The Real McCoy, produced by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office, 100 E. Headquarters Road, Fort McCoy, Wis., is an authorized publication for members of the Department of the Army. All editorial content is prepared, edited, provided and approved by the Public Affairs Office. All photos are U.S. Army photos unless otherwise credited. Contents of The Real McCoy are not necessarily the views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, Department of Defense, Department of the Army, or Fort McCoy. For reasons of security, the online version of The Real McCoy may not contain all articles appearing in the print version. Contact Fort McCoy Public Affairs by calling 608-388-2769 or at DSN 280-2769 or by sending email to usarmy.mccoy.id-readiness.list.pao-admin@mail.mil
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News Notes -- July 23, 2021
CLICK2GO online ordering launches at post commissary
CLICK2GO online ordering/curbside delivery service will launch July 26 at the Fort McCoy Commissary.
It’s not an overstatement to say that the new and improved Commissary CLICK2GO is very much new and improved.
Now featuring online payment and more product information than ever before, the online ordering/curbside delivery service is being expanded to all stateside commissaries by the end of the year and to overseas stores soon thereafter.
“We’ve learned a lot about what our customers want during our initial 11-store rollout the past two years, and thanks to recent innovations to our e-commerce platform, we’ve made tremendous service and user-interface improvements that customers expect in today’s retail environment,” said Bill Moore, director and CEO of the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA). “We’re going to deliver this great service to all commissaries as quickly as possible.”
Because of grocery shopping trends, DeCA has been galvanized to bring online ordering, payment and pickup options to all commissary-eligible patrons.
The Food Marketing Institute recently reported that online grocery shopping has escalated to previously unpredictable rates since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. FMI had estimated that 20 percent of all U.S. grocery shopping would be done online by 2025. However, the rates of e-grocery sales expected to occur over a 10-year timeframe actually occurred in just six months.
Here’s a brief rundown of Commissary CLICK2GO’s new features:
• improved navigation and search functions to help customers plan healthy meals and take care of their family’s needs.
• enhanced product information.
• robust recipe features.
• featured sales and promotions.
• upgraded mobile-friendly experience, to include seeing order history for ease in reordering desired products.
• online payment.
“Perhaps the most significant enhancement is online payment,” Moore said. “You place your order and pay online, and then it’s simply a matter of driving up to the curbside delivery area of your commissary to have your groceries loaded into your vehicle – that’s a streamlined process our customers expect in this information age.”
Information on how the service works and the rollout status is found on commissaries.com with dedicated sections such as “How CLICK2GO Works.” First-time customers will need to create an account.
Moore said the agencywide expansion of online ordering/curbside delivery service aligns with DeCA’s strategic goals to make the commissary benefit accessible to as much of the patron base as possible.
“Our CLICK2GO rollout has been long desired by our patrons, and we fully grasp that they expect us to deliver this convenient method of grocery shopping as soon as possible — they want to know when they will see it at their commissary,” Moore said. “I can assure you that we’re working as hard as we can to make this happen as quickly as possible.
“We’ll have the schedule on our website to keep people updated as best we can,” he added. “Our promise is to get it to all U.S. stores this calendar year — maybe sooner — and we are committed to getting it to our overseas stores soon thereafter, as we work through international challenges like COVID restrictions.
“Commissary CLICK2GO builds on the vital benefit we deliver exclusively for our military community and their families – we deliver the savings but we have to improve on convenience and CLICK2GO does just that,” Moore said.
“With it, patrons near and far can plan, order and pay for their purchases on-line and simply swing by the store to get them,” he said. “It makes the commissary worth the trip and I envision it will enable us to eventually offer delivery — where our patrons can enjoy their hard-earned benefit from the comfort of their homes or barracks.”
Dog Daze of Summer 10k planned for July 28
The Dog Daze of Summer 10k is scheduled for 7 a.m. July 28 at Rumpel Fitness Center.
The race will also serve as a qualifier for the Fort McCoy Army Ten-Miler team. The Army Ten-Miler is Oct. 10 in Washington, D.C. The Army Ten-Miler will also continue conducting virtual races this year due to ongoing restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event is open to eligible Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation patrons. (Trying out for the Army Ten-Miler team is not required to participate in the 10k.)
For more information about the race, call 608-388-2290. For more information about the Army Ten-Miler team, email tony.r.steinhoff.civ@mail.mil.
Trip to Circus World scheduled for July 31
Army Community Service (ACS) is organizing a family trip to Circus World on July 31.
The bus will leave building 2111 at 7:30 a.m. and return at 3:30 p.m. Participants are responsible for buying their own tickets. A military discount is available at Circus World, but ID is required.
Picnic lunches are allowed, or visitors can purcase lunch on the grounds. Information on ticket prices and attractions is available at www.circusworldbaraboo.org.
Registration for the bus trip is required by July 27. Call ACS at 608-388-7262 or email carmen.m.ortiz4.civ@mail.mil.
