{"id":18695,"date":"2023-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=18695"},"modified":"2023-07-14T06:41:38","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T06:41:38","slug":"community-leaders-honor-highlight-partnership-at-fort-cavazos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=18695","title":{"rendered":"Community leaders honor, highlight partnership at Fort Cavazos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Col. Chad R. Foster, the now-former Fort Cavazos Garrison commander, embraces retired Col. Todd Fox, commissioner for the Texas Military Preparedness Commission, after his speech at the community leader dinner July 6. (U.S. Army photo by Scott Darling, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs)
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\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
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KILLEEN, Texas \u2014<\/strong> Complex problems require community solutions.<\/p>\n

This is a saying that Col. Chad R. Foster, the now-former U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Cavazos commander, said often throughout his tenure as the garrison commander.<\/p>\n

Foster was often heard saying it throughout community engagements or amongst key leaders, including during his final community leader dinner July 6 at Central Texas College.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked to a lot of garrison commanders at other locations,\u201d Foster shared that evening. \u201cMany of them have great support. But they do not have this; they do not have it to the level that we have, and the committed level we have here. This community is something special.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Sometimes, the best thing to do is, like General (Dwight D.) Eisenhower said, you got a really, really tough problem? Make the problem bigger,\u201d Foster continued. \u201cMeaning that you bring people in to collaborate, to look for common solutions, common resources where you pull what you have, and go after a common objective. And that\u2019s what we have done day in, day out, right here at Fort Cavazos.\u201d<\/p>\n

His mantra was echoed throughout all the sentiments shared.<\/p>\n

Retired Col. Todd Fox, commissioner for the Texas Military Preparedness Commission and a former Fort Cavazos Garrison commander, spoke on behalf of the Heart of Texas Defense Alliance, an organization that was created in 2003 to promote the importance and sustainability of Fort Cavazos and all defense related industries, organizations and institutions.<\/p>\n

The organization works closely with Fort Cavazos and community organizations to remind political leaders of the importance of the installation, and of the relationship that Fort Cavazos officials\u2019 have with the local community. Fox shared with the crowd just a few items that HOTDA, Fort Cavazos and the community have partnered on in the last few years.<\/p>\n

HOTDA, in working with the Greater Killeen Chamber, organizes trips to Fort Irwin, California, so that community leaders can see first-hand Fort Cavazos units in action at the National Training Center.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the city of Temple sponsored a request to expand the airfield solar micro grid, to include air traffic control ground operations and emergency services facilities to provide up to 14 days of electricity without resupply or repair; Texas provided $5 million toward that $14.5 million project.<\/p>\n

Additionally in 2022, the city of Killeen sponsored requests to provide a backup power system for water control and improvement at District Number One that greatly improves the water resiliency at Fort Cavazos and in the local community; Texas provided $5 million toward $12 million project.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Texas Legislators Day brought 115 staffers, seven state representatives and one state senator for a day of demonstrations and discussions with leaders at Fort Cavazos. This event provides elected officials and staff members the opportunity to build a better understanding of Fort Cavazos\u2019 officials\u2019 public policy priorities with respect to education and support of Fort Cavazos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the legislative grant award examples I\u2019ve shared tonight,\u201d Fox commented, \u201chelp all of us better understand and appreciate how effective and impactful a strong community with a cooperative and collaborative approach can improve the military value of Fort Cavazos and the quality of life of the men and women who live and serve here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The more recent projects were credited to Foster and the efforts that he put in during his tenure by Fox and by Jim Reed, the executive director of the Central Texas Council of Governments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Central Texas Council of Governments\u2019 mission is accomplishing together those things which you cannot accomplish alone on behalf of a region that is larger than six U.S. states, seven counties and 32 cities,\u201d Reed began. \u201c\u2026 It\u2019s not enough too that CTCOG has four divisions that serve Central Texas, you have to know and spend the time with those divisions to know how they can intersect with your mission. And I thank you for taking the time to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough to know that the CTCOG helps more than 2,100 families with rental assistance and has kept 167 potential homeless veterans from being homeless through the voucher program,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt takes someone like (Chad) who would come to our housing symposium and talk about those intersections and that importance. \u2026 It\u2019s not enough that the CTCOG knows how to staff and partner with (Central Texas) Workforce, Colonel Foster built relationships that resulted in career skills grants over $8 million dollars, the largest job fair in Texas through the Red, White and You program. \u2026 In other words, he understood that it\u2019s not enough to know tune, you have to know each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster took the time himself to highlight the deep love he has for the Central Texas community, especially through the projects that he collaborated on with local partners. This included the Military Value Program, a program which in hotels and apartment complexes offer temporary, fully furnished lodging for military families with flexible leases.<\/p>\n

He shared that this program, like others, wouldn\u2019t have the success they do without the support of community.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what I decided very early on (during my command), with the help of some really great people on our team, was I want to get out there and I want help get us back (to the pre-COVID relationship),\u201d Foster shared. \u201cI couldn\u2019t do it myself. I played a very small role in this. All I had to do was get out there and spend time with you. Hear what you had to say. Participate in what the community does and its activities. The rest just kind of took off on its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think now at the end of two years as the garrison commander,\u201d he continued, \u201cI can safely say that the relationship between Fort Cavazos and Central Texas \u2014 and I hate saying that because Fort Cavazos is just a part of Central Texas, we\u2019re not a separate community, we\u2019re an integrate part \u2014 those relationships, I really don\u2019t know if they\u2019ve ever been stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Col. Chad R. Foster, the now-former Fort Cavazos Garrison commander, embraces retired Col. Todd Fox, commissioner for the Texas Military Preparedness Commission, after his speech at the community leader dinner July 6. (U.S. Army photo by Scott Darling, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Scott Darling) VIEW ORIGINAL KILLEEN, Texas \u2014 Complex problems require community […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18697,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18698,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18695\/revisions\/18698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}