Joint basing offers servicemembers, Families resources

Lorin T. Smith/Northwest Guardian

Being a joint base can mean many things like cost savings, efficiency and best practices.

After the Air Force took a daylong “Helping Agency Tour” around JBLM Lewis Main and Lewis North Dec. 1 to learn about Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s myriad services for servicemembers and their Families, joint basing now means better access for everyone.

The unique aspect of having a joint Air Force base/Army post within nine miles of itself means the customers for its services have prodigious financial, health and educational resources available.

Lewis and McChord traditionally have split their resources, but some programs are available to all servicemembers.

Giving McChord’s senior and subordinate leaders an overview of those programs and teaching them how to navigate the Army’s programs is a top priority to make the joint base a true reality.

That message was delivered from JBLM Commander Col. Thomas Brittain and Deputy Commander Col. Valerie Hasberry to McChord Field’s senior leaders with the 62nd Airlift Wing, 446th Airlift Wing and the Western Air Defense Sector.

The infantry and civil engineering colonels who make up the garrison leadership team kicked off the tour with a Joint Base 101 briefing.

Representatives from the Joint Base’s administrative functions attended to personalize their services in case Airmen, their Families or the McChord leadership had questions about the joint base structure.

“We are trying to make ... this joint base purple,” Brittain said.

JBLM is more than just an installation, though; it is a city, Brittain said. If it were a literal one, it would be the seventh largest city in the state, the largest employer in Pierce County, and the largest joint base west of the Rockies.

“This is a major city being operated to take care of you and your (Families),” Brittain said.

Congress passed the Base Realignment and Closure Act in 2005 merging McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis into what became Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The JBLM garrison was designed to provide oversight and service delivery of all administrative functions for both the I Corps commander and Air Force wing commander.

Nearly 50 functions that were once carried out both at McChord and Lewis are now unified under the garrison, Brittain said.

Some of those administrative functions affect the operational commanders’ missions, so a close working relationship still exists among the JBLM staff, I Corps and 62nd AW.

Getting personnel onboard and comfortable with the garrison structure is an important step in the process, he said.

Airmen were escorted in blue buses around JBLM Lewis Main, receiving presentations on the Army’s Family Readiness Center, the Army Family Covenant Arena, the Warrior Zone and Schools of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills.

The Warrior Zone is particularly important to Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Barnes and Better Opportunities for Single Servicemembers. The Warrior Zone allows everyone with installation access to its facility. It serves as a recreation center for Soldiers and Airmen that includes gaming areas, an espresso shop, café and private barbecue areas.

Colonel R. Wyn Elder spoke about the importance of Airmen using Lewis Main and North services and getting a better understanding behind joint basing.

“There is so much available to our Airmen, but if we in this room don’t understand joint basing, then how can we ask our young Airmen to understand it,” Elder told the 50 servicemembers, their spouses and civilians in attendance. “Needing (those services) at a time of emergency is not the time to start picking up the phone and saying, ‘I don’t know where this resides.’”

JBLM plans to continue tours and informational briefs in the future.