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On a foggy and cool fall morning 77 Soldiers, Airmen and Civilians began warming up their golf swing to kick off their first Annual Golftoberfest Golf Scramble hosted by the 21st Theater Sustainment Command at Woodlawn Golf Course, Sep. 30.
The myriad of golfers associated with “Team 21” received a rare opportunity to get to know some of their co-workers and Air Force partners outside of business and work responsibilities. From the back-to-back operations that the sustainment force is providing from Operation Allies Welcome, to setting the theater across Europe, this was a welcome event to bond and build the team.
According to Maj. Gen. James Smith, commanding general, 21st TSC, that’s exactly what he wanted to gain out of this event as he thanked every leader for sacrificing time away from their busy positions to enjoy the team building affair.
“I thank each and every one of you all for taking the time to fellowship,” said Smith. “We’re all busy. Take some time to introduce yourself to someone you don’t know. Please reach out, shake their hand, and introduce yourselves. This is what it’s about. Building strong teams and building Team 21.”
However, connecting people through golf and strengthening collaboration wasn’t the sole purpose of the event. Golftoberfest was the rare opportunity to get to know colleagues outside of the office.
Maj. Brian Welsh, commander, 167th Medical Augmentation Detachment, 512th Field Hospital felt this aspect and networking with others was necessary for his team’s work life balance.
“I think this is a well-deserved day for the team,” said Welsh. “We’ve had a difficult time with being stationed here with the op-tempo [operational tempo]. So, sometimes it’s nice to kind of pause and get together with other units and get to know other people and network.”
Team 21 has had team building events before, but none like this specifically for its key leaders. This was one of the many assignments Morgan Ridgway, future operations planner, 21st TSC, planned as a key civilian volunteering to come to the 21st TSC as part of the Expeditionary Civilian Workforce.
Morgan came to the Millrinders June 1st fulfilling a request to augment the force during the Russian and Ukraine conflict. As a volunteer, she jumped at the opportunity to help any way she could in Germany. As a program manager working for the Army Fellows Program Logistics Career Field, she is amidst like-minded individuals working for the only TSC in the theater.
When the opportunity arose to fulfill one of Smith’s initiatives for his staff, and give the key leaders a much-deserved time to enhance their camaraderie, she quickly volunteered.
“I volunteered to do this because this is something new and it sounded like a fun challenge,” said Ridgway.
Ridgway didn’t know anything about golf, but she received a lot of help in coordinating the event from her G35 FUOPS team and the golf team at Woodlawn Golf Course.
Due to her efforts, this will now be an annual tradition and Team 21 looks forward to attracting more participants across the Rheinland-Pfalz community next year.