Resiliency workshops available in 2021
Army Community Service (ACS) has resiliency workshops scheduled throughout 2021.
Topics include: • Aug. 4: Mental Games. • Sept. 1: Real-Time Resilience. • Oct. 6: Character Strengths. • Nov. 3: Assertive Communication. • Dec. 1: Effective Praise & Constructive Responding
All workshops will be 9 to 11 a.m. on Microsoft Teams. Registration is required one week prior to the event. ACS events are open to Fort McCoy military members, family members, civilian employees, and registered volunteers.
For more information or to register, call 608-388-6507.
Home-alone class set for Aug. 10-11
Child and Youth Services is hosting a home-alone class Aug. 10-11.
The class is designed to teach youth to be responsible, trustworthy, competent, capable, and safe while staying home alone. Topics include: how to stay safe while home alone, how to handle emergency situations, activities to keep children from being bored, how to be safe in the kitchen, and how to deal with conflict.
Classes are 8:30-11:30 a.m. Aug. 10 and 9:30-11:30 a.m. Aug. 11, and youth must attend both sessions. The class is open to youth registered with CYS ages 10 and 11.
Space is limited. Registration is required by Aug. 3 For more information, call 608-388-8956.
Veterans can now request corrections to military records
The Department of Defense (DOD) wants to make sure its veterans know they can apply to correct inaccuracies or injustices in their military records, including requesting an upgrade in discharge, officials for the DOD’s legal policy office said.
“Veterans who believe they have suffered an inequity or injustice warranting a correction to their service record or who believe their discharge was unjust, erroneous, or warrants an upgrade are encouraged to apply,” said Christa Specht, director of the Office of Legal Policy.
For example, veterans who received less than honorable discharges can file an application to request their military records be changed as long as they provide justifiable supplemental information for approval by their military department’s Board for Correction of Military/Naval Records or Discharge Review Board.
Furthermore, applications to a military department review board that allege a veteran suffered from a mental health condition, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault, or sexual harassment while on duty will be reviewed using a “liberal consideration” standard, according to a May 26 memorandum from the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
Also, on Feb. 19, the department directed the secretaries of the military departments to identify and examine the records of any service member who was involuntarily separated, discharged, or denied re-enlistment or continuation of service in accordance with the prior administration’s policies relating to gender identity. The military departments issued supplemental guidance to their respective Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records for review of service members’ records so that, where appropriate, individuals who meet current accession standards and are otherwise eligible are offered an opportunity to rejoin the military.
The boards can also grant relief based on clemency, Specht said, noting that those who got out of the military with a less than honorable discharge might still have positive accomplishments or evidence of good conduct to provide a review board in support of an upgrade. This may include indications of rehabilitation such as a long job history, absence of additional misconduct, character references, or proof of extensive volunteer work.
One incentive for veterans to request an upgrade to their discharge is so they can qualify for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, such as the GI Bill and VA mortgages, said Margarete Ashmore, deputy director of the DOD’s legal policy office.
Veterans who want to ask for discharge upgrades, reconsiderations of previously denied upgrades, or corrections to other military records should fill out the appropriate form and return it to their service’s review board at the address listed on the form. Links to the forms can be found at the end of this article.
For discharges less than 15 years ago, veterans should complete DD Form 293. For discharges more than 15 years ago or in cases already considered for upgrade and denied by a military department Discharge Review Board, veterans should complete DD Form 149.
For corrections of records other than discharges, veterans should complete the DD Form 149.
If a veteran is unsure how or where to apply for a discharge upgrade or correction, the VA, in partnership with the DOD, provides resources that can be used to help with applications and provide personal instructions in response to a few questions on the public website.
Veterans should include the following information:
• Explain why the discharge or other record was unjust or erroneous: How is it connected to or resulting from unjust policies, a physical or mental health condition related to military service, or some other explainable or justifiable circumstance?
• Provide support, where applicable, for key facts. If a veteran has a relevant medical diagnosis, for example, it would be helpful to include medical records that reflect that diagnosis.
• Submit copies of applicable service records.
Specht emphasized that the more information a veteran provides, the easier it is for the review boards to understand the circumstances of the correction being sought.
Personnel records for veterans who served after 1997 should be accessible online and are usually retrievable within hours of a request through the Defense Personnel Records Information Retrieval System (DPRIS). To obtain a personnel record from DPRIS, visit the website, select “Individual Veteran Access” on the left side, and follow the displayed instructions. Veterans must register for access and verify their mailing addresses before requesting records.
Those who served before 1997 or for whom electronic records are not available from DPRIS can request their records from the National Archives’ National Personnel Records Center using the eVetRecs website, https://vetrecs.archives.gov/VeteranRequest/home.html.
Publication date for The Real McCoy
The next issue of The Real McCoy will be published Aug. 13. The deadline for article and photo submissions is Aug. 4.
For more information about photo and article submissions or to submit article suggestions, call 608-388-2769.