to partner with Fort
Leonard Wood by providing its expertise in the maintenance of a post cemetery.
On
Tuesday, I will meet with Dr. Mun Choi,
President of the University of Missouri and other university leaders to discuss
how UM can play a more vital role in supporting the future of the NGA in
Missouri.
On
Wednesday, I will have a meeting with representatives of the Honeywell FM&T
Company in Kansas City, along with economic development colleagues from both
sides of the state and also representatives of Kansas and Nebraska to talk
about how we might work together to attract new, talented workers to the middle
of the country for national security jobs.
Finally,
on Thursday I will have the last of a few dozen conference calls with
colleagues from around the country to put the finishing touches on the
Association of Defense Communities Summit, which will begin on Monday, June 18
in Washington, D.C. As vice president of
the ADC, I will be leading several discussions at the event, including a major
event with the Chief Management Officer of the Department of Defense. More to
follow on the ADC summit in days ahead!
Until
next week, I welcome your feedback on the work I am doing on behalf of our
military and defense sector.
(Joe.Driskill@ded.mo.gov)
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