ASA, Installations, Energy & Environment visits Fort Irwin

Rachel Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, visited Fort Irwin, Calif., for the first time March 6-9, 2023.

During her visit, Jacobson toured the installation, learned about quality of life projects, energy and environmental projects, and watched a live-fire exercise conducted by a rotational unit in the training area, commonly known as “the box.”

“I’ve heard a lot about Fort Irwin over my time in this position and I’ve heard about its importance, and I’ve heard from the Soldiers who are my colleagues how valuable it is to them to train here,” Jacobson said. “Because it’s one of our most remote locations and has very unique installation needs, my purpose of the visit was to better understand those needs.”

Fort Irwin garrison staff, including the garrison commander, Col. Jason Clarke, briefed Jacobson on quality of life projects including plans for improved barracks and additional entertainment venues for families.

“We are very fortunate to have the support of our leadership to provide new quality of life facilities,” Clarke said. “The garrison conducts a variety of community programming for our Soldiers, families, and civilians and these new facilities will allow us to enhance and expand programs and events, so Soldiers do not have to travel 45 minutes one way for entertainment.”

Staff also discussed the recent memorandum of understanding signed between Fort Irwin and Barstow Community College that allows students of two Barstow Community College programs, child development education program and cosmetology, the opportunity to gain firsthand experience that could lead to jobs on Fort Irwin as child youth assistants and barbers.

“Our relationship with the leaders and partners in the Barstow community is extremely important,” Clarke said. “Every employer in the High Desert community is looking for employees and we need to develop as many programs and opportunities we can to entice people to work at Fort Irwin.”

The ability to tap into community resources is vitally important at Fort Irwin, Jacobson said.

“All installations have a lot of programs to integrate with the community and to make sure that installations are obtaining community services as needed, but there’s a unique situation here because of the distance between the installation and a large population center,” Jacobson said.

“So, to be able to bring those services on base is obviously due to a lot of planning and creative thinking and exceptional partnerships.”
Jacobson traveled into the training area where a rotational unit conducted a live-fire exercise as part of its training and said she felt fortunate to have that experience.

“That experience gave me a much deeper appreciation for what we do for installation support [and it] is so important because without a solid foundation of an installation, that kind of training is not going to be possible and that’s what it’s all about is that training,” Jacobson said.

“That’s why we are the best army in the world.”

One highlight of Jacobson’s visit included speaking with Soldiers, she said.

“Here they are, week two of this fairly grueling experience [and] they were all so dedicated, so enthusiastic, so professional,” Jacobson said. “It just made me proud and they set the example for the Soldiers we want to recruit.”

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