Anniston Army Depot, AlabamaVolume 32, Number 30010 April 16, 2020

U.S. Postage PaidPresort Standard

Anniston, AL 36201Permit No. 326

Address ServiceRequestedTracks

Globally, the Army is taking precautionary measures to pro-tect the health of the force and maintain operational readiness. Installations, including Annis-ton Army Depot, evaluate day-to-day operations to ensure the safety of all of all personnel.

Everyone is encouraged to follow the guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent the spread of infection.

“At the direction of the De-partment of Defense, for opera-tional security purposes, ANAD cannot release or confirm num-bers of positive cases,” said Col. Marvin Walker, ANAD’s com-mander. “While I can’t expound on numbers or cases, I can tell you the health and safety of our workforce remains a priority while combating the spread of COVID-19. The depot is a criti-cal infrastructure, with a critical mission in support of our nation’s security and defense. We have taken steps to ensure the safety of our workforce.”

Walker stated that in the event of a positive case, the in-stallation will follow Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention, Alabama Department of Public Health and Office of Personnel Management guidance to address it.

This includes deep cleaning of all potentially impacted areas.

Additionally, employees have been asked to monitor the distance they work from each other and supervisors have been empowered to make necessary changes in work areas to ensure

employee safety.One of those changes is to

temporarily assign employees to night shift.

As of April 9, approximately 130 Directorate of Production employees were temporarily transferred to night shift.

“I’ve been proud of the flexi-bility of our employees. The men and women who comprise the backbone of the depot’s work-force have willingly changed shifts and found innovative ways to ensure they and their cowork-ers remain virus free,” said Steve Pennington, the director of Pro-duction. “They continue to sup-port our war fighters while also fighting an unseen enemy here at

home.”Some day shift employees

have also had their work sched-ules temporarily altered, enabling a staggering of break times.

“The Vehicle Gun Division has changed the start time for four cost centers to 6:30 a.m. This changes their break and lunch times,” said Lavon Stephens, chief of the Vehicle Gun Divi-sion. “We are staggering these times to minimize how many people come in and through the break rooms and welders’ dress-ing rooms. While we practice keeping social distances, we are doing our best in the heaviest traffic areas to minimize contact with other work centers for ev-

eryone’s protection.”Employees in one of the de-

pot’s machining facilities are tak-ing extra steps to protect them-selves and their coworkers.

Two employees voluntarily clean the breakroom after each break time, using cleaning prod-ucts, including a bleach solution, to scrub all surface areas regu-larly touched.

“We were willing to step up,” said Earl Honea. “If we have just one safe place, I’d like for it to be the breakroom.”

John Caldwell, who assists Honea with cleaning, said sur-faces from the tables to the mi-crowaves, snack machines and handles of refrigerators are all

disinfected at least three times a day.

The machinists have also cre-ated fixtures, enabling doors to be opened without using hands.

“Brad Cooper, one of our ma-chinist leaders, brought the bath-room doors to my attention and proposed a way to open the doors without using hands,” said Joe Cash, machinist supervisor.

Cash said the two variants of door fixtures made by the ma-chinists, which use the forearm or elbow to open doors, are being reviewed by the Safety Office in preparation for wider distribu-tion.

All fixtures were made utiliz-ing scrap metal.

Employees display flexibility in fighting virusby Jennifer Bacchus

ANAD PAO

U.S. Army Photo by Mark Cleghorn

John Caldwell, left, and Earl Honea disinfect a machine shop breakroom. Employees clean all surfaces at least three times a day.

This Army newspaper is an authorized publica-tion for members of the DOD. Contents of TRACKS are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government or the Department of the

Army. The editorial content of this publication is the responsibility of the Anniston Army Depot PAO.

Printed by Consolidated Publishing, a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Govern-ment, under exclusive written contract with Annis-ton Army Depot.

The editorial office is located in the Abrams Build-

ing, Room 358, telephone 256-235-6281. TRACKS in-vites comments and contributions from its readers. Address email to: usarmy.anad.tacom.list.publicaffairs@mail.mil and mail to: Editor, TRACKS, TAAN-SCO, 7 Frankford Avenue, Anniston, AL 36201-4199. DEADLINE days are Thursdays pre-ceding date of publication. Circulation: 3,500.

