Fort Jackson Leader
July 26, 2010, July 26, 2010 - Providing soldiers a home away from home has been Carole Coveney's mission for more than two decades. And Coveney will continue to take care of soldiers in her new position as the general manager of Fort Jackson's NCO Club.
"Soldiers are defending our country, they're putting their necks out for us," said Coveney, who for 23 years has helped serve soldiers as part of Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command-sponsored services.
Fort Jackson, a major Army basic training post, is home to thousands of soldiers and trainees.
"So I want to make sure that while they are here training - or if this is their permanent duty station - that they enjoy themselves, that their families enjoy themselves, and we have nice activities for them that make them feel at home," Coveney said.
Coveney said she plans to make changes to some of the catering menus for the many events that take place at the NCO club and Magruder's Club and Pub, an all-ranks annex to the NCO club, as well as drumming up more nightly entertainment for both clubs.
Improving the clubs' overall product quality and customer service are other missions that Coveney said she looks forward to achieving.
"She is very customer service focused," said Rose Ann Turner, chief of Fort Jackson's Family and MWR's business operations division.
Turner said Coveney was selected for the club manager's position because of her proven leadership skills and her vast experience in Army club management.
Coveney's career in hospitality began in 1987, when, as a Florida State University student, she was recruited by Army MWR to become a club management intern.
She headed to Germany, where she worked as the general manager for a community club at an installation in Nuremberg. Two years later, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management, she was asked if she would like to keep her position in Germany.
She loved her job so much, she said, she decided to stay for awhile. Two years later, she was offered a job at Fort Jackson to become the assistant general manager of the Officers' Club. She accepted and worked in that position for only six months before she was promoted to general manager.
During the next nine years, she remained at Fort Jackson, married a soldier and began a family of her own.
In 2000, Coveney traveled back to Germany with her husband and daughter to their next duty station in Kaiserslautern.
There, the new mom, with another baby on the way, continued her career as yet again a club general manager.
In 2004, her husband received orders to Fort Drum, N.Y. Realizing that he was going to deploy to Iraq in the near future, Coveney decided to move back to Fort Jackson with her daughters. She has been the assistant general manager of the NCO Club ever since, until her promotion.
Turner said she envisions many positive changes within the clubs as Coveney takes over, because the patrons will see what she sees - that Coveney "sets high standards and challenges her staff to do the same ... she is creative and willing to try new ideas."
Coveney also "is positive, professional and a pleasure to work with," Turner said.
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