DVIDS – News – Army Installation Services Director visits Fort Carson

FORT CARSON, Colo. – Michael Reheuser, director of installation services for the Department of the Army, visited Fort Carson Sept. 14-15, 2022 at the Turkey Creek Fire Station and Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Reheuser is responsible for housing, environmental issues and logistics policies, programs and resources for military facilities worldwide.

“When you work at the Pentagon, you first get an overview of what’s going on in the installation,” Reheuser said. “You can see for yourself how big the problems are and which problems need to be addressed.”

Reheuser’s portfolio includes monitoring the army’s fire departments.

“By visiting facilities and seeing the fire stations and talking to the firefighters, I can better understand their training needs and the issues that are important to them. So if I advocate for these resources with senior Army leaders, I can do better than that,” Reheuser said.

Mitchum Van Dyke, Assistant Fire Chief for the Fort Carson Fire Department, met with Reheuser in Turkey Creek to give him a tour of the Turkey Creek Fire Department.

The Turkey Creek Fire Department is one of the first responders for Highway 115. Because the fire station is located between Fort Carson and Cañon City, they are the first to respond to an emergency call in the area.

Upon returning to the Butts Army Heliport in Fort Carson, Reheuser was about to tour the new Fire Station location at Gate 6.

“I didn’t realize how many new buildings were created that improved the soldiers’ quality of life. Especially new facilities and barracks,” said Reheuser.

Reheuser retired as a naval officer and was a former trial attorney. He has the experience and skills to conceptualize and describe service member concerns from a global Army perspective.

“I broadly understand the issues we are dealing with in the installation portfolio,” said Reheuser. “Working as a lawyer helps me to tackle complex issues and explain them to senior executives who have numerous responsibilities and significant time constraints.”

He also received a brief introduction to the Emergency Communications Center.

Recently, the ECC conducted an extensive exercise simulation to test response time when there is an emergency situation that would affect the mission at Fort Carson. The ECC has successfully completed the simulation.

Reheuser concluded his tour of Fort Carson with a trip to Rocky Mountain Arsenal on September 15, 2022. In addition to being a conservation area, RMA has a mission to restore the environment to pre-Army conditions. RMA includes five groundwater treatment plants, two hazardous waste landfills, and two ground cover systems that protect the environment from contaminated soils. The Army continuously assesses that harmful by-products generated by previous Army operations at RMA do not affect public health and the environment.

“It was important for him (Reheuser) to see one of the Army’s largest environmental cleanup projects firsthand,” said Charles Scharmann, program manager at Rocky Mountain Arsenal. “The Army’s role was to clean up the site so 15,000 acres could be turned over to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and incorporated into the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Army now maintains approximately 1,200 acres of land (landfills, cover systems, and groundwater treatment facilities) that could not be transferred to the USFWS.”

Whether it’s the Turkey Creek Fire Department or the RMA, community partnerships contribute to the quality of life of soldiers and their families.

“I was really impressed with the teammates in the installation and in the local areas,” said Reheuser. “From meeting the people and seeing what they do, I have learned once again to appreciate the skills and values ​​they bring to Fort Carson and the larger Army enterprise.”