Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 18, 2014 Page: 5 of 36
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www.FortHoodSentinel.com
December 18, 2014
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USO unveils renovated center at Fort Hood
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All new furniture, flooring, paint and decor make for a more comfortable and
relaxing home-like atmosphere in the renovated USO Fort Hood.
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BY HEATHER GRAHAM-ASHLEY
Sentinel News Editor
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The Fort Hood Garrison command team helps Isabel Hubbard cut the ribbon to
mark the grand reopening of the USO Fort Hood center Wednesday at Fort Hood.
Photos by Heather Graham-Ashley, Sentinel News Editor
Upstairs at the USO Fort Hood, six gaming stations offer troops more options for
video gaming and include XBox 360, XBox One and PS4 consoles.
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Troops and their Families have a
more inviting and spacious “home
away from home” thanks to a recent-
ly completed renovation of the Fort
Hood USO center.
Members of the Fort Hood and
surrounding communities received
a first look at the remodeled center
Wednesday during a grand reopen-
ing and ribbon-cutting ceremony
outside the USO Fort Hood.
Isabel Hubbard, center director,
USO Fort Hood, said she hopes
the improved center conveys that
the USO and its representatives are
here to support and lift the spirits
of troops and their Families as the
USO’s core mission.
“All of our decisions are based
on what’s best for troops and their
Families,” she said. “Everything we
do is for the good of the Soldier.”
USO Fort Hood first opened at
Fort Hood in 2001 in a small office
at the Rivers Building, Bldg. 121.
The center expanded and moved to
its current location, Bldg. 1871 on
50th Street, in 2006.
Years of steady traffic from visitors
and an aging building prompted the
need for a renovation.
In 2013, USO Fort Hood saw
more than 70,000 troops and
military Families and more than
400,000 visitors in the last five years,
Hubbard said.
The new home-like environment,
amenities within the center’s 2,200
square feet.
The first floor features a reception
desk, a children’s play area, computer
stations, a seating area with a flat
screen TV and the snack bar.
Upstairs, the center’s movie theater
was completely redone with 21 the-
ater seats and a 70-inch TV, as well
as six gaming areas that doubled the
number available in the center’s for-
mer layout, computers and a sitting
area with another television.
Museum pieces have been relo-
cated throughout the center to con-
nect visitors with the history of Fort
Hood.
added amenities and renovated inte-
rior will help the USO Fort Hood
continue to provide comfort and
support to troops and their Families,
she added.
“We hope to convey that we are
here to support and lift their spirits,”
Hubbard said.
USO President J.D. Crouch III
said the USO Fort Hood is a place of
comfort, a safe place.
“One thing remains the same,” he
said. “This USO is a place for rest, a
place for relaxation.”
Crouch also expressed his grati-
tude.
“We have plenty to be grateful
for here today,” he said, noting that
more than $100,000 was saved on
the renovations because of donations.
Garrison Commander Col. Matt
Elledge noted the programs and ame-
nities offered by the center and how
they support the Fort Hood commu-
nity, but said the USO offers some-
thing more important — a presence.
“Most importantly, you’re there
when we leave, and you’re there
when we come back,” Elledge said.
As part of the 3.5-month res-
toration, the center was com-
pletely remodeled and refurbished
to create a more welcoming environ-
ment.
The project included new paint
and flooring to freshen up the World
War II-era barracks building, as well
as the expansion and relocating of
Visitors to the renovated center,
which opened following the ceremo-
nial ribbon-cutting, approved of the
renovations.
“It’s a lot nicer,” Spc. Kirill Mik-
ern, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, said.
“There is a lot more light, and it’s
very nice.”
Mikern was a frequent visitor to
the USO Fort Hood when he first
arrived on post.
“It’s a good place to hang out,” he
said.
Spc. Terrence Watkins, who also
is assigned to 3rd Cav. Regt., was a
first-time visitor to the USO Fort
Hood center, but said he will return.
“I will come back,” he said. “This
is a nice place to hang out and Fami-
lies can bring their kids.”
The father of a toddler, Watkins
said he really liked the children’s play
area, which is a new addition to the
Fort Hood center.
The core of the USO on Fort
Hood has not changed.
During the renovation, USO Fort
Hood continued to serve the military
community with an auxiliary loca-
tion where troops enjoyed lunch,
gaming, computer access, according
to information from the USO.
The mission of the USO to sup-
port troops and their Families also
remains steadfast.
“Our mission is to support your
mission,” Crouch said. “We’ll always
be there for you.”
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Program expands, Fort Hood Families foster future K9 heroes
Capt. Tinie Chung, veterinarian, and Sgt. Janina Davila, veterinary technician,
from the Fort Hood Veterinary Center give puppy Ggwendolyn a physical exam
before the foster puppy from the latest litter of the Department of Defense’s
Military Working Dog Breeding Program is handed over to her new foster Family.
