Brooks overjoyed to be back at Belvoir

Some of the best things in life are unexpected. Just ask Stephen Brooks — Fort Belvoir’s new deputy to the installation commander.
Brooks, an Atlanta native, arrived on post in August after serving as deputy garrison commander at Walter Reed Army Medical Center since 2006. A retired Army Chemical Corps colonel, Brooks spent 31 years in a number of command and staff positions, including as commander of a nuclear weapons storage site in Germany around the time the Berlin Wall was torn down. He officially retired from active-duty service the same year he started working at Walter Reed.
Brooks says he’s ecstatic to be at Belvoir and admits his love affair with the installation and surrounding community began long before he started work in his new position. Not long after joining the Army out of the University of Georgia, he was stationed at Belvoir in 1976 as a private first class for four and a half months.
While attending advanced individual training, Brooks still recalls the day he decided to walk from his barracks on post to nearby Mount Vernon — an afternoon he never suspected would turn up later in life.
Becoming a leader
After college, Brooks enlisted in the Army and attended Officer Candidate School two years later. He later became an officer while on assignment at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. and credits the Army with helping him realize the goals he set for himself.
“To be a leader, you must first learn to follow. I learned that from the Army and I’m a better person because of it,” Brooks said. “The Army taught me so much and, you don’t always hear this from people, but I had a lot of fun. I really did. I saw everything as an adventure and I’m blessed to have worn a uniform.”
Through all his assignments, Brooks says nothing compares to the seven years he spent as an engineer assigned in Germany. A frequent visitor to East Berlin, Brooks also witnessed a historic visit by then-Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.
“To be there during that time, particularly when the Berlin Wall came down, was incredible,” Brooks said. “You can feel the emotion running through the people there. It was a profound experience and I’ll never forget it.”
Nor will he forget the camaraderie and relationships he’s had over the course of his career. According to Brooks, the satisfaction of working as a team is what drove him to look for work with the Army as a civilian once he retired. As it turns out, he saw a posting at Walter Reed for a deputy garrison commander and knew that’s what he wanted to do.
“I was actually teaching economics at the National Defense University when I came across the job posting. I thought there’s nothing better than serving our nation’s wounded warriors, so I pursued it aggressively,” Brooks said.
Weathering a storm
During his time there, Brooks said it was personally rewarding to look out his office window and see why he chose to work there. However, that’s not to say there weren’t any challenges along the way. Shortly after he arrived at Walter Reed, Brooks said a story was published in the Washington Post highlighting the hospital’s poor conditions.
“Despite the criticism, that experience actually brought us closer together. I can say it was a privilege to be given the resources to redesign our infrastructure,” Brooks said. “In two years, we spent $150 million on upgrades and that was no small feat. Everyone there shared great pride in that accomplishment and l learned that you make the best friends when working under stress.”
Coming full circle
In his new role at Belvoir, Brooks is the first to point out the learning curve he has to contend with. While Walter Reed sat on 100 acres, he said Belvoir is an installation of 18,000 acres with a work force expected to double in size over the next two years.
With that in mind, Brooks said his main job focus is to fight for resources that will accommodate the growing population.
“You need funding to provide the quantity and quality of services for an installation like Belvoir. It’s important to maintain infrastructure and have a working environment that people choose to work in,” Brooks said.
“I knew JoAnn Blanks, the former deputy to the installation commander, personally. She left a legacy of high performance and I’m looking to continue that.”
“I want our employees to know that the leadership here values them. My philosophy is to give them respect and empower them so they can reach a high standard themselves.”