In this still from social media, Col. James Yastrzemsky, center, U.S. Army Garrison Benelux commander, talks community updates during "Coffee with the Commander," a USAG Benelux online town hall event. He was joined by garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Yurgans, left, and Maj. Holly Archer, right, deputy chief of nursing at SHAPE Healthcare Facility.
Notes from Coffee with the Commander, Dec. 17, 2021
CHIÈVRES, Belgium – Col. James Yastrzemsky, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Benelux, hosted Coffee with the Commander, a garrison town hall event, alongside USAG Benelux Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Yurgans at the garrison headquarters at Chièvres Air Base.
In addition to Yurgans, Yastrzemsky was joined by Maj. Holly Archer, deputy commander for nursing at the SHAPE Healthcare Facility; Frenz Slayton, manager for housing; and Stacy Perez, director of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation.
In addition to the guests, Staff Sgt. Miguel Davis, pianist for the SHAPE International Band, joined the group and played winter holiday classics on a keyboard during the event.
Joining by telephone were Kent Worford, superintendent for the Department of Defense Education Activity – Europe (DoDEA-E) West District, and Clint Strutt, chief of Army Community Services.
Other garrison leaders and representatives were on the telephone and paying attention online to answer any questions community members might pose during the event.
Below are the notes from the meeting:
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Yastrzemsky opened the event by expressing his thanks for the several wins the garrison achieved since the previous town hall.
He began with the holiday events taking place across the garrison for Thanksgiving and for the holiday events that occurred in December. Not only did he thank the event organizers and workers, he thanked all the support that went into the events, such as employees of the Directorate of Public Works who provided infrastructure support and for the Directorate of Emergency Services, who provided security and safety during the events.
Yastrzemsky also expressed his thanks for the opportunity to serve in a location like Belgium, where the memory of the sacrifices and strengths made collectively during World War I and World War II are still felt keenly. The command team witnessed this goodwill while attending the 77th anniversary events commemorating the Siege of Bastogne the previous weekend.
He then gave plaudits to Dwayne Key, the Army Prepositioned Stock (APS-2) Site program manager and site manager of APS-2 Dülmen, who recently earned the 2020 Installation Management Command (IMCOM) Stalwart Award. As an operations branch chief for the garrison, Key contributed to the garrison’s COVID-19 response. In his current position as APS-2 program manager, he improved on relations with the local host nation government at Dülmen, Germany. Read more about the recent Stalwart Award winners in Europe here (https://home.army.mil/benelux/index.php/my-fort/news/imcom-honors-europe-professionals-stalwart-awards).
The COVID-19 situation has also remarkably improved, Yastrzemsky pointed out during the opening remarks, and he encouraged the military community to get out to enjoy the rich history and culture in the host nation.
Another large victory for the garrison was the Chièvres Air Fest, the first community event of its size the garrison had hosted in more than a quarter century. There were a reported 16,000 people who visited the event.
As another victory, IMCOM-E selected USAG Benelux as the best garrison. Yastrzemsky credited both garrison teammates and the partners, such as the SHAPE Healthcare Facility, for their hard work making USAG Benelux the place it is.
He also bid farewell to the former deputy to the garrison commander, Thomas Joyce, as well as deputy garrison manager – Brunssum, Mike Daniels. He also thanked the previous command sergeant major of the garrison, Command Sgt. Maj. Katrina M. Herzfeld.
With that, Yastrzemsky welcomed in person Yurgans, who joined the commander on screen.
Yurgans joins the command team, having recently arrived from Fort Bliss, Texas. You can learn more about Yurgans at his command bio here (https://home.army.mil/benelux/index.php/about/leadership/garrison-command-sergeant-major) or at the change of responsibility story here (https://home.army.mil/benelux/index.php/my-fort/news/csm-herzfeld-relinquishes-csm-yurgans-assumes-responsibility-usag-benelux).
He was especially impressed by the events at Bastogne, Belgium, and looks forward to his time at the garrison and in the area.
“I am so grateful – my Family and I – to be part of this outstanding team here at this garrison, and we’re looking forward to what’s to come,” he said.
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Maj. Holly Archer, representing the SHAPE Healthcare Facility, talked with the commander about COVID-19, the low rate of infection on post and the recent uptick in cases within Belgium, the Netherlands and northern Germany, and vaccination efforts both for COVID-19 and seasonal influenza.
Although there had been an increase of new cases within the host nation, the numbers indicate that the rate of new infections is decreasing. The rate of hospitalization has been decreasing as well.
Archer directly attributed the lowered severity compared to the previous time last year to the rate of vaccination.
Yastrzemsky mentioned that the measures the host nations have implemented are available at the garrison’s website. They can be found here: https://home.army.mil/benelux/index.php/my-fort/coronavirus-information.
Archer spoke about the omicron variant of COVID-19, which spreads more easily and is set to become the dominant variant, outpacing the delta variant. The vaccines have also lessened the severity of the cases.
“The most at-risk person is the unvaccinated person,” said Archer. “Our fully vaccinated individuals … they have strong antibodies that protect against the delta variant, which remains the prominent variant here in the Benelux and in most of Europe. But we are also seeing they have a good antibody response to the new variant that’s out.”
Further vaccination drives are as follows within the area of responsibility:
At SHAPE Healthcare Facility:
Pediatric Pfizer vaccines for children 5 to 11: Jan. 7 at SHAPE Cinema
Moderna booster for 18 years and older: Jan. 13, 21 and 28 at SHAPE Cinema
All other COVID-19 vaccines are offered by appointment at SHAPE Healthcare Facility’s immunizations clinic.
At Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base Medical Clinic:
Pediatric Pfizer vaccines for children 5 to 11: Dec. 22 and Jan. 12, 19 and 26 at the clinic.
Pfizer booster for ages 16 and older, Pfizer vaccines (doses 1 and 2) for ages 12 and older and Moderna doses 1 and 2 and booster for 18 and older: Dec. 22 and Jan. 5, 12 and 19 at the Chapel Annex.
At Brussels Army Health Clinic:
Call for appointment at +32 2 686 1515 or DSN 566-1515.
For the SHAPE Healthcare Facility and the Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base Medical Clinic, visit the appointment portal at https://informatics-stage.health.mil/COVAX.
Archer also encouraged everyone listening or watching to get their flu shots. The SHAPE Healthcare Facility offers walk-in flu shots.
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Kent Worford, superintendent for DoDEA-E West District, joined the group by telephone.
DoDEA-E West District recently earned the 2021 “Cognia System System of Distinction Award,” which recognizes the district’s pursuit of continuous improvement demonstrated during the 2020-2021 accreditation engagement review. Worford gave credit to the faculty, staffs, students and parents who helped make this success possible.
Worford further thanked students and parents for following COVID-19 guidance, keeping students home if temperatures were elevated.
“It is a total group effort to ensure our schools are remaining open,” said Worford.
Worford also talked about the fall sports season. Whether a sport may continue or not, the district looks at each sport activity on a case-by-case basis, examining host nation requirements. That will hold through coming semester with sports and other events, such as promenade.
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Frenz Slayton, manager for housing, delivered the quarterly housing update as part of the town hall.
Slayton recommended Families check their faucets at the back of the house. If they are leaking, she recommended calling the work order desk to fix them and reduce water waste.
An annual survey is scheduled to begin in January. Anyone in Family housing will receive the survey by email, and she urged tenants to fill it out so they can make improvements.
In the barracks, workers are putting cables in place for closed circuit televisions, which should improve safety of the barracks and aid the housing staff to monitor and ensure a clean barracks.
There is a shed at the back of the barracks for helping service members clean the interior and exterior of the barracks.
Slayton finished her segment of Coffee with the Commander by going over the housing holiday hours (find out more here: https://home.army.mil/benelux/index.php/my-fort/news/during-end-december-early-january-service-hours-set-change). But even outside normal work order desk hours, community members can make emergency work orders by calling the military police desks at their respective locations.
Yastrzemsky also talked about planning under way for new Family housing at Chièvres Air Base. For more on the future of Chièvres Air Base, visit https://home.army.mil/benelux/index.php/my-fort/news/us-army-garrison-benelux-plans-constructs-chievres-air-base-future.
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Clint Strutt talked over some of the Army Community Service programs as part of “Coffee.”
He began by talking about the difficulties associated with COVID-19 (or many other stressors) and that ACS is there to offer support, whether that be in the form of the volunteer shopper program (for those quarantined) or more.
Besides ACS, there are many other agencies native to the garrison that are available for help, such as behavioral health counselors and the religious support office.
“We want you to know that those helping agencies are there for you,” said Strutt. “If there is something that you need that there is not a program that exists for it right now, and we need to create something and find a way to support you, let us know.”
He also encouraged community members to reach out to their new arrivals.
He also expressed gratitude for the volunteers who are doing work on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, ACS is still putting together programs, such as the culture tours that bring community members out to local cities to learn about the host nation.
For more on ACS programs, visit https://www.facebook.com/ACSBenelux.
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To talk about programs within the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, Stacy Perez, the director, joined the commander and command sergeant major.
Perez brought a television with her to announce a contest to win it on their Facebook pages (https://www.facebook.com/ChievresMWR, https://www.facebook.com/BrusselsFMWR, https://www.facebook.com/BrusselsFMWR). Community members can post photographs of their holiday trees on the site, and those with the most reactions will win the television. See the Facebook pages above for more details.
She also encouraged community members to join the DFMWR team by seeking job vacancies online. This can be done by searching for non-appropriated funds positions at www.usajobs.gov in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Children who go to Child, Youth and School at SHAPE have a new playground. And DFMWR has broken ground for a new playground at its CYS location at Sterrebeek Annex in the Brussels community.
Improvements are set to occur at the Brussels library early in January.
Trips are scheduled to take place from Brunssum in the Netherlands, including to Bruges, Belgium Jan. 15, to Luxembourg Feb. 19 and to Paris March 20. Recent outdoor recreation trips from Brunssum have been booked up.
At the HUB Feb. 19 at Brunssum, the Buccaneers cheerleaders.
The Bene Brew has holiday coffee specials, and merchandise is available.
There are many classes still taking place at the fitness centers on post, including TRX, functional fitness and Mama Fit, where mothers can bring their small children and snacks along with them.
For these and many, many more programs DFMWR offers garrison community members, visit one of their three sites:
- Chièvres / SHAPE community: https://chievres.armymwr.com/
- Brussels / Sterrebeek community: https://brussels.armymwr.com/
- Tri-border community: https://brunssum.armymwr.com/
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As a final note, Yastrzemsky encouraged everyone to get out and get to know their host nation communities.
He donned a hat that said “Nuts!” because of his recent trip to Bastogne (read why here: www.army.mil/98256).
And finally, Davis played “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” as Santa Claus joined the group.
Davis finished out Coffee with the Commander by playing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.