Questions addressed by Garrison Commander at All Hands meeting

I think (you) are wasting money building a Chili's and NCO club when people are losing their jobs.

A: The Chili's is not being built by the Army. It is being built by Chili's Corporation at no expense to the Army.

The new Fort Bragg Club will cost the Army $17.7 million. However, with the growth of Fort Bragg and the arrival of new tenants like FORSCOM and USARC, a larger and more modern club is badly needed. The current Fort Bragg Club is too small, too antiquated, and located in a bad location to serve the entire installation. The new club will continue to serve all ranks.

For those that work until 5 p.m. the variety of organized fitness group classes offered at PFCs is limited. Classes offered at 5:30 p.m. at Towle are limited to Zumba and spinning. With overcrowding of PFCs and the closure of Pope PFC, it is difficult to get in a good workout after duty hours within a reasonable amount of time.

RECOMMENDATION: While zumba is popular it is not offering what is sufficient for a varied physical fitness routine. Recommend offering a variety of group fitness classes at 5:15/5:30 p.m. timeframe at Towle. Offer muscles, yoga, kickboxing, TRX, etc at that time frame instead of only Zumba/spinning.

A: The Zumba question was answered earlier this week via Facebook as follows: "Thank you for your posting.  We understand there is great interest in this particular fitness class and we are excited to report that Family and MWR Recreation Division is now coordinating for delivery of two additional classes. The great interest in this fitness programs is exciting and the Recreation Division looks forward to delivering more quality programs to accommodate their valued patrons. Please stay tuned for an additional posting that will provide an update with new class information."

Is the policy to have DoD stickers still valid?  Is it worth time to visit the pass and ID office to ID all my vehicles?

A: Yes, individuals must still register their vehicles and obtain DoD decals - at least for the time being. There is an effort ongoing at HQDA to eliminate vehicle decals, but no final decision has been made. Fort Bragg DES is currently developing a vehicle online self-registration site to replace the Vehicle Decal office that we have today.  But that new method of online self-registration of your vehicle(s) is not expected to be up and operational for another three months.

The DA Policy still requires all active duty Soldiers on Fort Bragg, DA civilian employees and contractors with common access cards who work on Fort Bragg to register their vehicles. Retirees are the only people that regularly use post facilities for whom vehicle registration on post is not a requirement. The post decal is not used for access to post because the Government ID card is the standard means of identification. Anyone required to have registered their vehicle on post who is stopped for a moving violation or random check and found not to have registered their vehicle may be cited for failing to register their vehicle.

Traffic is a real issue coming and going on post. It would relieve some of problems if directorates would encourage and support a four day work week with longer workday hours Monday thru Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., off Friday. Or Tuesday thru Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and off Monday. Why isn't teleworking seen as practical and encouraged within the garrison? DHR

A: With regard to the tele-work being practical and encouraged, the answer is that most jobs in the garrison are customer service and customer oriented. There may be a few jobs not this way. In those cases where telework is practical and employees are encouraged to discuss the option with their supervisors.

It is true that four day work schedules could reduce traffic congestion. However, alternate work schedules (AWS), i.e. longer work days, cannot be dictated by garrison command or management. By law (Title 5) and union agreement, AWS is employee driven. AWS must be requested by the employee, and once requested, management has 14 days to respond with either approval or "adverse agency impact."  IAW law and union agreement, the garrison command neither encourages nor discourages AWS.

There are other benefits to AWS besides just traffic relief. But there are also many challenges to it. Typical challenges include customer service, accountability, supervision and scheduling three day weekends. Management has also found by doing AWS over the years that once approved, AWS can't be changed even if mission changes. Even when AWS works well from a customer service perspective, a new employee cannot be forced to work an AWS schedule in the absence or departure of an AWS employee.

Garrison is officially neutral on AWS and responds to employee requests in accordance with the law and union agreements.

Will there be a change to the take-out food policy at the Soldier Support Center DFAC?

The no take-out food policy at SSC DFAC is not anticipated to change. This policy was instituted last year as a cost savings measure.  Post-wide, the elimination of take-out food saved the installation nearly $400,000.