BY PATRICIA DEAL
CRDAMC Public Affairs
of age, puppies showing potential are
then placed in a foster home, where
they stay for about six months.
“Fostering is an important part of
the military working dog’s life. The
dogs are exposed to a variety of envi-
ronments. The Families take the dogs
everywhere - to stores, to school, to
work. They are socialized with other
people and other animals. They are
exposed to different sounds and situa-
tions,” said Renae Johnson, volunteer
coordinator at Fort Hood. Johnson,
who retired from the MWD Training
Center, helped find families in this
area to foster the puppies.
She is fostering Fflint II, offspring
of one of the past fosters she’s had.
All DoD military working dogs are
given names with double initials.
Normally the foster program has
limited its Families to those living
within a two-hour drive from Lack-
land Air Force Base to ensure the
puppies can be monitored by the
341st and receive their care by DoD
veterinarians there.
The Fort Hood Veterinary Center
can provide the emergency and rou-
tine medical care to the foster puppies
so it made sense to expand the foster
care program to this area.
They arrived at Fort Hood a little
nervous, a bit curious and a lot anx-
ious to start their extended stay at the
Great Place with their new Families.
Seven Belgian Malinois and
Dutch shepherd puppies from the
latest litter of the Department of
Defense’s Military Working Dog
Breeding Program at Lackland Air
Force Base met their foster Families
Friday during orientation at the Fort
Hood Military Working Dog Ken-
nel.
The breeding program, adminis-
tered by the 341st Training Squad-
ron, provides working dogs to every
service branch and is among the larg-
est military breeding programs in
the world. The squadron’s Military
Working Dog Training Program
teaches the dogs how to patrol and
detect drugs and explosives for spe-
cialized missions both stateside and
overseas.
Not every puppy born in the pro-
gram makes it all the way through.
From birth on, the dog is evaluated
for characteristics that would indicate
its potential to be a successful mili-
tary working dog. At about six weeks
to recruit more foster Families. We
have a litter going out right after
New Year’s and then another one in
mid-February. There will certainly
be more opportunities coming up for
Fort Hood Families to foster,” Cann
said.
There are certain requirements to
become a foster family for the DoD
MWD, Cann added. Families should
have a home with a yard. Preferably,
Families should not have children
younger than 4 years old. Families
have to have time and patience to
raise a young puppy from six weeks
of age to seven months, and have the
desire and interest to learn how to
raise a future military working dog.
“It’s not so much about obedi-
ence,” Cann explained to the new
fosters, “as it is about expanding
the puppies’ horizons. It’s all about
exposing them to noises, new places,
people, animals. It’s about letting
them be sociable, not overly aggres-
sive, and eager to play with toys and
balls.”
Then Families must be able to part
with the puppy after of it’s been a
part of your Family for six months.
That’s not always easy to do.
As Ggladys squirmed with excite-
ment in her lap, Jessica Blanchard
thought about having to give her up
at the end of the foster period.
“We’ll just foster another one
then,” she said, laughing. “I’m just
really excited to do this. I love dogs.
And I know how important working
dogs are to the Army.”
Her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Randy
Blanchard, is a kennel master with
the 226th Military Working Dog
Detachment here. They already
have a mutt and a springer spaniel,
a retired military working dog they
recently adopted.
This is the couple’s first time fos-
tering a puppy.
Families interested in becoming
a foster Family for a DoD MWD
Breeding program puppy can
find more information online at
www.37trw.af.mil/units/37traininggr
oup/341 sttrainingsquadron/index, asp.
Photos by Patricia Deal, CRDAMC Public Affairs
Staff Sgt. Oliver Brunhoeber, noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the Fort Hood Veterinary Center, introduces Ggawain
to his Family. The foster puppy is from the latest litter of the Department of Defense’s Military Working Dog Breeding Pro-
gram which was recently delivered to select Fort Hood Families to foster for the next six months.
“We’re excited to add the DoD
working dogs program’s fosters to our
mission. We could end up seeing a
foster puppy again if it graduates and
then gets assigned to Fort Hood. It’s
fulfilling to know that we’ve helped
care for a puppy that comes back
as an important part of our team
of working dogs,” said Capt. Dawn
Hull, branch chief at the Fort Hood
Veterinary Center. The center’s mis-
sion is to provide food defense and
safety for the installation and medical
care for Fort Hood’s military working
dogs and horses. The staff also pro-
vides veterinary services to the pets of
authorized military beneficiaries.
Being able to expand the foster
program outside of the San Antonio
area helps expand the program’s capa-
bilities yet keeps the costs of the pro-
gram manageable, according to Tracy
Cann, breeding program foster con-
sultant for the DoD MWD Center.
“While we have many qualified
foster homes, our puppy production
is going up so it’s always a good idea
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Pruden, Todd. Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 18, 2014, newspaper, December 18, 2014; Fort Hood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1205053/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Casey Memorial Library.