The Glecklers

Our main focus at Fort Sill is the Fort Sill Serviceman’s Group (although it does not require the bulk of our time.) The FSSMG is a dependant branch of the Lawton first ward, of the Lawton, Oklahoma Stake.

We meet in one of the Basic Training complex buildings on the east side of the post. Each of these buildings houses a battalion of four batteries, a battery having up to 230 trainees. The complex also has large classrooms on the ground floor. We use two classrooms for our meetings.

The soldiers have Sunday mornings off after breakfast, so we begin the set up for church at 0730. The FSSMG meets every Sunday year-round at 0830 except for Christmas, when most soldiers go home on leave. The Group leaders are Brother Tom Brox, a high councilman from the Lawton Stake, Elder Gene Ivey (full-time missionary from Virginia) and Dad.

Each Sunday the APs from the Oklahoma City Mission and two Lawton elders attend. We have from 50 to 120 soldiers attending each week. Most of our congregation is Basic Combat Trainees (BCT), but some are in Advanced (MOS) training, in Basic Officer courses, or Reservists validating for deployment to Iraq. The officer students whose families are with them usually go in to one of the Lawton wards. Artillery and Infantry are primarily male-only branches. Most meetings are male-only except for Sister Ivey, Mom and Gabi.

Sister Ivey has tables at the back of the room with e-Mails, pamphlets, Books of Mormon, a temple roll, Ensigns, sign-in sheets and hand sanitizer (most of the soldiers are sick with some crud or other because of stress, exposure, sleep deprivation, weather, etc.) Mom & Gabi are greeters and guide the first-timers through sign-in and getting materials.

We always have five to 25 non-member visitors. A few come because they can go to ‘church’ right in their area, but most are invited by a buddy. Of the members attending, about one-third are Aaronic priesthood or just ‘members,’ one-third are elders, and one-third are RMs. We have sacrament, priesthood and Sunday-school, and often a baptism in a nearby Army chapel following the block.

We have fast and testimony the first Sunday, but the soldiers are not allowed to fast. We have a high-council speaker, and some months, a family from the ward will come and speak. The rest of the time soldiers are assigned talks. The full-time Elders teach missionary discussions during priesthood time. The FSSMG leads the mission in convert baptisms.

Soldiers are interviewed and called for the 10 to 19 weeks they will be here, to give priesthood blessings, to be group missionaries, to bless and pass the sacrament, to give sacrament talks, to conduct music, to instruct priesthood, and to teach Sunday-school. In the picture below, the Kaplan family from Lawton First Ward is speaking at Sacrament Meeting in February, 2008.

The number one characteristic of meetings of the FSSMG is Spirituality. Number two is Fellowship.

We have members or non-members who have attended church with us in almost every class of Basic Training at Fort Sill. So the Iveys and we attend almost every BCT graduation ceremony.

Families travel from across the nation to attend. It is an impressive military ceremony—very ‘dress-right-dress.’

The band plays the National Anthem, there are speeches, and the soldiers shout in unison the Soldier’s Creed:
"I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless-Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage...

"I will always place the mission first.
I will NEVER accept defeat. I will NEVER quit. I will NEVER leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my Warrior tasks and drills. I will always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and DESTROY the enemies of the United States of America in Close Combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I AM an American Soldier."

As you can see, the focus of the program is Patriotism and love of Country.
Sister Ivey said the first several graduations she attended, she cried a good part of the time. It is an emotional cerimony.

In the picture below, Elder Ivey is handing one of "our" graduates a letter of appreciation from the FSSMG leadership.

This is the Truman Education Center on Fort Sill. It is where I teach and tutor soldiers five mornings a week. The ASVAB and the AFCT exam score is how soldiers qualify for certain MOSs and for Officer and Warrant Officer programs in the Army.

We work on math, word knowledge, and reading comprehension, but especially on math. The class is called Basic Skills Education Program II, or BSEP II. The exams are quite challenging.

Mom works at the Soldier’s Closet and she and Gabi work at the Lending Closet. These facilities give out or lend out items to young families, most of whom are just moving to Fort Sill. The Soldiers Closet is run by the Armed Forces YMCA, and they have donated new and used clothing, toys, appliances, bedding, dishes, linens, and the like. Families can come twice a month and shop for free.

The Lending closet is run by the Army and families or single soldiers can borrow pots, pans, dishes, a vacuum, utensils, sleeping mats, high chairs, cribs, strollers, car seats, chairs, tables and cots to tied them over until their household goods arrive.

Lake Elmer Thomas Recreation Area (LETRA) is where we go several times a week for showers. The trailer can work for Mom and Dad, but not for Gabi.

This is the shower building and RV park.

There is a marina, beach, clubhouse, store, playgrounds and boats for rent.

LETRA has nice roll in showers at the RV park. And setting on the lake at the foot of Mount Scott, it is very scenic. It is on Post about an 8 mile drive through the wilderness from where we live on Medicine Creek.

Below is Reinhart Field House

We all go to one gym or other on Post to work out. Mom and I like the elliptical, but also use the bikes, stair-stepper, and treadmill. Each gym has a pulley machine that Gabi can use.

We have a couple of nice hang-outs on Post. At the Nye Library Gabi can use the wireless internet to do Church Indexing while Mom browses the hundreds of VHS and DVD movies and reads magazines. (She has also been known to lift the coupon and sales flyers out of the Lawton newspaper.)

The Fort Sill Golf Course was just completely renovated, and has a beautiful new club house with a grill that serves great food, two wall-size plasma TVs with cable, and wireless internet.

During the week we usually have one of the TVs and a whole end of the dining room to ourselves. Like everywhere on Post, people at the club house are friendly and accommodating.