{"id":586,"date":"2023-03-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=586"},"modified":"2023-03-31T01:05:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T01:05:05","slug":"jrtc-command-team-visits-fort-hood-hoping-to-win-fight-for-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=586","title":{"rendered":"JRTC command team visits Fort Hood hoping to win ‘fight for talent’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Brig. Gen. David W. Gardner, commanding general, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, Louisiana, speaks with junior officers about the benefits of joining the JRTC team during a briefing in the III Armored Corps Headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, March 24.
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FORT HOOD, Texas –<\/strong> The command team for the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, Louisiana, visited here March 24, as a part of their annual Winning the Fight for Talent Campaign, in which they visit dozens of Army installations as a part of their recruiting efforts.<\/p>\n

Brig. Gen. David W. Gardner, JRTC and Fort Polk commanding general, held two sessions with junior officers, while Command Sgt. Maj. David P. Hanson, JRTC and Fort Polk command sergeant major, held three sessions with noncommissioned officers here.<\/p>\n

These engagements provided the opportunity for both Gardner and Hanson to highlight what the JRTC does, what opportunities are there and what life is like at Fort Polk on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we say, quite honestly, is because it is such a difficult training rotation when you come down there (to Fort Polk), we have a hard time in Soldiers\u2019 minds disassociating the training center and the crucible experience when you come down there to fight war with what it\u2019s like to live there,\u201d expressed Gardner during a taping session for the March 30 episode of the Great Big Podcast in III Armored Corps Headquarters. \u201cAnd so, what I say is, 95% of the people that come there are told \u2018I\u2019m sorry.\u2019 But if you walk around inside our gates, 95% of the people love it there, which means there\u2019s a disconnect, which means we\u2019re not sharing the truth of the opportunities and the quality of life that one has at Fort Polk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t want is the rumors, the myth, to be driving talented people\u2019s decisions because it is such a valuable opportunity to be able to serve at Fort Polk,\u201d he continued, \u201cnot just for your professional growth but the family life there is truly special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the engagement sessions, Gardner focused on the training opportunities, including broadening assignments, key development assignments and deployment potential for those stationed there. He also highlighted the little to no waiting time for officers to take command and the flexibility to work and attend school at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose to come to this event because I\u2019ve been at Fort Hood since 2019 and my spouse and I were looking for different opportunities to train,\u201d shared 1st Lt. Rachel Wilson, 3rd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. \u201cWe both came today just to see what the career opportunities would be, and then just predictability, stability, as dual military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner also discussed the quality of life that Soldiers and their families have, highlighting the vast number of activities held by Fort Polk Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, the predictable schedule that allows Soldiers to purchase their holiday tickets in the summer and the fact that the state of Louisiana recognizes almost all military spouse credentials.<\/p>\n

Fort Polk is one of four Quality of Life installations in the Army \u2013 Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Fort Irwin, California, and Fort Hood being the others \u2013 which involves an active recognition on how the installation can continue to improve services and increase readiness and morale of Soldiers and their families.<\/p>\n

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\n Brig. Gen. David W. Gardner, commanding general, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, Louisiana, speaks with junior officers about the benefits of joining the JRTC team during a briefing in the III Armored Corps Headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, March 24.
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\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
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\u201cWhat that translates to us is, I\u2019m cutting a ribbon on something every week. We just fixed some roads. We\u2019re opening new barracks; I\u2019ve got six barracks that are going to come online after refurbishment. And then 37 of our 38 will either be built or on the way towards building or refurbishment. We won\u2019t have the overcrowding; we won\u2019t have some of the challenges there,\u201d Gardner shared. \u201cWe are able to maintain our fun things to do, our MWR. And although we have to still ensure that we can keep those things afloat from a fiscal perspective, we\u2019ve got a little bit of latitude because everybody understands the importance of those programs. So, we\u2019ve been able to maintain our golf course, we have a bowling center with go-carts, with miniature golf, we\u2019re able to do movie nights that are free for the families. We\u2019ve put $92 million into our homes in just the last few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I also like to say about quality of life, we typically talk about things, but for me, I think the beauty of Fort Polk is we\u2019re big enough to have every program,\u201d he continued, \u201cbut we\u2019re small enough where people aren\u2019t just a number, they\u2019re a name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soldiers interested in more information about career enhancing opportunities with JRTC and Fort Polk can go to the installation website at\u00a0https:\/\/home.army.mil\/polk\/<\/a>\u00a0and click on the Winning the Fight for Talent graphic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brig. Gen. David W. Gardner, commanding general, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, Louisiana, speaks with junior officers about the benefits of joining the JRTC team during a briefing in the III Armored Corps Headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, March 24. (Photo Credit: Samantha Harms, Fort Hood Public Affairs) VIEW ORIGINAL FORT HOOD, Texas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-586","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\/586","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=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":591,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions\/591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}