Postmaster: Send address changes to TRACKS, PO Box 2285, Anniston, AL 36202.

Commanding Officer....................Col. Marvin WalkerPublic Affairs Officer...........................Clester BurdellEditor..............................................Jennifer BacchusPhotographer....................................Mark Cleghorn

Tracks

TRACKS2 April 16, 2020

This year, Holocaust Days of Remembrance week is observed from April 19-26. The actual Day of Remembrance, or Yom Hashoah, which stems from the Hebrew word “shoah,” meaning “whirlwind,” is April 21.

Congress established the Days of Remem-brance in 1979 to memorialize the six million Jews and millions of non-Jewish victims who suf-fered at the hands of the Nazi’s during WWII.

The term “Holocaust” is derived from the Greek word “holokauston,” a translation of the Hebrew word “olah,” which means, “a burnt sac-rifice offered whole to God.”

When the Nazi regime came to power in 1933, it was their belief that Germans were racially su-perior to the Jews and a few other groups, like the Roma and Slavic peoples.

Other groups targeted by the Nazis include Jehovah’s Witnesses; homosexuals; blacks; the physically and mentally disabled; political oppo-nents of the Nazis, including Communists and So-cial Democrats; nonconforming clergy; resistance fighters; prisoners of war; and many individuals from the artistic communities whose opinions and works Adolf Hitler condemned.

In the beginning of WWII, all Jews were or-dered to live in specific areas of large cities called “ghettos.” After the “liquidation of the ghettos,” Jews were moved to concentration camps.

Concentration camps served three main pur-poses: to incarcerate people perceived to be a security threat, to murder people and targeted groups, and to exploit forced labor of the prisoner population.

Germany and its Allies established more than 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites during WWII.

At the beginning of the war, the Jewish popu-lation in Europe was approximately 9.5 million, representing over 60 percent of the world’s Jewish population at the time.

Only an estimated 11 percent of Jewish chil-dren who were alive at the beginning of WWII survived.

The term “genocide” did not exist prior to 1944. A Polish-Jewish Lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, sought a word to describe the “Nazi policies of systematic murder of the Jews” and generated the term by combining the Greek word “Geno,”

meaning race, and the Latin word “cide,” mean-ing killing.

During inspection of concentration camps, generals Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton and Omar Bradley saw, firsthand the horrors which had occurred.

Eisenhower described the scenes he saw in a letter to his wife, “I never dreamed that such cru-elty, bestiality, and savagery could really exist in this world.”

In the words of Holocaust survivor Elie Wi-esel, “Although we today are not responsible for the injustice of the past, we are responsible for the way we remember the past and what we do with the past. Only through the process of facing history and ourselves can we hope to reduce the hatred and prevent further violence.”

Sources:www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/pub-

lications/se/5906/590606.htmlwww.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-ori-

gin-of-the-term-holocaustwww.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/

holydays/yomhashoa.shtmlwww.deomi.org/DownloadableFiles/human-

Relations/documents/MPOSTF-DOR-20200214.pdf

www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wi-esel/biographical/

from Lauren WillsANAD EEO Office

Holocaust Days of Remembrance

Image courtesy of the Department of Defense

Denim Day is an event in which people are encouraged to wear jeans or denim to raise awareness of rape and sexual as-sault.

Denim Day is April 29 and everyone is encouraged to par-ticipate.

According to Peace Over Violence, the California-based group which began the Denim Day initiative in 1999, more than 10,600,000 people wore jeans on April 24, 2019, in support of survivors of sexual assault and inform the public about all forms of sexual violence.

According to Peace Over Violence, the Denim Day story began in Italy in 1992, when an 18-year old girl was raped by the 45-year old driving instructor who was taking her to her very first driving lesson. He took her to an isolated road, pulled her out of the car, removed her jeans and forcefully raped her.

She reported the rape and the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted. He was convicted of rape and sentenced to jail. Years later, he appealed the conviction

claiming they had consensual sex. The Italian Supreme Court overturned the conviction and the perpetrator was released. A state-ment from the Court argued that, because the victim was wearing very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and, by re-moving the jeans, it was not rape but consensual sex.

