JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Maximizing convenience and efficiency are the main goals of the U.S. Air Force’s “Community Commons” initiative. More importantly, it’s meant to foster camaraderie to build and sustain ready and resilient Airmen and their families.
“The idea is to make it a one-stop shop kind of thing for our customers, to go to and get to our activities,” said Capt. Chris Dillard, Air Force Services Activity chief of new product and program development. “We can be a central hub for socializing and recreating under one roof.”
The Services Transformation Project, or STP, was briefed to Air Force senior leaders at the 2012 CORONA South and Top Conferences. The U.S. Air Force proposed development of an enterprise-wide strategy to change how resiliency programs and services are delivered at the installation level. For the project, the Air Force was issued $12.2 million of appropriated funds and $8 million of nonappropriated funds to test the initiative at installations.
Those installations are Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; Cannon AFB, New Mexico; F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming; Luke AFB, Arizona; Moody AFB, Georgia; Tinker AFB, Oklahoma; and Spangdahlem AB, Germany. At each installation, the task was to find buildings in a central location best suited for the conversion.
The building contains multiple force support squadron services such as, but not limited to, information, tickets and travel, or ITT; food and beverage; outdoor recreation; library; and arts and crafts.
“It’s a win-win situation for the base, because they cut down on the amount of infrastructure, and it’s a win-win for the customer because they have a central location to go to for multiple activities and services,” said Bill Brady, facility and program specialist for AFSVA. “I think we constantly have to go back to our Airmen and find things we can improve. We want to give (Airmen and families) programs and services they can use.”
A goal realized
Col. Dean Hartman was the mission support group commander at Joint Base Andrews during the Community Commons transformation. He recalls what life was like for Airmen at the base before the commons, which includes a restaurant, library, game room, ITT, a multipurpose room and a back deck.
“I didn’t hear so much about the tyranny of distance or things being disparate,” said Hartman, now the planning and integration director for the Air Force Civil Engineer Center. “What you heard about was the (lack of) quality of the facilities and the inventory you were able to keep based on the facility size and conditions. There’s a better way (to take care of our Airmen), and Community Commons is a realization of a better way.”
A key development, Hartman said, was the improvement of library services.
“We had a very antiquated library in a very decrepit building,” Hartman said. “This provided the opportunity to look at ‘What do we need for our library services?’ Not just the books and hardware, per se, but what do you want for a modern library, whether it be a computer room, a study area or a children’s reading room. All of those things manifested into a more modern library, and you saw patronage jump about 100 percent as soon as it opened.”
What the project also did, Hartman said, was introduce Airmen to one-stop shopping.
“If people don’t have it, they’re not complaining too much about it,” Hartman said. “Once they have it, they’re like ‘Wow. I can go to ITT. I can check out stuff. I can get tickets. I can get some food.’
“You start to realize you don’t know what you’re missing until it’s there in your face. Plus, it’s just a gathering area where you see Airmen having face-to-face contact and having dialogue. That started happening.”
‘A home away from home’
The Drop Zone building at Cannon AFB houses its community center and the Tailgate Sports Lounge. The center features a reception area; a music room; a multipurpose room; a game room; and a theater room.
“We’ve gone through many revisions of our facility,” said Paul Hopkins, Cannon AFB Community Center manager. “The community center used to be a small area. Over time, we’ve been able to get some real estate, and we had a renovation completed in June 2015.
“Everybody listened to what the actual user had to say. We had a lot of input on the transformation that took place here. In turn, that makes our customers very happy.”
The areas that might see the most use, Hopkins said, are the music room and the theater room.
In the music room, “We have Monday night jam nights where people can come and hang out and have a wonderful time together,” Hopkins said.
The theater room is first-come, first-serve and features new movies within one to three months of release.
“It’s very active in here,” Hopkins added.
When he talks to Airmen, Hopkins tells them the center is a place for them to decompress and more importantly, “it’s their home away from home,” he said.