Editors Note: I wrote this story for the Oct. 24 edition of the Fort Meade Soundoff!

Community is defined as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

Inside the fence line of Fort Meade, our community is fairly obvious. It’s the service members, the families, the veterans and the civilian workers who keep the machine running.

What may be less obvious is that our community at Fort Meade expands beyond that fence line. Our community is Odenton, Columbia, Laurel, Severna Park, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. I could go on. Of the more than 56,000 people who work here, only a small portion — about 11,000 people — live on post.

Our long and mutually supportive relationship with the off-post community directly gets after two of our garrison commander’s priorities: readiness and quality of life.

One key issue with readiness is making sure our workforce can safely and easily get to their jobs on post.

Yes, I’m talking about traffic.

Our relationships and work with our friends in the off-post community led to the major road projects around the fort. One example is the $10 million Tiger Grant, which was secured to widen Route 175 from Disney Road to Reece Road.

It takes a lot of work to get projects like that to be chosen by the state and then completed. We alone didn’t convince the state to pick that road out of what are surely dozens of other equally important projects. We had help, lots of help.

Once that work is done and we are cruising with ease down 175, remember our friends off post had a key role in making it happen.

The region is pretty great. If you are a professional sports fan, you can drive and see one — soon to be two — championship sports teams. Because of the great transportation system serving our area, you can hop on the train and be in Philadelphia or New York City in a matter of a few hours.

There are amazing restaurants every which way you go off post. Concerts, art, shopping, hiking, boating — you name it, you can find it within a short distance.

Having a great quality of life is essential to a strong, ready and resilient force.

Our off-post community friends impact quality of life on post, too. They support events such as the Red, White and Blue Celebration, and the Army-Navy Flag Football game (Nov. 5 this year). They hand out snacks and water after the 9/11 Readiness and Resiliency Installation Run.

When we think of the Fort Meade community, we need to, figuratively at least, take down the fence line. Fort Meade is Odenton, Columbia, Severna Park, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. It’s also our schools, places of worship and recreation. They are all Fort Meade. We impact each other, support each other and improve each other.

Once during every garrison commander’s tour here, we have the Fort Meade Community Covenant Signing. This event brings together the community outside the fence line that supports Fort Meade.

From generals and commanders to the governor, senators, congressional representatives and state delegates to chambers of commerce, universities and community organizations — their signatures will be on a document that reinforces the commitment to building relationships, identifying and combining resources, and addressing critical needs of the installation. For Meade ,is the largest employer in the state of Maryland, with an economic impact of more than $21 billion.

While signing this document is ceremonial, it represents the Fort Meade Community Covenant Council. Each person signing the document represents a seat at the table with Fort Meade, which meets once a month. At the bottom of each agenda is the question: How are we advancing the goals of Fort Meade?

That’s a pretty powerful question.

Join us Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. at the new Mapes Road/175 gate for the Fort Meade Community Covenant Signing. In inclement weather, the event will be held in the McGill Training Center ballroom.

Come out and meet some of the outstanding community members who are truly part of Team Meade!

I hear there will be cake.Facebook Comments