This became known through-out Italy as the “jeans alibi.”

Enraged by the verdict, women in the Italian Parliament launched a protest, wearing jeans on the steps of the Supreme Court. This protest was picked up by international media, which inspired the California Senate and Assembly to do the same on the steps of the Capitol in Sacra-mento.

Patti Occhiuzzo Giggans, ex-ecutive director of Peace Over Violence, saw the coverage of the California protest in the media and thought everyone should be wearing jeans to protest all myths about why women and girls are raped.

The first Denim Day in LA event was held in April of 1999 and has continued annually.

For additional information, visit DenimDayInfo.org.

from Wendy Suttles-WalkerANAD Operations Office

Denim Day raises awareness of sexual assault

Courtesy photo

ANAD employees are encouraged to wear jeans April 29 in support of sexu-al assault survivors and to raise awareness of sexual violence.

TRACKS 3April 16, 2020

The results of a study performed almost two years ago are coming to fruition in the industrial area – mod-ernizing and streamlining storage ar-eas for better efficiency.

“It’s really warehouse process op-timization,” said Jeb Nabors, a main-tenance systems analyst in Anniston Army Depot’s Directorate of Produc-tion Management.

According to Brian Mitchell, chief of the Components Planning and Control Division, the new pro-cess will enable improved storage, kitting and tracking of reworked parts.

Mitchell said the depot contracted with Defense Systems and Solutions to perform a study of reclaimed parts tracking and storage.

“We are in the process of execut-ing the findings of that study,” said Mitchell. “Currently, most of our storage involves just laying the part on the ground. The DSS study recom-mended we have vertical storage.”

The new storage racks will be tai-lor-made to handle the weight of the combat vehicle parts being repaired or remanufactured on the installation.

While physical storage improve-ments are being made, new capabili-ties in the Logistics Modernization Program are being developed to en-able improved visibility of all kitting

processes.“We will be able to do total kit

simulation based off data from LMP,” said Nabors. “We will bring reclaim to record and put it in a bin location via a single transaction in Enterprise Resource Planning Central Compo-nent. We’ve never been able to do that before, at least not efficiently. The system will then calculate kit fill and shortage rates based on our lo-cal picking strategy of using reclaim first for Depot Overhaul Factor items. The Goods Issue process is also be-ing simplified, so we should see a huge indirect labor savings.”

Once rack installation is complete in the first component shop this sum-mer, the new LMP functionality will be piloted to work out any unforeseen issues.

The final piece of the storage improvement and efficiency pro-cess will come later this year, when ANAD takes possession of the Auto-mated Storage and Retrieval System currently operated by the Defense Logistics Agency on the installation.

“ASRS and the surrounding buildings will give us the capacity to kit parts going to the production lines in a single area of the depot, but we’ve got a lot of master data re-structuring to do,” said Nabors. “Ul-timately, the goal is to have a ware-house which functions efficiently and provides necessary information to decision makers.”

Supply optimization plan being implemented

by Jennifer BacchusANAD PAO

U.S. Army Photo by Jennifer Bacchus

Charlotte Turner inspects a kit in one of Anniston Army Depot’s component shops. Later this year, new software and fixtures will improve the supply process.

The Anniston Munitions Center was recently pre-sented with three honors re-garding their safety program – a note from the command-ing general, a certificate of achievement from their high-er headquarters and an award from their four-star level command.

On Jan. 16, ANMC’s Munitions Division received a note from Brig. Gen. Mi-chelle Letcher, the command-ing general for the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command praising their safety accom-plishments and noting the division had worked 121,840 hours without a work-related injury or illness between July 16, 2017 and Jan. 6, 2020.

“Attaining this milestone requires a strong culture of safety and indicates the level of importance that the Muni-tions Division continues to devote to safety every day,” said Letcher’s note.

According to Don Win-ningham, ANMC’s safety manager and explosives safety officer, the Munitions Division once accounted for approximately 94 percent of all work-related injuries and illnesses.

“The Munitions Division went from worst to best,” he said.

Winningham attributes the change to devotion to safety which extends from the ANMC leadership through the division chiefs and super-visors to the employees.

