Joint basing town hall highlights milestone Published Sept. 22, 2009 By 1st Lt. Joseph Wingard 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Col. Thomas Brittain and Col. Kenny Weldon, the future Joint Base Lewis-McChord command team, briefed the McChord community Tuesday afternoon on the status of Joint Basing. After brief introductions, Colonel Weldon, 62nd Mission Support Group commander and future JBLM deputy commander, explained the role of JBLM will be to deliver consistent, high quality installation support to mission commanders, Soldiers, Airmen and family members...from the runway to base housing. "What we do [reaches] across that entire spectrum," Colonel Weldon said. Colonel Brittain, Fort Lewis Garrison commander and future JBLM commander, highlighted a joint basing milestone that set the town hall apart from previous briefings. "A pretty significant event occurred recently," he said. "The Army and Air Force vice chiefs of staff signed the Memorandum of Agreement." Colonel Weldon then explained that approval of the MOA allows joint base planners to proceed to the next step in forming JBLM: developing the operational plan. According to the Joint Base office, the OPLAN will detail how Fort Lewis and McChord will operate as a joint base. Colonel Weldon explained that development of JBLM is a work in progress and outlined the road ahead. "We have from now until January to plan how the joint base will be organized," said Colonel Weldon. "It has been a lot of 'This is what the Army does' and 'this is what the Air Force does'. Now, we're working together to create a new way of doing business. This isn't easy, but it's necessary. "We've got a good plan. We've got a great team. We're going to make this work," said Colonel Weldon.