Jul

23

Base News: New Commander to be Welcomed Tuesday

Filed Under Community News, The Base 

Major General John S. Harrel

Major General John S. Harrel

(7/23/2009) Your opportunities to meet the incoming Base Commander, to tour the Base, to tour a Guided Missile Destroyer, to enjoy community drama,   or to participate in a fund raiser for Cancer relief or for Crime Victims were all included in today’s Joint Forces Training Base Announcement of upcoming events.

Interested citizens and business people will have a chance to meet and welcome  incoming Base Commander Major General John S. Harrel this coming Tuesday afternoon at the regular monthly meeting of the Regional Military Affairs Committee (RMAC).

Major General Harrel previously commanded the 40th Infantry Division of the California National Guard for the past two years and previously served as the as the Chief of Staff of the Multi-National Brigade East Kosovo Force while the 40th Infantry Division was deployed in Kosovo.

Heather J. Hagen, the Base’s Community Relations Officer, describes the Committee as “an opportunity for local Chambers of Commerce and the Military to come together and share calendar activities and events.”  The RMAC is a joint effort of the Base and the Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce, and is currently chaired by former Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose.

The general public is welcome to RMAC meetings, which are generally informal.  The meeting begins at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, in building 15 at the Base, 11200 Lexington Drive in Los Alamitos.  (If you’d like to attend next Tuesday’s meeting and report back to us, please use the “contact us” link in the masthead.  We’re looking for more community reporters!  “Your name here!”)

Here are excerpts about other upcoming events of interest  from Ms. Hagen:

**Liberty Theater is featuring “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”.  The show runs through  next Sunday July 26.

SUNDAY MATINEE SPECIALS: All Seniors & Juniors (Children 12 and under)  get a $3 Discount off their ticket price.  Tickets are available on line at www.seclo.org.    For more details call (714) 827-9141.

**Relay for Life Walk/Run Fight on Cancer begins at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 25, at the base.  To join a team visit the website at www.relayforlife.org/losalamitossealbeachca.  Soldiers interested in joining a team can sign up with JFTB’s Citizen Soldiers.

**California National Guard Major General William H. Wade II, The Adjutant General, cordially invites you to attend a Change of Command ceremony at which Major General John S. Harrel will relinquish command of the 40th Infantry Division to Brigadier General Scott W. Johnson at 11 a.m., Friday, July 31, at the Parade Field, here at the Base.  Military:  Duty Uniform and Civilian:  Business Casual.  Please R.S.V.P. by July 27 by contacting Major John Mendoza, john.c.mendoza@us.army.mil, (562) 795-2468.  Reception immediately following the ceremony.

**Open to the Public, the guided missile destroyer, USS Benfold (DDG 65), will be open for weekend public visitation August 1-2, at the Naval Weapons Station in the City of Seal Beach.  Saturday tours given from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and Sunday tours provided from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  Displays of other Navy, Marine Corps and Army equipment will also be available.  The tour is free of charge and no reservations are required.  Cameras are permitted, and walking shoes are highly recommended.  No backpacks or handbags will be  allowed onboard the ship, and the vessel is not accessible to the handicapped.  Public entry is available at the station’s Liberty Gate,  located on Seal Beach Blvd. (1/8 mile south of the Pacific Coast Highway intersection).

**Joint Forces Base tour is Thursday, August 20.  To sign up call the Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce at (562) 598-6659.

**Visit the Veteran Services Center in building 244, here.  Veteran benefits, counseling, entitlements, information about jobs, and more.  For more information visit the website www.veteransservicecenter.com, or call (562) 936-1796.

**Crime Survivors Walk/Run Fight on Crime Saturday, October 10, here.  The mission of Crime Survivors is to ensure the public knows victims’ rights and needs and to provide resources, support, and information to empower crime victims to survive and thrive.  For more information visit the website at www.crimesurvivors.com.

**Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for Wings, Wheels,  and Rotors Expo and is accepting applications for potential sponsors.  For more information call the chamber at (562) 598-6659.  The event features all types of civilian and military fixed and rotor winged aircraft, food, vendors and classic vehicles from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, October 25, at the Los Alamitos Army Airfield located here.

HEATHER J. HAGAN
Community Relations Specialist

Joint Forces Training Base
Public Affairs Office
Los Alamitos, CA, 90720
Office (562)795-2017

For OC Register reporter Jaimee Lynne Fletcher’s excellent article on former Base Commander Gen. Combs, including his plans for his retirement, click here.

For more on the USS Benfold tours from the Register’s Science Dude, click here (thanks to Seal Beach Daily for the link!)

This post is primarily for your information, but, as always, your respectfully stated thoughts and comments are welcome.   I know we have readers with valuable information to add, which is why we have open comments here!

