Written By: John Crutchfield III, President & CEO, Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce
Published in the Greater Killeen Business Quarterly 2017 Newcomers Guide
The Greater Killeen area has a long tradition of supporting the men and women of our armed forces and their families. The Military Relations Council’s (MRC) goals are to promote the sustainability of Fort Hood and to make the fence between the post and the surrounding community as invisible as possible.
This is accomplished by building strong relationships between Fort Hood, the U.S. Army and the community. The MRC does this specifically by providing information, networking and access to Fort Hood and the community, locally and across the United States.
INFORMATION
With an impact of 136.6 billion dollars, the military is the second largest economic stimulator in the state of Texas, ahead of agriculture and just behind energy, per the Texas Military Preparedness Commission. Fort Hood, as one of the 15 military instillations in Texas, makes up $35.4 billion of this statistic. One out of every four people in Bell & Coryell County is associated with Fort Hood. Because of this, it is important to arm chamber investors, our strategic partners and the public with information to allow them to function as informed representatives in Killeen, Austin and Washington D.C.
MRC activities that help accomplish this goal include:
- Designation as a 2017 Great American Defense Community by the Association of Defense Communities.
- Scheduling tours of organizations and support programs on Fort Hood, including Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, AAFES PX, and the Training Support Center.
- Providing operational updates from organizations on Fort Hood, including Fort Hood Garrison Command III Corps, First Army Division West, and the First Calvary Division.
- Providing assistance in planning and execution of the chamber’s bi-annual Legislative Tour, a program that invites state legislative representatives and staff from Austin to tour Fort Hood and the Killeen community.
- Organizing interactive tours of the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, CA.
- Organizing the Senior Command Teams Welcome and Social.
- Distributing monthly electronic MRC Newsletters providing time-sensitive information.
- Attending the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) & Association of Defense Communities (ADC) to build relationships with other military communities, armed forces representatives and legislatures.
NETWORKING
In addition to the activities listed above, the MRC participates in several events to build relationships with the Soldiers and Families of Fort Hood, such as Audie Murphy Inductions, NCO & Soldier of the Year Awards, Hails, Farewells, Retirements and AUSA events. During many of these events, the MRC is able to participate in the awards presentations.
Our community does an exceptional job networking and building relationships with the General Officers and Command Sargent Majors. However, these individuals rarely return to serve at Fort Hood. In an effort to begin building relationships with the Soldiers who will return to Fort Hood, in Fall 2014 the MRC held their first Senior Command Teams Welcome. This social is held in coordination with the New Command Teams training and reaches out to those most likely to return to Fort Hood to serve in the future — Command Teams for Battalions and above. The MRC continues to explore events that engage Soldiers and Families with the local communities.
Most people living in the Killeen area are aware of what the U.S. Army does and have heard the ‘sounds of Freedom’ booming when the troops are in the field. The terms “deployment” and “redeployment” are common in local vocabulary. However, the weight of these actions may not fully register for those who have not ever been Active Duty. The U.S. Army is looking for ways to educate the population on what it does and the costs associated with its activities. The Chamber is helping with this by hosting the Interactive National Training Center Rotation Tour at Ft. Irwin, CA, the location of one of three ground-force training centers used to train soldiers. The tours, which started in 2015, follow Fort Hood Brigades during their force-on-force activities. The tour has allowed the Army to strategically reach outside the front gate and spread its message by educating local, state, and federal leaders through first-hand exposure to military training.
ACCESS
The MRC allows chamber investors and leaders access to Fort Hood and the Soldiers stationed there. In turn, this allows these same individuals access to the local community. To build strong relationships with Fort Hood we must continue to build lasting relationships between Soldiers, Families and community members.
Thank you to our Military Relations Council sponsors:
- All American Chevrolet
- Grace Christian Center