He stated Chad Adams, chief of the Munitions Divi-sion, has taken a proactive stance on safety, actively en-couraging employees to note and take action on any poten-tial safety issue.

“Policies are just pieces of paper, until you have buy-in,” said Winningham.

On Feb. 20, JMC pre-sented ANMC with the Out-standing Safety Performance Award (Installation Level).

This award is presented quarterly.

Through the award, JMC noted that ANMC had no Oc-cupational Safety and Health Administration recordable cases since April 2019 and that the organization had worked more than 125,000 hours without a personal in-jury.

The U.S. Army Materiel Command presented the Ex-cellence in Safety Award for fiscal year 2019 to ANMC in recognition of their safety re-cord and dedication.

With this honor, ANMC is now in the running for a De-partment of the Army safety award.

“Safety at ANMC is one of the seven strategic goals and a shared value,” said Lt. Col. Roshun Steele, ANMC’s commander. “It is not seen as an extra task, but a vital part of ANMC’s business prac-tice.”

According to Winning-ham, in fiscal year 2019, ANMC worked 187,000 man hours without a safety inci-dent.

“We’re still working on

that, too,” said Winningham, adding that ANMC has not had a safety incident to-date in FY20.

In addition to their safety record, ANMC has assisted with safety programs across the command.

“We’ve implemented sev-eral programs that the enter-prise, across JMC, has adopt-ed,” said Winningham.

These include the safety steward program, quarterly safety awareness bulletins, commander’s walkthroughs and OSHA supervisor train-ing for most supervisors.

“The training is not an OSHA requirement,” said Winningham. “It’s an initia-tive we took on ourselves.”

“From the leadership through every link in the chain, we have empowered our ANMC workforce to speak up whenever a potential safety issue arises. By creat-ing a proactive, rather than reactive, safety approach, our workforce is able to over-come challenges before they become obstacles to the mis-sion,” said Steele.

NOTE: The Anniston Mu-nitions Center was named the Army Excellence in Explo-sives Safety Award recipient in March.

ANMC earns safety awardsby Jennifer Bacchus

ANAD PAO

ANMC File Photo

Jeremiah Houser loads a container of munitions onto a truck at one of the Anniston Munitions Center’s loading docks.

TRACKS4 April 16, 2020

We all experience challenges every day and some employees are better at manag-ing the five categories of risk – Safety, Chemical, Biological, Physical and Ergo-nomic hazards. What makes some more successful than others? To me, the answer is leadership.

Regardless of what position you hold here at the depot, you are a safety leader.

To help you understand what it means to be a leader, I would like to share with you the three “C’s” of leadership. This was sent to me by a friend who read it as a story from Col. Arthur Athens, the director of the Naval Academy Center for Ethical Leadership, in a discussion titled: “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”

As the story goes, people ask three questions about a leader:

1. Do you know your job, or are you striving very hard to learn it?

2. Are you going to make the hard, but right, decision, even if it costs you person-ally?

3. Do you care as much about me as you do about yourself?

That brings me to my three points of this article: Competence, courage and compassion.

Competence: Do you know your job, or are you striving very hard to learn it?

You aren’t expected to know every-thing here at Anniston Army Depot, but you are expected to grow daily as it relates to your position and stay safe while doing so.

Growing, learning, and adapting with-in your cost center or shop is integral to the future success of the command. Being at the top of your game daily is sometimes unrealistic, but failing to try at all can be catastrophic.

If you see something unsafe or some-thing you are unsure about, stop and ask questions before pressing on. Never as-sume that you know it all.

At times, it’s important to acknowl-edge that someone else might have a bet-ter way to skin a cat, and we should listen.

Don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you need to have all the answers all the time. The last thing you want to do is ex-ecute on your ego or commit an unsafe act because you were unaware.

Remember your coworkers and always follow the proper process for assignments.

Have the humility to be a student when you need to be and manage risk to be pre-pared when opportunity comes.

If there is not a process for what you do, and there are dangers or concerns about how to accomplish it without spe-cific training, bring it to your supervisor so the proper process can be developed.

