FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Dec. 26, 2019) — The following Fort Leonard Wood announcements are for the week of Dec. 30- Jan. 3.

Jan. 3

Army Community Service will be conducting a four week course on the topic of Stress Management from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Jan. 3, 10, 17 and 24 in ACS Classroom A. Working through each lesson in the course will help you better understand the origins or your stress and provide you with a practical approach for reducing stress in your life, and thus improving your health and emotional well-being. To register for this free course, contact 573.596.4268.

Jan. 4

Join golf professional Steve Belton for winter lessons at 2 p.m. Jan. 4 at Specker Gym. Learn how to play the game of golf. Lessons are for anyone from beginners to advanced. Golf balls will be hit into a golf net. First come, first serve. Open to authorized personnel over age 12. Cost is $20 for active duty military and their families. For more information, contact 573.329.4770.

Jan. 8

The Commander’s Cup Basket Ball League is scheduled to kick-off at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at Davidson Fitness Center. The League is open to military units and DoD employees of those units only. Registration closes at 4 p.m. Jan. 8. For more information, contact 573.596.4359.

Jan. 13

Registration for Youth Sports & Fitness Soccer, Volleyball, and Track will be open from January 13 – 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.

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.

Ongoing

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 will soon open 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, and permits will be in effect starting Jan. 1. 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.