EUCOM Commander hosts town hall meeting

It's refreshing to be assured by the EUCOM commander, Army Gen. John Craddock, that quality of life issues for members of the EUCOM community are being noticed and he is working with his staff to find the right answers. GEN Craddock has a very distinguished 38-year record and when he says he's going to work an issue, I for one, am compelled to believe him. The GEN has spent countless hours working on ways to improve the quality of life for service members, family members, DoD civilianns, and contractors who live here in Stuttgart.

A few questions that came up from the EUCOM community were if Flex-time has ever been considered? The GEN asked his staff and they are going to take measures to find out if that would benefit members of our community. But remember, there are things that need to be kept in mind: childcare hours, mission requirements, filling gaps, people who are on temporary duty, or vacation. But that is why he has asked his staff to look into it and see if it would truly benefit all members of the community.

The parking question, which is one of the most famous questions that I have heard at all town hall meetings - from the Garrison town halls, to the Deputy Commander's, and all the way up to the Commander. I guess the short answer is: they know there is a problem and they are working to try to alleviate some of the parking problems. But, as the Garrison Commander, COL Pastore pointed out: there is parking available at the Community Center and behind the gym, so although it's not the most convenient answer, parking does exist. It'd be nice to have a real solution, but we take what we can get at times. There will be 45 more parking spaces available in Washington Square, so we just need to be a bit patient until that happens, but of course, it's a first come, first serve basis, as it is now.

One of the most important quality of life issues came from a group of parents who have been attending meeting and working with the school board, because it has been rumored that the fifth graders of Patch Elementary School will be moved to Robinson Barracks next year, in order to make room for the High Schoolers. The parents were very well organized and proved a very valid point: young children should not be forced to take a bus for up to 50 minutes per day to get to and from school. The Commander fully agreed that that is the wrong answer. He brought up building temporary classrooms for the high school children until a more permanent solution could be made. That made the parents representing their case, as well as most people in attendance, very happy and the GEN was applauded for making that decision, which greatly improves the quality of life for everyone who has children, and the children themselve at EUCOM.

Another issue, the lack of medical services provided. A representative from the medical department was at the meeting and he acknowledged that there is a problem, but assured everyone that the medical clinic is doing what they can in order to get people seen in a timely manner. He also reminded the audience that we can get referred to a civilian doctor or another medical facility in Germany. Although he makes a great point, driving an hour and a half to Heidelberg isn't always the best answer for us. I haven't been seen at a civilian medical facility here, but I am not a stranger to driving to Heidelberg or Landstuhl to be seen by a doctor for a routine appointment. There is a bus available to Heidelberg, but I don't necessarily have an entire day to leave at the crack of dawn and then sit there all day until the bus heads back to Stuttgart. I choose to drive my own vehicle and don't get reimbursed for fuel because there is a bus available. My appointments to Landstuhl allow me to be reimbursed, but it seems like such a waste of time to drive for nearly two and a half hours to be seen by a doctor for 15 minutes. This is yet another issue that is recurring at EUCOM, especially since our community was increased by thousands of people because of the stand-up of AFRICOM. I guess for now, we'll take what we can get and keep our fingers crossed that changes will be made in the future.

And finally, another key issue is daycare services. This one actually hits home with me. It is nearly impossible to get children into daycare, well, in a timely manner, that is. I received orders in December of 2007 to report to EUCOM in July 2007. I immediately put my son on the waiting list. I reported and low and behold, I had to use hourly care for over two weeks. Hourly care is a good temporary solution; however, working nine hours per day at four-dollars per hour adds up. It was brought up that there are other facilities, and yes, I acknowledge that there are; however, they were all full when I arrived and I took the first one that I could get, which was not my facility of choice, but it was care for my son. Overseas it is hard to get daycare providers, but I think these are all issues that either were ignored or not brought up when we decided to stand up another combatant command in this area. However, the commander and his staff are aware of the child care issues and they are working to come up with a solution. A modular space, which will hold 100 children, is in the works for the Kelly CDC.

These are my thoughts on the town hall meeting. I decided to blog about this so that we could get other members of the community, who maybe are too shy, to bring up their quality of life concerns or issues. By no means is the blog meant to slam the efforts that the EUCOM leadership and staff are making. Everyone, including the Commander, is doing everything that they can in order to not make this a bad place to come, or as the general put it - we do not want this to end up being a hardship tour.

MC2 Dana M. Clark
U.S. Europeam Command