Courage: Are you going to make the hard, but right, decision, even if it costs you personally?

Courage is making a decision to do the right thing despite anticipated adversity.

One of the most common perils that leaders fall victim to is prioritizing likabil-ity over respect.

Culture does not change because we want it to, it changes based on the habits we create or allow.

Understanding you have control over these habits makes you the culture hub of your environment.

Just imagine if everyone looked at you as a person who cares about them and their well-being. If you want your employees or coworkers to work productively and stay safe, you must know the way, show the way and hold them accountable for going that way.

The biggest part of this question is the last part: even if it costs you personally.

Making decisions you know can or will negatively affect others is not easy.

Admitting fault in an effort to arrive at a solution is not easy.

Taking responsibility and true own-ership for the actions of your team is not easy.

Your team watches how you handle these situations and answer the courage question. Create the culture you want by making the hard, but right decision, even if it costs you personally.

Compassion: Do you care as much about me as you do about yourself?

How likely is that you or your cowork-ers would stay on the job an extra hour to do the job right, represent the depot and Army with enthusiasm and create amaz-ing workday experiences without having the true belief that their leader cares about them personally.

Former Xerox CEO, Anne Mculhay said, “Employees who believe that man-agement is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, and more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satis-fied customers, which leads to profitabil-ity.”

Compassion makes a supervisor or boss a leader. Understanding the needs

of your team comes from shared hardship and genuine interaction.

From there, you depend on your com-petence and courage to act on priorities, which will enable the safety and success of the depot’s mission.

There are no 30-minute recipes for leadership, but I have been asking myself these very questions every day for the past decade.

I can tell you they have driven me to work daily at making myself more com-petent in my craft as a leader and more focused on the success and well-being of those who have entrusted me with their safety, time and hard work.

Regardless of your role at the depot, exercising the “Three C’s of Leadership” will enable your future success.

Focus on your personal safety and de-velopment as a leader. Focusing on the needs of your team will pay huge divi-dends toward mutual respect, safety cul-ture and happy employees.

I will leave you with this thought: How are you utilizing the three “C’s” of lead-ership and have you seen these essential values demonstrated in what you do daily?

If not, I challenge you to begin using them today; not just at work, but in your personal life as well.

Three pillars of effective safety leadershipby Shawn Ankerich

ANAD Safety Office

ANAD File Photo

Every employee at Anniston Army Depot is a safety leader - responsible for the safety of themselves and others.

TRACKS 5April 16, 2020

Productive Yield:Direct Productive Yield:Greater than 1,600 – $2501,579-1,600 – $187.501,557-1,578 – $1251,534-1,556 – $62.50Less than 1,534 – $0Current hours – 1,609Current payout – $250

Indirect Productive Yield:Equal to or greater than 1,702 – $2501,683-1,701 – $187.501,663-1,682 – $1251,642-1,662 – $62.50Less than 1,642 – $0Current hours – 1,653Current payout – $62.50

Performance to Promise:98-100 – $50094-97 – $37590-93 – $250Less than 90 – $0Current percentage – 99Current payout – $500

Net Operating Result:NOR loss less than -$22.4M – $500.00NOR loss between -$22.4M and -$37M – $375.00NOR loss between -$37M and -$51.5M – $250.00NOR loss between -$51.5M and -$66M –$125.00NOR loss is greater than -$66M – $0Current loss – $11.87MCurrent payout – $500

Continuous Process Improvement100 percent of goal - $50080 percent of goal - $37560 percent of goal - $25040 percent of goal - $125Less than 40 percent of goal - $0Current percentage – 10Current payout – $0

CURRENT TOTAL: $1,312.50

GAP updatefrom DRM

For eligible personnel to receive the maximum FY20 GAP payout, all metrics must be met. Everyone must do their part each day to achieve these goals, which are attainable and impor-tant in executing ANAD’s mission.

There is currently no vac-cine to prevent COVID-19 in-fection, so the best way to pre-vent infection is to avoid being exposed. A person can spread COVID-19 to others even if they do not feel sick.

Use the tips listed below to stay healthy during this sea-son.Avoid close contact:

Practice social distanc-ing; put a distance of at least six feet between yourself and other people.

