ROSE BARRACKS, Germany – The Dragoon Inn Warrior Restaurant held an outreach event during its lunchtime, bringing different U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria resources to the dining tables of its Soldiers Jan. 30 in Vilseck.
During the event mission partners were invited to host information booths at the dining facility to bring knowledge and resources to the Soldiers during their lunch break.
This event has been brought to life by Sgt. 1st Class David Grassi, the Dragoon Inn Warrior restaurant manager in Rose Barracks.
“This is to help the Soldiers better connect,” said Grassi. “I just saw I have a great opportunity where I get a lot of people coming to one location. And I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great idea if I can bring a couple agencies here for them (the Soldiers) to talk to while they come here during lunch.”
Grassi has been the Dragoon Inn Warrior Restaurant manager since March 2024, and he first started this event in May 2024.
He tries to hold his outreach event monthly, usually during the soul food Thursday lunch where they have the highest participation with 300 to 400 people to feed.
“It started off with just the Education Center,” Grassi said, “and then ACS came and then all of a sudden now we have at least five or six agencies coming around the same time.”
So far, the American Red Cross; Wild Boar Recreation; Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Better Opportunity for Single Soldiers; Army Community Services; the Army Wellness Center and Special Operations/ Special Forces Recruiting have been frequenting the event. Other agencies are, of course welcome to join.
“If there's any other programs or agencies out there that can benefit from this, have them reach out to me,” said Grassi. “The Army Wellness Center just started coming recently, and I'm trying to get the nutritionists to get out here and maybe other medical areas. And today, for the first time, I'll get the Warrant Officer Recruiting Team here. And hopefully I get even more.”
Since Grassi started this event last year he already noticed a positive impact.
“I've seen an increase in enrollment for colleges because of that and an increase in the BSEP (Basic Skills Education program) classes,” Grassi said. “Also from the education counselor, they've told me that they've seen people that come to this event and then you see them later in their office, you know, asking questions.”
Ellie Christensen, program manager for the Wild B.O.A.R. outdoor recreation has already seen the benefits of this event as well.
“For Wild B.O.A.R. specifically, we have seen an uptick in participation from Soldiers on Vilseck, especially considering Wild B.O.A.R. is located in Grafenwoehr,” Christensen said. “It's an opportunity for the Vilseck Soldiers to come out and have fun, learn about programs that they may not know anything about and speak individually with organizers.”
“So me and my office, we recruit for Army Special Operations Forces jobs,” said Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Miller, recruiter. “So this is a great opportunity for us to reach service members who we normally don't get to talk to. A lot of times people might be a little bit timid or unwilling to come into our office and talk to us. So when we get the opportunity to go out into the community around here, people are more apt to come up and talk to us when we're in a setting like this.”
This outreach event gives Soldiers the opportunity to learn about available resources within the USAG Bavaria footprint, to meet the actual representatives of each agency and ask questions right on the spot without having to go to their office.
“I think it's very beneficial that the services come here to us because sometimes we're stuck at work and we're not able to get away for very long,” said Spc. Zion Champion, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment. “And so when you come here and the booths are set up here and all these services are available for us, it's very beneficial because we're already here and we get to see it and we get to enjoy lunch. That's a really big plus.”
The Dragoon Inn Warrior Restaurant in Vilseck will hold its next outreach event Feb. 13, and Grassi encourages other dining facility to start similar projects:
“No one's told me to do this. I just did it on my own to help the Soldiers get information like this. And it has. I've just seen the improvements and impacts this had since I've started it. So it's something I want to keep doing, and I encourage other dining facilities across the Army in Europe to do the same.”
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