Some people might think that merging two installations that house two different branches of the military, might be like an American citizen being told to speak Spanish without instruction.

When the base transition process began, members of the transition team thought that the differences in terminology would be a huge mountain to climb, said Col. Kenny Weldon, the JBLM deputy joint base commander.

But it turned out that the process was not as difficult as they first thought, he said.

"We found that there were more similarities than differences between the Army and the Air Force," said Col. Kenny Weldon, the 62nd Mission Support Group Commander. "It's just a matter of time before people will begin to understand this."

There are distinct organizational differences and vague ones, he said.

For instance, the Army has battalions, brigades and corps, and the Air Force has squadrons, groups, and wings, he said.  However, less obvious differences include the Army's Director of Public Works (DPW) and the Air Force's Civil Engineer Squadron (CES).

"The DPW and the CES do the same things," Weldon said. "But when we first started the transition process, we would be sitting in a meeting and you could see light bulbs going off when people understood that DPW was the CES for the Air Force."

Other examples include Army Community Services and Airmen and Family Readiness Center, and Security Forces Squadron and the Directorate of Emergency Services, he said.

"There is really nothing so far off that people won't know what you mean if you say it," he said. "Maybe if an Air Force spouse was asked by an Army spouse where the garrison is, there may be some confusion.  But someone is going to know how to help her.  People just need to keep calling the same numbers they have always called to get what they need.  The name of the place may change, but the services provided will be the same."

The joint base process has been an educational one, he said.  Although the military environment is a joint environment, they are learning new things every day, he said.

"The Air Force is learning how a stryker brigade or a corps is organized, and the Army is learning about wings and squadrons," he said. "Overall, we are getting a better understanding of how the other one operates."

Also the transition process has afforded Col. Weldon the opportunity to work closely with Col. Thomas H. Brittain, the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Commander.  Prior to the transition, Weldon rarely met with the Army colonel, he said.

"Today Col. Brittain and I interface daily," he said. "This has helped in so many ways.  It has helped us to work better with our community partners."

Giving the Army perspective, Col. Steven Donaldson, director of the joint integration office, said that he was not overly shocked with the differences.   Although he is an Army officer, his father and older brother both served in the Air Force, he said.

The biggest thing that we are facing is figuring out what organizations the Air Force has, that do what specific Army organizations do, Donaldson said.

"We are the supporting base and they are the supported base, so everything is from the perspective of the Army," Donaldson said. "The agencies all exist.  We just have to figure out where the Air Force has placed that function."

For example, both services provide day care, gymnasiums, and someone who cuts the grass, he said.  In the Army, this falls under one jurisdiction, in the Air Force they identify the needs and the wing commander makes sure that it gets done, he said.

Donaldson attributed the smooth transition in part, to the command and public affairs office.

"The joint base transition has gone off very smoothly, due to the great job the command and the PAO did to get us online so quickly," Donaldson said. "This gave us all a tremendous opportunity to look up terminology and get terms explained."

However, when the day is done, and the terminology and jargon is understood, the Air Force will maintain its identity and place in the armed services, he said.

"I sit here and look at the Air Force base and I see a well-maintained installation," he said. "It's small, about a fourth of the size of the former Ft. Lewis.  Nobody wants to have the Air Force lose its identity.  Five years from now we will look back at the joint base process and think "what were we thinking?" ... with the constant evolution of joint base it just makes sense to do it."