Maj. Gen. Kent D. Savre, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood commanding general, spoke in Phelps County Thursday at Matt’s Steakhouse during a “Phelps for the Fort” event organized by the Rolla Area Chamber of Commerce.
Savre has served in the U.S. Army for 33 years and has commanded Fort Leonard Wood since April 2015. He covered a variety of topics in his address, including the kind of people who train at the fort, what unique skills they learn and the key role Phelps County plays in supporting the fort’s mission. Savre’s most noteworthy announcement was that Fort Leonard Wood will be playing a key role in the Army’s planned expansion to 470,000 service members.
“They had to pick a location to take the most dramatic increase in basic combat training, and they picked Fort Leonard Wood. We’re upping our training load in this coming year by almost 10,000 additional soldiers,” Savre said. “That’s 10,000 who will train that are coming through here. Then, to be able to train, you have to add permanent cadres, so that’s two battalions worth of leadership and drill sergeants.”
On any one day out of the year, Savre said Fort Leonard Wood’s population is approximately 36,000. As of now, more than double that figure cycle through the facility each year.
“We have 80,000 soldiers and leaders who get a graduation certificate each year,” Savre said. “80,000 times a year somebody gets a graduation certificate from Fort Leonard Wood. That is a continuous stream of personnel going through here and they all have to come in through an airport, they all have to use hotels, they all have to eat at restaurants, they all have to find entertainment, all those things.”
Savre said those coming to Fort Leonard Wood right now are among the best he’s ever seen.
“This might be the best generation that we’ve ever had,” Savre said. “You hear all this talk about couch potatoes, iPhones and lack of ability to have social interactions — but the reality is I’ve been doing this for 33 years and the young men and women that are joining out team right now are really hungry for leadership, and they want to do something big with their life, not just in the military but with the other aspects of their life. They are only asking for someone to show them the way.”
Savre said he salutes the work Phelps for the Fort plays in supporting Fort Leonard Wood.
“We need communities that are in this with us, everybody’s got a part to play in the mission, the future of America,” Savre said. “We have to have communities that are in this with us so as we move in and out of Fort Leonard Wood, some for a short period of time, some for a long period of time, we need to feel like we’re home. There’s no place in the army we feel more at home than right here in the heart of America.”
Beyond its training mission, Savre said Fort Leonard Wood plays several other important roles in the nation’s military.
“We’re responsible for developing capability for the Army, capabilities in our three branches, primarily engineers, military police and CBRN – that’s chemical, biological and radiological/nuclear,” Savre said. “I’m the leader for the United States Army for encountering weapons of mass destruction, which happens to be a big topic right now if you’re paying attention to the news. We regularly work with leaders in South Korea. I was just over there about four weeks ago and spent some time for an exercise.”
Savre also said Fort Leonard Wood is home to the largest contingent of Marines who are not stationed at a Marine base, and it is the only facility in the armed services where young officers can obtain a master’s degree while in the captain’s career course.
Before being stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Savre previously commanded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Atlantic Division, responsible for engineering and construction in the Northeast, Europe and Africa and led the Army’s Hurricane Sandy response and recovery efforts. His prior assignments include director of the Office of the Chief of Engineers in the Pentagon, commander of the 36th Engineer Brigade at Fort Hood and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn, director of the Counter Explosive Hazards Center at Fort Leonard Wood, commander of the 864th Engineer Battalion at Fort Lewis and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Assistant Corps Engineer for I Corps.
PHELPS COUNTY