FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Jan. 16, 2020) — The following Fort Leonard Wood announcements are for the week of Jan. 20- Jan. 24.

Jan. 23

Martin Luther King Day Observance and Luncheon is slated for 11:30 a.m. Jan. 23 at the Pershing Community Center. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased from brigade equal opportunity advisers. For details, call the installation Equal Opportunity Office at 573.596.0601.

Jan. 24

The Fort Leonard Wood Office of the Staff Judge Advocate offers free tax preparation services beginning Jan. 24 for active duty, family members and retirees. All volunteers are qualified at the advanced level on the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. The tax center will be located on the first floor of Bldg. 315. Hours of operation will be 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (with an 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. lunch break) Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. the first and third Saturdays of each month. Appointments are encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome. For more information, call 573.563.5853.

An American Red Cross blood drive is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in room 105 of the Family Practice/Internal Medicine Wing of General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital. To schedule an appointment, call 800.733.2767.

Jan. 25

Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation will hold an Indoor Cornhole Tournament starting at 11 a.m. Jan. 25 at Pershing Community Center. While it’s not the first cornhole event to be played on Fort Leonard Wood, it will be the first indoor event of its type offering cash prizes to the winning teams. Two-person teams can register for $40 in advance now through Jan. 23, or sign up for $50 at the door. Prizes awarded will be based on participation in the single-elimination tournament. Advance registration can be completed in person at Pershing Community Center or online at https://leonardwood.armymwr.com.

Mar. 4

The Ozark Chapter of the Chemical Corps Regimental Association will hold a free chili-cooking competition Mar. 4 on Fort Leonard Wood. The Ozark CCRA Chili Cook-Off is scheduled from 11:30 to 13:30 at Shea Gym, located on West 6th Street, just west of the 3rd Chemical Brigade headquarters. There is no cost to enter the contest, which will present awards for Best Flavor, Spiciest and Most Unique. Participating individuals or teams must prepare a two-quart minimum of chili in a slow cooker. Ingredients must be printed and submitted on a standard 8 1/2-by-11-inch sheet of paper. The registration deadline is Feb. 28. To register, or for more information about the cook-off, contact an Ozark CCRA officer or email president@ozarkccra.org.

Feb. 27

The Fort Leonard Wood Soldier For Life – Transition Assistance Program is hosting a career fair 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 27 at Nutter Field House. The event helps to prepare service members and their spouses transitioning out of the military by connecting them with a vetted network of employers from a variety of vocations seeking to hire veterans. For more information, call 573.596.0175.

Ongoing

Fort Leonard Wood’s Directorate of Public Works is currently hiring temporary laborers and tractor operators for the 2020 mowing season (March 2 through Nov. 15). Anyone interested can apply online at www.usajobs.gov (search for “laborer or “tractor operator” in the 65473 area code).

The General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital is seeking participants to provide information for a community health assessment. The health needs of Fort Leonard Wood are reviewed and analyzed every three years, which better enables the identification of specific resources needed. For more information, visit the Community Health Assessment page on the GLWACH website.

Registration for Youth Sports & Fitness Soccer, Volleyball, and Track is open through February 21. Practices begin March 14. Games will begin around April 4. Track meets begin around April 18. Sports physicals and health assessments are required. Cost for Soccer is $25 for ages 3-4 and $45 for ages 5-15. Cost for Volleyball is $45 for ages 7-15. Cost for Track is $45 for ages 5-15. Register at Parent Central Services located in Building 470, Room 1126 from January 13 – February 21. For more information, contact 573.596.2611.

Fort Leonard Wood’s installation security began switching to a new entry control system Dec. 20. The new system — called Automated Installation Entry — is designed to electronically validate identification based upon information supplied at the time of AIE registration. Access controllers have started the process of building the AIE database through a mass registration of the Department of Defense credentials of every individual arriving at the post’s south gate before moving on to the rest of the gates. Expect some delays, as the initial verification process for each individual into the new system will take some seconds longer than it currently does. Retirees with identification cards containing Social Security Numbers will need to get new identification cards with a DoD number before the post’s full transition deadline, Aug. 15. Contractors, vendors and individuals with visitor passes will also need to get new identification cards that align with AIE. Anyone with additional questions on the switch to AIE should contact the Visitor Center at 573.596.0356.

Applications for engineers wanting to compete in the 14th Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers Best Sapper Competition are being accepted now through Feb. 21. The date of the three-day competition, which takes place at Fort Leonard Wood, home of the U.S. Army Engineer Regiment, is March 30 through April 1. Competitors will report on March 28. Priority will be given to teams composed of two Sapper Leader Course graduates. The rank and Military Occupational Specialty of the applicants is irrelevant. Up to 50 teams will start the competition, where they will travel at least 50 miles while completing a variety of events that test their technical and tactical proficiency as Sapper leaders. For more information, visit the BSC website. The public will be able to follow the competition on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BestSapper, or by using #Best Sapper on social media.

The Scholarships for Military Children Program for the 2020/2021 school year has begun, marking its 20th year of awarding grants to military families and celebrating the commissaries’ role in enhancing their quality of life. There will be at least one recipient selected at every commissary location where qualified applications are received. More applicants will be selected from those commissaries with larger numbers of applicants. For scholarship year 2020-21, Fisher House Foundation will award 500 scholarship grants of $2,000 each. The selection process begins immediately following the Feb. 24 deadline for entries. This year marks the second in which applications are being accepted entirely online. The application, including an essay question, is available for download from the Scholarships for Military Children website. Recipient must be enrolled or planning to enroll full-time in a four-year undergraduate college or university, accredited in the U. S or a two-year community college. They must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 basis. Visit the Scholarships for Military Children website for all the program’s requirements.

A new, non-exclusive agreement has opened Fort Leonard Wood’s taxi service to competition from anyone possessing a valid chauffeur driver’s license from the state of Missouri. Applications for the new permit are being accepted. Taxi companies can pay for their permit at the MWR warehouse (2347 Louisiana Ave.). Applicants will be charged an annual fee of $25 per vehicle for the permit. Payments can be made by check, payable to IMWRF, or credit card at the time of acceptance of their application. Just as before, the new permit is solely for the vehicle. All drivers must be vetted through regular post entrance security procedures, with FMWR as the sponsor. For more information on the new permits, call 573.596.0118.

As part of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s (CID) continued effort to recruit the best of the best to become special agents, CID is currently seeking Military Police Investigators (MPI) from Career Management Field (CMF) 31 to become CID Special Agent Warrant Officers. The application timeframe begins in December and runs through May 2021.   Approved applications will be considered by warrant officer accession boards convening in FY 20 and FY 21.  Qualified MPI applicants are encouraged to coordinate with the USACIDC Recruiting Operations Cell (ROC) at 571.305.4348 to speak with the USACIDC recruiting team regarding questions about the process and to start the application process.