WASHINGTON, DC -- Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, officially announced Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune as the Corps? winner of the 2001 Commander In Chief?s Annual Award for Installational Excellence, March 23.
The CINC award recognizes the excellence and innovation of the people who operate and maintain military installations across the Department of Defense.
Camp Lejeune?s success in using improved training systems, improving quality-of-life, employing health and family service programs, and success in practicing innovative management practices, significantly improved base operations, according to Rita I. Sullivan, program analysis, HQMC. Sullivan noted that the high quality of work, demonstrated in a broad range of base support functions and community relations, exemplifies the commitment to excellence shared by all Marines, Sailors, and civilians at Camp Lejeune and set them apart from the rest.
Staff representatives from Headquarters Marine Corps evaluated packages submitted by nine Marine Corps Bases. The packages were next forwarded to a General Officers Board where Camp Lejeune was selected as the winner of the CINC Award for the Marine Corps.
Camp Lejeune joins a circle of DoD installations recognized for their excellence, which includes Army post Fort Bragg, N.C.; Naval Command Yokosuka, Japan; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.; and Defense Supply Center Columbus, Ohio.
The Award fosters competition which benefits the DoD through creative management, new ideas, and leadership. The Installational excellence of military bases such as Camp Lejeune translates into enhanced mission performance and quality-of-life for service members and their families, according to DoD.
The CINC Award begin in 1985 as a challenge by President Ronald Regan to the DoD to recognize installations where service members and DoD personnel have worked within the scope of available resources to support their mission, and have used imaginative thinking to solve the complex problems facing their installations.
The DoD will present the award during a Pentagon ceremony scheduled for May.