Avoid public places as much as possible, avoid close contact with people who are sick and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.Wear cloth face coverings:

Wear a cloth face cover when going out in public.

Cloth face coverings should fit snugly but comfort-ably against the side of the face, be secured with ties or ear loops, include multiple lay-ers of fabric, allow for breath-ing without restriction and be able to be laundered and ma-chine dried without damage or change to shape.

For a cloth face covering pattern, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion’s website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-gett ing-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.htmlCover coughs and sneezes:

Always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze or use the inside of your elbow. Throw used tissues in the trash and immediately wash your hands with soap and water.

If soap and water are not readily available, clean your hands with a hand sanitizer containing at least 60 percent alcohol.Clean hands often:

Rub soaped hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces on your hands. Con-

tinue rubbing hands for 20 seconds, then rinse well under running water. Dry hands us-ing a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use the paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door when exiting to avoid re-contamination.

In addition to hand wash-ing, routinely sanitize hands as needed using a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 per-cent alcohol. Cover all surfac-es of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.Clean and disinfect:

Clean and disinfect fre-quently touched surfaces dai-ly. This includes tables, door-knobs, light switches, counter-tops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets and sinks.Wear gloves:

High risk individuals, as defined by the CDC, may choose to wear gloves in pub-lic areas. In order to achieve maximum protection from the gloves, do the following:

• After touching anything, consider the gloves contami-

nated and do not touch your face or adjust your face cover-ing.

• Remove (doff) gloves properly to avoid contami-nating skin: pinch up at the wrist of one glove and peel back the glove to the middle of the palm; rotate wrist and use gloved thumb and index finger from the pinched hand to pinch up the wrist of the other glove; then, carefully, peel back the gloves, turning the gloves inside out until they are removed.

Practice this procedure with uncontaminated gloves a few times to be sure the pro-cedure can be performed prop-erly.

For more information on glove doffing, contact Indus-trial Hygiene at Ext. 4139.

Throw used gloves in the trash and wash or sanitize hands.

If you use a phone while wearing gloves, decontami-nate the phone using hand san-itizer or a spray disinfectant before touching it with clean

hands.Caring for sick friends and relatives:

The person who is sick should stay separated from other people in the home. Only clean the area around the per-son who is sick when needed, such as when the area is soiled. This will limit contact with the sick person.

Caregivers can also pro-vide personal cleaning sup-plies to the person who is sick, if appropriate. If they feel up to it, the person who is sick can clean their own space.

If the bathroom must be shared, the person who is sick should clean and disinfect it after each use.

If this is not possible, the caregiver should wait as long as possible before cleaning and disinfecting.

The person who is sick should eat (or be fed) in their room, if possible.

Wash dishes and utensils using gloves and hot water or use a dishwasher. Handle any used dishes, cups/glasses or silverware with gloves.

Use proper glove doffing procedures.

Wash your hands after tak-ing off gloves or handling used items.

Use a dedicated, lined trash can for the sick person. Remove the trash bag careful-ly to avoid creation of aerosols and point the bag away from the face while tying.

Use gloves when remov-ing garbage bags and handling or disposing of trash.

Wash your hands after properly doffing gloves.

Contact Industrial Hygiene at Ext. 4139 or visit www.absa.org or www.cdc.gov for more information.Sources:

The Association for Bio-safety and Biosecurity: www.absa.org

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov

Tips to stay well during the COVID-19 pandemicfrom Staff ReportsANAD IH Office

U.S. Army Photo by Mark Cleghorn

Jarvis Minniefield cleans his work area in one of Anniston Army De-pot’s machine shops. Cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces daily can assist in preventing illness.

TRACKS6 April 16, 2020

This year is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day!According to Earth Day Network, the global organizer

of Earth Day, the first Earth Day, in 1970, mobilized mil-lions of Americans for the protection of the planet. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans – 10 percent of the U.S. population at the time – took to streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet.

The Earth Day theme for 2020 is Climate Action. That message is even more relevant in our current circum-stances, as we are quickly learning that even very small adaptations in the natural world can lead to major impacts in everyone’s back yard. The pandemic has shown us, in many ways, that life as we know it relies on an environ-ment as we know it. We are all here together.

