Dawn Arden

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (April 24, 2020) — During a site visit to Fort Leonard Wood Thursday, Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Guden, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, received a first-hand look at how the installation is implementing social distance enabled training.

Guden said the Army is taking several steps to figure out the best way to mitigate the spread of illness while making sure the Army continues with readiness. He said he saw a lot of good techniques and procedures being incorporated by the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence at Fort Leonard Wood.

“Everything that I saw today was very methodical,” he said. “The way their line of procedure goes; concerns for where Soldiers are stopping at; where they’re getting offloaded to and how they’re proceeding through lines, dining facilities and into barracks.”

He said MSCoE has a “very strong and methodical” way of operating in the current environment while implementing appropriate preventative measures.

“They’ve incorporated all the practices that are necessary to protect the force.” He said. “They’re doing a really good job of figuring things out and making things happen.”

Command Sgt. Maj. James Breckinridge, MSCoE and Fort Leonard Wood, said it was great to be able to show Guden what the team of teams has accomplished and how the installation has quickly adapted to social distance enabled training.

“I am very proud of all the drill sergeants and cadre members for their ingenuity in getting after SDET,” Breckinridge said. “They are still maintaining the standard and quality of training, just doing it more spaced out.”

Guden said Fort Leonard Wood plays an essential role in keeping Soldiers safe while at the same time making sure the fighting force continues to train and move forward.

“They need to continue to move into the Army, fill positions and help the forces so what these guys do here is essential,” he said. “We can’t just put the Army into quarantine for 60 days, 90 days, whatever, we’ve got to keep moving.”

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About Fort Leonard Wood

Fort Leonard Wood is a thriving and prosperous installation that has evolved from a small basic training post more than 75 years ago to a premier Army Center of Excellence that trains more than 80,000 military and civilians each year.

Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and three U.S. Army schools: the U.S. Army Engineer School; U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School; and the U.S. Army Military Police School. In addition to training engineer, CBRN and military police specialties for the Army, Fort Leonard Wood also provides gender-integrated in-processing and Basic Combat Training for new Soldiers.

Fort Leonard Wood also hosts and trains with the largest Marine Corps Detachment and Air Force Squadron on any Army installation as well as a large Navy construction detachment.

More information about Fort Leonard Wood is at: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/about/mission