Belvoir highlights ties with annual community relations breakfast

Fort Belvoir commander Col. Jerry Blixt told community leaders and installation partners that a focus on the post’s personnel, infrastructure and community is the key to maintaining the post’s viability Tuesday during the installation’s Community Relations Breakfast.
The annual event allows post leadership to update the civilian community on happenings within the installation’s gates. Formal presentations at the event focused on Base Realignment and Closure projects.
However, Blixt said he doesn’t want Belvoir to be known solely by BRAC.
“Although we acknowledge the challenges of BRAC, to remain a viable organization and one not consumed by BRAC, we must focus on our personnel, our infrastructure and our community,” Blixt said.
Congressman Jim Moran, who represents Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, used the breakfast to voice his concern about inadequate funding for transportation infrastructure surrounding the installation.
“Fort Belvoir and the Military District of Washington are not at fault for this issue. They have done an outstanding job in doing the right thing with the resources they have and coordinating with everyone to get the mission done,” Moran said.
He said the facilities under construction in support of the Belvoir BRAC mission will be world-class and “something every American can be proud of.” He pledged his continued
support to secure funding for transportation mitigation.
Moran cited widening Route 1, overpass access for Belvoir North Area, and the Mark Center in Alexandria as priorities.
Underscoring concern about transportation, Fairfax County Supervisor Sharon Bulova asked what government transportation options would be used in the installation’s plans to reduce single-occupancy vehicle traffic.
Belvoir’s Director of Logistics, Claude McMullen, described a plan to use government vans to shuttle workers from Springfield-Franconia Metro to post.
An on-post circulator would receive passengers from commercial buses like the Richmond Highway Express from the north or from other lines from the south, such as ones ending in or near Lorton.
The after-breakfast program provided the installation with an opportunity to showcase the people who make it run. Belvoir’s Proud and Ready Team, led by Installation Command Sgt. Maj. Gabriel Berhane, highlighted this year’s observance of “The Year of the NCO.” Seven NCOs, representing the active and reserve components of the four service branches and the Coast Guard stood, one at a time, and introduced themselves, speaking about what mission they performed at Belvoir, highlighting the diverse inter-service environment on the post.
Soldiers from Belvoir’s Headquarters Battalion “Eagle Team” presented an Army Combatives demonstration where soldiers exhibited techniques being taught in hand-to-hand combat and self-defense.
Lt. Col. Kevin McKenna explained the command had identified a gap in training capabilities and worked to address it. As a result, more than 200 soldiers have received training through Fort Belvoir’s Combatives Training Program, with the help of instructors provided by Military District of Washington soldiers.
Showing Belvoir’s partnership with area schools, local students provided music for the event. To launch the morning’s events, Jenna Krnynak, a student from Mount Vernon High School, sang the National Anthem.
The Advanced Chorus from Walt Whitman Middle School, directed by Marlene Fleming-Dillon, sang renditions of “The Rose” and “Lean on Me.”
Also in the name of partnership, The Clark CARES Foundation presented two checks, each for $40,000, to benefit schools and the Soldier Family Assistance Center on Belvoir. Tom Boylan from Clark Realty Builders presented the checks to Fairfax County School Board Chairman Dan Stork and Blixt. Clark CARES is the public charity arm of Clark Realty Builders.