For this reason, Earth Day is not cancelled; is has sim-ply adapted.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic Earth Day Network is implementing a global digital mobilization on April 22 to address urgent threats to people and the planet.

“Whether it be coronavirus or our global climate cri-sis, we cannot shut down,” said Kathleen Rogers, Presi-dent of Earth Day Network, “instead, we must shift our energies and efforts to new ways to mobilize the world to action.”

Earth Day Network will be postponing its live 50th anniversary event on the National Mall, moving the glob-al event to October 24-25, 2020. For now, in lieu of large gatherings, cleanup days, and other eco-activities, people are turning to online gatherings and activities a little clos-er to home.

At ANAD, some things will be different from last year. The Directorate of Risk Management’s staff enjoyed our Earth Day activities with the Child Development Center in 2019. For safety reasons, DRK will not be holding the usual reading and art events.

To make up for this, the Army Environmental Com-mand has provided a modest supply of Army Earth Day activity books for children.

DRK will also not be distributing posters, though we do have some 50th Anniversary Earth Day posters in both large and small sizes.

If your organization would like one, contact me at Ext. 6544 to arrange safe pickup.

The pandemic has presented us with a sort of fire drill, composed of nearly every concern scientists have expressed about impacts of climate change in the last 50 years.

We are seeing impacts and responses on a global scale in the form of disease, supply shortages, skills shortages, resource insecurity and everyday decisions carrying life-or-death consequences.

The fight against COVID-19 is our practice run for the fight against climate change. This isn’t just about feeling a bit warmer sometimes. Humans are very adaptable. Most of the resources and systems we depend upon are not.

The threats: food insecurity, thin resources, new dis-eases, etc., are real. The actions we must take to preserve ourselves, both as a society and as a species, are the same. We must come together as one, we must work to preserve ourselves and our neighbors, we must heed our experts and scientists, and we must commit to meaningful chang-es in our way of life.

In the face of the coronavirus, we are proving our adaptability and the impacts are already impressive.

As most of humanity takes a very prudent step back, nature is showing us just how impactful our presence, or lack thereof, can be.

People are gardening, exploring their back yards, re-viving old hobbies and playing with their children.

Telework is reducing emissions and car accidents.With industry on hold, the air is cleaner and clearer,

even in the biggest cities.The canals of Venice are now clear enough to see the

bottom for the first time in centuries.In the space of a month, whales have returned to wa-

terways once too polluted or noisy to inhabit. Their songs are bolder and they’re already bearing stronger young.

Rare creatures are coming out of hiding; many for the first time in generations. Wild goats wander the streets of English villages.

Birds seem to suddenly be everywhere.Untended green spaces are becoming pollinator sanc-

tuaries.Seismologists, who study vibrations in the Earth’s

crust, are astonished at how still the Earth has become. It’s providing incredible data that will fuel advancements

in earthquake predictions for years to come. It’s as if the world had a human hum that was drowning out almost ev-erything and, in this fearful silence, all is suddenly clear.

Once we have tackled COVID-19, will we be okay with losing that clarity? Will we fire up all the same old industries in all the same old ways and send our greater, greener world back into hiding?

How can we carry our COVID-19 lessons forward in honor of Earth Day? By looking to the past.

During the Great Depression and both world wars, re-sources were scarce. Polio, Typhoid and Spanish Flu rav-aged nations unchecked.

People stood in line for bread and carefully accounted for their fuel use. Yes, this was by necessity, but we are at a crucial point where we must take a hard look at what we define as necessary. We can take some tips from those of us who’ve been there:

• Learn to grow things. By growing things, you’re either reducing your food vulnerability or increasing the systems that support food security. In the old days, every American household was also a producer. Victory Gar-dens were a staple of our society and they are worth re-viving.

• Learn to make or fix things: Woodwork, clay fir-ing, metalwork, sewing, knitting, building, crafting, up-cycling, auto repair, small appliance repair and electrical work – being handy makes you less dependent on con-sumer companies and mass production.

• Learn food preservation: Canning, baking, chee-semaking, drying and curing make your bumper crops available during the lean times and act as a buffer against food insecurity.

