Around and About: Fort Irwin’s tours give civilians a peek

Fort Irwin gave civilians and a sergeant major a chance to see what goes on in the Army-occupied desert about 30 miles from Barstow.

The tour of Fort Irwin originated from the Harvey House last Tuesday morning. We were met at the gate by Col. Chris Philbrick, where we boarded a big bus from which Philbrick could use a microphone and tell us about what we were seeing.

The first stop was the National Training Center Headquarters, where we assembled in the conference room. Philbrick briefed us on mission and training methodology. He said that they train units from the Army, Marines, National Guard, CIA and other civilian forces. Visiting troops are usually trained on a 28 day rotation basis. When we were there the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colo. was in the field.

Brig. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard popped in to welcome us.  He said he is constantly striving to make the training more realistic. Little did we know that we would find out what he meant out in one of the Iraqi villages we would visit later in the day. He also said his aim is to make the quality of life at Fort Irwin continually better and that he hopes to have a high school on base within five years.

Philbrick showed us many slides that defined what was going on worldwide, and how the National Training Center was involved. He also told us many interesting things including that since the fort is on one meter with Southern California Edison, they are the largest power user in Southern California. The plan is for a solar farm to be built on the base so they will be self sustaining.

A bit of history he imparted was that when the area was called the Desert Training Center, Gen. George Patton trained his tank battalions there before World War II.

To me, the most interesting thing I learned is that because of privatization with Clark, Pinnacle and others not one dime of defense money is used for so many of the wonderful new complexes, including new housing and community centers on base.

The Town Center will break ground in Jan. 2009 and should be completed in 18 months.  Jim Milligan, vice president of Pinnacle for all operations west of the Mississippi was with us on the tour as was A.J. Caputo from Clark.  These bigwigs were very proud of what their staffs have accomplished at Fort Irwin.

After the briefing we were joined by Veronica Pawlow, Protocol Specialist and again loaded onto the bus and went to the new housing complexes. Sandy Basin has 197 new homes which are slated for senior non-commissioned officers. Sleepy Hollow will have 182 three and four bedroom homes with about 1,700 square feet each. These should be ready to move in about September.

At the new Community Center at Sandy Basin, where Lady Blair has transferred her housing operations, the ballroom was five or six times larger than the Jack Rabbit Room at the Hampton Inn and Suites. Marcia Bond, general manager of the Hampton was the first to exclaim that it was. 
This ballroom will be the setting for Philbrick’s change of command on May 23.  Quite different than sitting out in the sun with the troops assembled.  Chris will be headed for Iraq and will be sorely missed.  His wife, the ever-charming Tami, and their remaining Silver Valley High School student will head for their home in Virginia, which the Philbricks purchased when he was at the Pentagon. Their other son, formerly a star athlete at Silver Valley, is in college.

We also passed by all the schools, Weed Hospital and Mary Walker Medical Clinic, named for the first woman Medal of Honor Winner in theCivil War as well as other buildings of interest before having a sumptuous lunch.

The next part of the tour was under Maj. Carl Hennemann. We loaded in to protocol vans which were given United Nations designations at the check point where we hit the road for the Iraqi villages.  My driver was Spc. Torres with 1st Lt. Ian Zapotocky in charge and he took very good care of us. We toured Medina-Jabal and Medina-Wasi.

The realism the general talked about was vividly expounded on in Monday's Desert Dispatch.  The bloody soldiers we saw were so real and when I realized this was to train the medics as well as soldiers not to panic when they might see the blood and guts on the battlefield it all made sense.

The next stop was Command Headquarters and goodbye to those that gave us a great day's experience.

Those going on the tour arranged by Darrell Kemp included Jeri Justus, Diana Ross, Mary Bogdan, Sgt. Major Michael Berg, Marcia Bond, Lori Whiting, Joyce Wiltson, Jim Milligan, A. J. Caputo, Edwin Garcia, Terry Vaughn, Alyx Burnett and yours truly.

I believe that those at Fort Irwin are planning more community tours like this, and if you have the opportunity to go, don't miss doing so.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Bette “ Bee Jay”  Moses is a special events correspondent to the Desert Dispatch. She can be reached at (760) 987-6915 or bette.moses@gmail.com.