Our most important weapon system is the Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine that gets the job done. Therefore, we should create an environment in the workplace where they can thrive.

As some installations in Europe are scaling down in size, a few enduring communities are building up. This is the case in Grafenwoehr, Germany. SGT Josh Dwyer tells us how you can sleep a little easier in Graf thanks to a newly finished construction project.

What’s your B.H.A.G.? What were our Big Hairy Audacious Goals? Did we define our B.H.A.Gs? Did we meet them?

During his brief to conference delegates and attendees, Gordon, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy, focused on four key priorities for support and care of military families, which can be found in Presidential Study Directive #9. The priorities include enhancing the overall well-being and psychological health of the military family; ensuring excellence in military children’s education and their development; developing career and educational opportunities for military spouses; and increasing childcare availability and quality for the Armed Forces.

BAUMHOLDER, Germany -- The new Family Readiness Center Yellow Ribbon Room opened its doors at 3 p.m. June 17.

LAJES FIELD, Azores — In the midst of many budget cuts, Lajes Field, Azores, officials are improving the quality of life for Airmen and their families, with a focus on improving programs geared toward areas of concern for Air Force families as of June 24.

HEIDELBERG, Germany—U.S. Army Europe will conduct numerous unit inactivations, relocations and returns to the U.S. from the Mannheim and Heidelberg area between 2010 and 2015 to further consolidate remaining personnel on DoD main operating bases as of June 24.

HEIDELBERG, Germany — An online “Guide to Host Nation Healthcare” is available as of May 10 on Europe Regional Medical Command health facility Web pages to promote understanding of local medical facilities and providers who support Army health care in Europe.

EUCOM held the 2010 Quality of Life conference in Garmish, Germany. See what the discussions were all about.

When I was selected to participate in the Quality of Life Conference, I can honestly say I had no idea what to expect. After arriving here at the conference, I was very surprised at the relaxing, yet passionate atmosphere I experienced. I was placed in the Community Services I Group. My group was very energetic, enthusiastic and full of really great ideas. There were times of strong disagreements, but we were always able to come to a conclusion that was beneficial to all of EUCOM.

What should have been a pretty smooth morning, only turned upside down. My focus group, Health of the Force received shocking news that one of our top two topics to be address this afternoon, needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. It was back to the butcher board. Despite some remaining conflicting points of view, it was thanks to our groups amazing negotiating and team skills that we were able to revitalize the topic we felt most passionate about presenting. That is the beauty of being a part of this process. Despite the difference of views and opinion, the bottom line is we are here for the benefit of our community.

As a social worker, who has worked for so many years in the civilian sector, I am always amazed at how well the military tries to take care of its soldiers and families. If only the rest of the people in the U.S. had access to some of the wonderful programs designed to support and enhance families and their quality of life. I have been at the Quality of Life Conference here in Garmisch since Monday, and have been impressed and moved by the enthusiasm, true caring, and willingness to help that the military has for the people who dedicate their lives to our country.

This is my first time attending a Quality of Life (QoL) Conference, but what an opportunity it has been for me. This conference has enabled me to express so many morale issues that affect my location. As a secondary effect, I was able to interact with members of other services and align my issues with these sister services to create a joint or “purple” problem.

The life that a man or woman experiences while serving in the military is often one of sacrifice, hardship and honor. A normal day is often long and stressful. Families aren't perfect outside the military and they are no different inside except the normal stressors on a military family are extraordinary. Families break all the time. Some breaks are permanent, some temporary, some caused by the stressors of a military life. Now throw in deployments to overseas locations where families cope with strong cultural challenges, language barriers, and being a thousand miles from their own homeland. Now we have to throw 9 years of combat operations into the mix. Deployments mean more sacrifice, hardship and places fragile families in danger of breaking and solid families endure loneliness, depression and loss of intimacy.

Ok, for those of you who were paying attention and can count are probably thinking … if there were only 4 focus groups, how can there be a “Top 10." One can say a lot about the Texas educational system, but it did teach me that 4 times 2 does not equal 10. So the additional 2 issues came from The European Strategy Conference, which focuses on remote Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) areas, held last week in Ramstein, Germany.

Garmisch is known for its skiing and leisure options but little do most people know that in the lower conference rooms of the Edelweisse Lodge and Resort Quality of Life (QoL) issues are being battled out. I did not know what was in store for me when I was selected to attend the QoL 2010 conference. I knew the meaning of the term quality of life but I did not know how concerned military officials were with it. Much to my amazement, military officials seriously care about issues affecting our service members and their families.