Comments

2 Responses to “Base News: New Commander to be Welcomed Tuesday”

  1. JM Ivler on July 24th, 2009 1:26 am

    Nancy Boyda was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for manpower and personnel, and was sworn into the position on July, 20, 2009.

    Former U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda was sworn in Monday at the Pentagon as a deputy assistant secretary of defense for manpower and personnel issues.

    She will focus on serving the interests of reserve and National Guard service members. At this time, 141,000 reserve and guard troops are deployed.

    “It is all things personnel – retention, recuitment, issues of retirement, deployment issues, families, health care,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a fascinating job.”

    Boyda served two years in the House representing the 2nd District, which includes Topeka, before defeated for re-election in 2008 by Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Republican.

    While in the House, Boyda served on the House Armed Services Committee. She also was on an armed services personnel subcommittee.

    She said immediate goals were to broaden training opportunities for soldiers to reduce time away from home and to reform benefits to match the heavier reliance on reserve and guard forces for overseas deployments.

    The job places Boyda in a policy arena without entanglements related to political campaigns.

    “This is a way to work on policy without doing the political thing,” she said. “This is what I was hoping for.”

    This is the e-mail I just sent her

    Secretary Boyda,

    Not long ago I had the pleasure of going on-base at Camp Pendelton. Like-new homes and living quarters and other excellent conditions abound for the first stop for many of our Marines. The grounds were well kept and the facilities up to date.

    Then I came home to Los Alamitos and took a closer look at Joint Forces Training Base. The 1950 style housing. The closed apartments that have been standing vacant as an eyesore to the local community since they were condemned. The grounds that were anything but pristine and well kept.

    I went to a presentation where the base commander explained that the reason he was doing a compost operation on the facility was to save money and reduce things like the dust that flies around the base into the community. That he doesn’t have the money to fix the things that need fixing. That they are “making due” with what they get and focusing the amounts they do get on the bases main mission of training the troops.

    For the 15+ years I have lived here I have supported the base. When they opened the Vet Center I went in and donated my fathers WW-II mementos to the facility. I have fought against BRAC and believe in the base and the mission.

    But after having my eyes opened by my time in Pendelton and seeing how the reservists get treated I have changed my opinion. I still believe in the mission of the JFTB here in Los Alamitos, but it seems clear to me that those in Washington DC don’t. I support our troops who have been given this shoddy place to make home, but there is little being done for them from their leadership. Heck, when President Obama came out to Southern California, AF-1 couldn’t land at the base because the runway was in need of repair and no funds had been allocated for it, thus he had to land at LAX rather than the military base closest to his stop in Santa Ana.

    While we all have pride in the men and women who serve us, it is clear from the lack of funding and interest in providing for them from the Military establishment in Washington that this is really a one-sided issue when it comes to the Los Alamitos JFTB. For the cost of one F-22 the military could upgrade and maintain the base for many years to come; a base that has sent thousands to Iraq and now to Afghanistan.
    I have read that you come into this job with a good education from the House. I have also seen that your husband is an Ex-Marine. Please, take the time to come out to the two bases, Pendelton and Los Alamitos, and see the night and day differences that exist. Then, make a hard choice to either close the JFTB or fund it fully so that the differences are no longer there. To do any less is to insult every man and woman, no mater which branch of the service that they are in, who is forced to endure the conditions that the JFTB is currently under. Supporting our troops is not just some catch phrase on a bumber sticker on the back of non-combatants cars, it’s a belief that starts with making sure that they get the proper treatment here at home, not just when we send then “over there” (wherever over there may be).

    I would say that I have worked with the local Congressmen/women, but let’s be honest. My choices are the ineffectual Republican who’s district the JFTB is in who is more interested in whipping up hysteria against immigrants to get re-elected than doing anything for the men and women at the base. The nut-case Republican to the South. The Blue-dog Democrat to the East and her very liberal Democrat sister to the North. All-in-all, not the best choices in the world to try to discuss things with if you actually want anything to get accomplished in this area.

    So I turn to you and ask you to please take the time to make the trip out, see for yourself the differences, and determine if this is really how the Federal Government in Washington DC, the leaders of our military, want to continue to treat men and women who we ask to potentially pay the highest price for their country.

    Maybe with someone in DC stating that they actually care about the reservists and standing up for them the day she is sworn in, maybe, just maybe, we will see the JFTB get the resources that are needed so that they don’t have to continue to look for ways to survive, but may actually be able to upgrade and update the base and… The troops deserve more than this. Fix it, or close it, but stop the game playing with the troops that count on it to prepare for their missions abroad.

  2. to: JM on July 24th, 2009 7:39 pm

    Well stated. Hope she listened.

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