In the upcoming years with constrained resources, how will the command balance limited resources with commanders and family members that have "grown up" in an Army with war time budget and appetite?

With regard to how the command will balance limited resources with commander and Soldier/Family expectations, that is an excellent question, one that garrison command struggles with every day.  As a reminder, the mission of IMCOM is to provide Soldiers and Families with a Quality of Life commensurate with their service. That's a tall order. But a mission even in good budget times was constrained by available resources. We will continue to provide highest possible QOL, but now only with less resources.

Unfortunately, as a nation we have not fully paid for the QOL that our Soldiers and Families have heretofore enjoyed. The national debt and failure to pay for what we have can no longer continue.  Soldiers and their Families will have to adjust to doing things more for themselves. This is why we will see Soldiers doing tasks previously performed by civilians. And as a garrison we will do the best we can to adjust the delivery of QOL to the available resources.

Since alerts have been sent out to conserve energy can work hours be changed to 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.?

On the question of energy alerts and earlier work hours, our answer is we appreciate the suggestion but it is not practical. First we are alerted to peak energy periods by the power company less than 24 hours in advance. There would not be sufficient time to alert the workforce to the earlier report to work times without disrupting employee personal schedules. There is also the problem of union agreements and their protection of employee schedules. The best we can do is authorize 59 minutes.

On the pedestrian tunnels why are you using steps instead of just sloping the path down and up? With steps you have to install wheelchair access lifts which break a lot.  

A: All pedestrian tunnels will be sloped and wheelchair accessible.

Sir, I work in the ASAP and have some thoughts I'd like to discuss with the garrison command that I believe could have a positive, preventative effect on our substance abusing service members. How can I get an opportunity to present this to the command?  

A: All ASAP preventative ideas should be presented to Rick Kulhbars, the ASAP Program Director. Mr. Kulhbars will then decide how best to present to command.

Concerning the light at Butner and Reilly Roads, turning left off Butner toward Pope - why is the green turn left arrow not a set program? Sometimes you get the turn arrow, sometimes not. Why?

A: The Butner and Reilly intersection is one of the busiest intersections on the installation with particularly heavy west and eastbound traffic on Butner Road. The goal is to keep the heavy traffic moving on Butner Road through the intersection. The determination on whether a motorist sees a green ball or a protected left turn arrow depends on the volume of traffic stacking up on the eastbound approach to the intersection. When the electronic traffic controller senses heavy traffic stacking up on eastbound Butner, the signal will provide a protected left turn arrow into Pope Field. If traffic is light the traffic controller will provide only a green ball. The intent is to keep east/westbound Butner traffic moving as smoothly as possible within the limitations of this busy intersection.

When is MMD going to be repaired?   

A: The exterior repair to the MMD building, Y-5015, is funded and will be awarded prior to Sept. 30. The interior repairs to the facility are currently being scoped to determined the requirements. The interior repairs are not currently funded.  As funding becomes available a contract for the interior repairs will be awarded in FY12.

DPTM Range maintenance is made up of all Wage Grade personnel. All other DPTM Range Control is all GS personnel. Maintenance continues to lose positions or not fill but GS positions continue to be made within Range Control, Live Fire and DPTM in general.  Maintenance has continued to do more with less, when will this be looked in to? 

A: A review of all recruitment action for the DPTM Range Control for the past 12 month was conducted. The following summarizes the positions filled: 

Recruitment actions for the past 12 months:

• 6 of the 10 Range Control recruitments actions filled were in the Range Maintenance (WG) Section positions.

Current recruitment actions:

• 3 of the 6 current Range Control pending recruitments actions are Range Maintenance (WG) Section

DFACs that are open to Civilian employees for dining - which ones are open? Is there a schedule posted somewhere?

A: The schedule is posted on the Directorate of Public Works Homepage. The DFACs available to civilians are: LSA-E, 82nd CAB, 82nd CAB (SAAF), Camp MacKall, USASOC, SOTF, XVIII ABC STB, Iron Mike, Kitty Hawk and JSOC.

PAO Blast on proper use of the Classified Material Destruction Facility (CMDF) usage to all Fort Bragg tenants.

A: Message is scheduled to be sent out soon.