Sparta Area Chamber of Commerce Newsletter February 2020 issue | Page 15

15 - The Sparta Ambassador - February 2020
From Fort McCoy
FORT McCOY
Theresa Fitzgerald
Looking back at 2019 at Fort McCoy
Fort McCoy had a busy 2019 supporting active- and reserve-component training throughout the armed forces, as well as assisting local
communities. Here’s a look back at some of the year’s highlights.
Emergency-response personnel with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services (DES) Fire Department supported a mutu-
al-aid response Jan. 6 involving children who had fallen through the ice at Perch Lake in Sparta, Wis. Two children were pulled from
the water, one from underwater with the assistance of a diver.
Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch was awarded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Military Conservation Partner Award. This award recognizes significant natural-resource management achievements by mili-
tary installations, particularly the conservation of important wildlife and their habitats through cooperative work with the USFWS and
other partners.
Hundreds of Army Reserve Soldiers completed training as members of Convoy Protection Platform gunnery crews during Operation
Cold Steel III between late March and early May. Operation Cold Steel III, operated under Task Force Fortnite, was a gunnery exercise
with Soldiers qualifying on the M2, MK-19, and M240B weapon systems.
Vice President of the United States Mike Pence visited Fort McCoy on May 16 as part of an overall Wisconsin visit. During his stop at
Fort McCoy, Pence learned about military equipment; met with hundreds of Fort McCoy workforce, military, and family members; and
gave a speech at an Equipment Concentration Site-67 building.
The Army Reserve Command kicked off the training portion of Diamond Saber 2019, the Army’s largest and primary financial man-
agement exercise, at June 18. Diamond Saber is designed to provide realistic technical training to regular Army, Army Reserve, and
Army National Guard financial management units through interactive scenarios and transactions.
The 86th Training Division at Fort McCoy conducted Combat Support Training Exercise 86-19-03 from July 13 to Aug. 2. The 86th
held the exercise as part of the U.S. Army Reserve commanding general’s Combat Support Training Program. Thousands of service
members with the Army as well as other military services and foreign militaries participated in the multinational exercise.
Multiservice medical personnel received hands-on training at multiple exercises that took place in August with assistance from the
installation’s Medical Simulation Training Center and Regional Training Site-Medical. Global Medic is an inter-service training event
that provides opportunities for military medical personnel to improve their proficiencies in realistic training environments while com-
bining forces with other service branches and national armies.
Contractor Relyant Global LLC of Maryville, Tenn., began work on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-led project to build seven new
military family housing units at the Fort McCoy’s South Post Housing area.
Eight current and one former firefighter with the DES Fire Department received the Department of the Army Civilian Award for Hu-
manitarian Service on Oct. 3 for their work during an emergency flood response in local communities in 2018.
After closing in March for a major upgrade, Fort McCoy’s Main Gate reopened for use and 24-hour operations Nov. 23. Work on the
project included the demolition of old active vehicle barriers and the construction of new active vehicle barriers that meet the require-
ments for standoff distances required by mandated regulations. Additionally, new sidewalks and a parking area were built next to build-
ing 35 to allow for more parking space.
The 2019-20 season of the Fort McCoy Cold-Weather Operations Course (CWOC) started Dec. 5 at the installation. This season, the
CWOC training team of instructors is prepared to hold five, 14-day training sessions of CWOC as well as four, three-day sessions.
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