Looking for a site that allows you to get to know the Joint Base Lewis-McChord community on a personal level? MyJBLM.com will bring you personal stories from behind the military veils of JBLM and the community, and launches in early June. The website will promote public involvement and improves information sharing about past, present and future events of interest to communities with a connection to JBLM.

It was in the feedback from the "half a dozen working groups that span education, healthcare, social services, transportation and implementation task force," Bill Adamson said that led them to create this site. The goal is to create one place to find all the information people need in these different services.

Bill Adamson is Project Manager of SSMCP (South Sound Military and Communities Partnership) which consists of 14 cities and two counties - Pierce and Thurston - and several organizations. SSMCP strives to maintain and improve community relations with the military. "JBLM is one of the members, and at the end of 2015, SSMCP bought the domain name for the website. We thought this site would be potentially more powerful because it allows direct public involvement by being able to post personal stories of experiences about the base and installation," he said.

MyJBLM.com is a centralized online resource allowing public involvement and sharing of military community information. JBLM is using this site to display photos and stories from the public regarding the 100-year history of Ft. Lewis, Camp Lewis and JBLM.

The stories will consist of community members' relationship to JBLM. "If, say your father, served at Ft. Lewis in the 60's and you remember something from your childhood, you can share your story and post a photo." The stories are segregated by decade allowing for specific time searches. "If you're interested in something from the Vietnam era, you can search for those specifically," Adamson said.

With a big centennial celebration scheduled for September 2017, the focus right now is on soliciting stories to help celebrate the anniversary in 2017. The JBLM PAO office and the installation are the main points of contact for soliciting stories, and community members are urged to visit the website to submit their stories. "SSMCP is going to continue to maintain and manage the website, but as we unveil it this summer, JBLM will use the site to market the centennial anniversary," said Adamson.

The website will also be a tool for the community to access local events as well as to increase public involvement and any kind of military affairs and community relations, and will also serve as a resource for people arriving to our community.

"Immediately, we're just trying to increase public awareness that there is a site and we're trying to get the word out about the recognition that the South Sound received as a Great American Defense Community, so you'll see logos and this designation in there. We want to provide upcoming events like the air show, videos and events in the community. We want it to be a resource for the community for what's going on," added Adamson.

To see the site, visit MyJBLM.com. For more information, contact Bill Adamson at 253.983.7772 or badamson@cityoflakewood.us.