News

Commanders sign Joint Base Lewis-McChord operations plan

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Dean Miller
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Less than 70 days from the start of the transition to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a key milestone was reached Nov. 19 with the signing of the JBLM Operations Plan. The extensive plan details how critical support areas will function on the Joint Base and is the result of more than 18 months of work by more than 250 Army and Air Force subject matter experts.

The historic document was signed by the soon-to-be Joint Base command team, Army Col. Thomas Brittain, Joint Base commander, and Air Force Col. Kenny Weldon, deputy Joint Base commander. Colonel Brittain currently serves as the Fort Lewis Garrison commander and Colonel Weldon currently serves as McChord's 62nd Mission Support Group commander.

"The operations plan is the road map for a successful transition to Joint Base Lewis-McChord," said Colonel Brittain. "All of the meetings, all the planning sessions, all of the finely detailed work to make sure that this process is a success - all of them have resulted in this plan. It's the culmination of everything we've done to date, and we can now move forward, confident that we've done our best to ensure success."

"A lot of people across Fort Lewis and McChord have done an extraordinary job, helping bring us from the joint basing announcement in 2005 to today, with a solid plan in our hands," Colonel Brittain said. "The successful creation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord is a direct result of their hard work, and we can all be grateful that we have such talented, dedicated professionals managing this process."

The next priority for the Joint Base is development of the operations order directing the transition process to start. Responsibility for multiple installation support functions transfer to the Joint Base commander at that time. At McChord, these support functions are currently performed by more than 600 Airmen and more than 600 civilians.

According to Lt. Col. Barbara Henson, 446th Airlift Wing Joint Base Coordinator, "Completion of the OPLAN means the managers of installation support functions will now begin to shift their focus toward things like developing standard procedures for providing support to everyone
on the Joint Base.
 
"For the 446th Airlift Wing, this signifies that the timing is right to begin negotiating a support agreement that is specific to our wing's support requirements," said Colonel Henson.

Colonel Henson will be working closely with the 446th Logistics Readiness Flight to develop this support agreement with the Army.

The Joint Base transition, when complete by Oct 1, establishes JBLM -- the largest combat power-projection platform on the west coast.

"These are two large installations with many important missions, and it's worth noting that to date, we've met all Joint Base development checkpoints, on time, as a team," said Col. Eric Newhouse, director, Joint Base Initiative Office.

"The Joint Base will support C-17s, Strykers, special forces, the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard missions here, security of our nations' air space - and much more," said Colonel Newhouse. "There is a tremendous amount of pride in being a part of such elite missions."

As the transition nears, representatives from key McChord support areas continue to coordinate with their Fort Lewis counterparts to ensure a smooth effort at the operational level.

McChord's Dave Lenart, chief of installation security and plans, credits the personalities of the people involved - Army and Air Force - for continued success in the development of Joint Base emergency services procedures that he is helping to develop.

"Our group - which includes security forces and firefighters - has a common 'first responder' mindset -- we look at things much the same way," said Mr. Lenart.

Mr. Lenart noted the success of the group is tied to careful efforts to select the best processes for the joint base as opposed to blanket application of existing McChord or Fort Lewis procedures.

"We've studied how we each do things and we've discussed the differences and those have been important conversations," said Mr. Lenart. "Everyone wants to move forward, but everyone wants to do the right thing - we feel we're doing that."

Emergency Services is one of 14 major support areas of the joint base.

According to the McChord Joint Base office, town hall meetings are being planned in the weeks ahead to allow Joint Base leadership to share more details with Airmen and civilians at McChord most directly involved in developing the Joint Base. (Sandra Pishner, 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this report)