• Learn to entertain: You can watch YouTube tutorials or sign up for master classes, in which experts share the skills that got them to the top of their fields.

• Embrace habits that use less: Turn off the lights every time you leave. Read a book or play with the kids instead of firing up the mega screen. Take the sedan instead of the truck. Get a bike. Buy products built to be durable, wash-able, repairable, not disposable. Buy recycled products.

By doing any of these suggestions, you can stretch your resources and reduce dependence on things beyond your control.

We’ve seen how vulnerable we are, how intricately and unexpectedly little impacts can add up to disaster.

We have seen the extraordinary environmental ben-efits of staying home and minding essentials. We can’t shutter industry forever but we can change our demands upon it.

We need to see ourselves as part of a greater whole, part of something delicate and complex and infinitely pre-cious. The good news is, we’ve also been shown that all is not lost.

This year, on the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, we have a rare opportunity to shape who we are and how we will live for generations to come. Let us make bold choic-es for a stronger, more resilient Earth.

To learn more about ways to honor Earth Day digi-tally, visit the Earth Day Network at www.earthday.org.

Lindsay DunaheeANAD DRK

Earth Day 50th anniversary goes digital due to pandemic

Graphic courtesy of the U.S. Army Environmental Command

TRACKS 7April 16, 2020

notes from around the TrackThe Child Development Center offers care to children

from infancy through the fifth grade.The center is accredited by the National Association for

the Education of Young Children and is currently accepting students of all ages.

Cost is based on total family income.For more information or if you have questions regard-

ing care during the extended schools’ closures, call 256-235-6273 or visit Parent Central at Bldg. 220.

Openings at ANAD CDC

April 16Burgers and brats

April 17Snack line

April 20Baked pork chopRoasted new potatoesButter beansGlazed carrotsCornbread

April 21Spaghetti with meat sauceMixed vegetablesCorn nuggetsSide saladGarlic bread

April 22General Tso’s chickenPepper steakFried riceStir fried vegetablesEgg roll

April 23Fried catfishBaked fishBaked beansColeslawFrench friesHush puppies

April 27Country fried steakMashed potatoes and gravyBlack-eyed peasCollard greensCornbread

April 28Baked chicken zitiSteamed broccoliCorn on the cobGarlic bread

April 29Hot dogsChili, relish, sauerkraut, cheesePotato saladBaked beansFrench fries or onion rings

April 30Fried chickenBaked chickenMac and cheesePinto beansTurnip greensCornbread

May 1Snack line

May 4Hamburger steakPotatoes au gratinField peasFried okraYeast roll or cornbread

May 5Country fried steakMashed potatoes and gravyBlack-eyed peasCollard greensCornbread

Cafeteria menu

For up-to-date information on COVID-19, including preventing the spread of disease, visit the following websites:

• cdc.gov• phc.amedd.army.mil

Are you following us?Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnnistonArmyDepot

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/annistonarmydepot

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/AnnistonArmyDepot

Verification of employmentThe Employment Verification

Tool is available for verification of employment and/or salary infor-mation.

All appropriated fund and non-appropriated fund employees should use the Employment Veri-fication Tool via their My Biz+ ac-count.

Employees are responsible for providing proof of their employ-ment and/or salary information to organizations or persons making the request.

MyBiz+ may be accessed through the Civilian Personnel Online website at https://compo.

dcpds.cpms.osd.mil.The employment verification

link is located under “Key Ser-vices.” You will need an e-mail address from the requesting orga-nization where the secured infor-mation should be sent. A copy will also go to your e-mail address.

If this is your first time ac-cessing your MyBiz+ account, you may have to register your Com-mon Access Card before being able to log in to MyBiz+.

For additional information or assistance with accessing MyBiz+, please contact the CPAC office at Ext. 7860.

Do you have a note for TRACKS?Call Public Affairs at Ext. 6281!

CoatsWith sadness, we report

ANAD has lost a member of the team.

Roy A. Coats died April 3, 2020.

An industrial engineering technician with the Directorate of Production, he had more than 16 years of civilian service at Annis-ton Army Depot.

In Loving Memory

TRACKS8 April 16, 2020