As we worked through the descriptions of the mentioned problem, the active duty members and spouses in our group stepped into situations that none of us want to face. The curtain that is always present was pulled away as we thought about and discussed what our service members and their families (spouses, next of kin, etc) go through, emotionally and mentally, during times of great loss.

As a group we collectively created a program to eliminate the adult ‘middle man’ process resulting in what we are interested in being expressed. This program, if allotted the five year requested trial program, is expected by the young adult delegates to directly reduce the amount of at-risk behavior.

Commencing early this morning, our focus group quickly began working together to further deepen what issues we were attempting to address. By discussing amongst ourselves details such as Describe the Problem; what is the desired outcome; stating the Recommendation for achieving desired outcome; stating the Limitations to carry out recommendations or achieving desired outcome. As with any discussion, questions did come up amongst group members. Even small disagreements as to, were our top issues necessarily the most important to address.

I am here not as a delegate, not as an observer or even as a Subject Matter Expert, aka the SME… but here because I belong to the P.O.W.E.R. Group – a program that was put into place based on the needs expressed from attendees at conferences just like this!

The four focus groups, Health of the Force, Community Service I and II, and the Youth/Teen Dependent Education, have worked hard for the last four days. It has been an interesting experience for me. I have had an opportunity to sit in on a couple of the focus groups and on every occasion everyone was highly engaged in the discussions and very passionate about every issue.

After the video, the Chief of Staff for EUCOM, Army Maj. Gen. John Morgan provided the opening remarks welcoming everyone to the conference…and so it began.

Hi I’m Brannon Niblock and I am a first timer at the QoL Conference in Garmish. As a Teen Representative from MARFOREUR I am a part of the Youth Delegate Crew.

Day one of the quality of life conference went pretty much how I thought it would. An array of issues and excellent observations from large instillations to small were discussed. I was impressed with everyone’s issues and participation; it made the day fly by.

Well, I have to say “Welcome" to everyone attending this year’s Quality of Life Conference. I have been in Germany for all of four months and thrilled to be here in the beautiful city of Garmisch. As a new Delegate for the Ansbach community, being a part of EUCOM’s mission for Quality of Life has turned out to be quite an experience.

Grüss Gott from Edelweiss Lodge in the picturesque Bavarian town of Garmisch, Germany. My name is Thomas and I have the wonderful and unique privilege to represent my fellow Airmen and service members at the EUCOM Quality of Life conference. The overarching mission of the conference is to identify “purple” issues, or those who affect the entire European theater for all service members and their families. All delegates have converged here after soliciting and compiling inputs from our local environments in order to elevate the most pertinent concerns.

I was at EUCOM for about two months when I heard of a section within EUCOM called Quality of Life (QoL). Now I have to admit, when I first heard of the QoL section, I had no idea what they did let alone what their mission at EUCOM was. In my many years of being in the Army, I have never heard of a section within a command whose main function was improving the quality of life for its military and family members.Obviously, I had a few questions…what do they do and more importantly, what happens at these conferences? Quite frankly, what is Quality of Life?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates released the guidelines and parameters of a Defense Department review of the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law in preparation for its potential repeal, March 2.

WASHINGTON — Attention all Facebookers, Twitter tweeters and YouTubers: a new Defense Department policy authorizes you to access these and other Web 2.0 platforms from nonclassified government computers, as long as it doesn't compromise operational security or involve prohibited activities or Web sites.

The United States European Command leadership took steps, after hearing concerns at the 2009 Quality of Life Conference in Garmisch, Germany, to help service members get care when they need it. The EUCOM Bill of Rights for Behavior Health Care, the outcome of the conference and the first of its kind, was developed to combat the stigma associated with mental health care.

Delays have occurred in production and delivery to overseas beneficiaries of H1N1 vaccine from US suppliers. TRICARE has stepped up to help mitigate this delay if military dependents wish to get vaccinated against H1N1 now rather than waiting for the DoD supply to arrive.

The United States Army Garrison--Stuttgart motto is a good one and says a lot about our community. The Garrison leadership's goal is to have people say "I'm glad I live here." Stuttgart is a wonderful city, and the USAG Stuttgart is a fantastic place to live and serve.

When General Craddock hired me as EUCOM Senior Enlisted Leader three years ago, he laid out four priorities for me. One of them was quality of life for Service members and their Families. A couple years ago at the December 2006 QoL conference, I spoke to the delegates and laid out what I foresaw to be our greatest quality of life challenges. A lot has happened since 2006. As co-chairman of the EUCOM Quality of Life Executive Steering Committee, I’ve seen tremendous diligence as we address issues brought to us from the conferences and resolve them through the QoL Action Plan.