Kevin McCoy's mission in Germany includes protection of soldiers on leave

Sep 1, 2000 12:00 PM, JEANNE BONNER

If you look at one of the hotels at the Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) in Garmisch, Germany, it looks like any other German hotel in town. It is the job of Kevin McCoy, director of security and safety, to combine world class resort facilities with enough security to protect and safeguard the resort's clientele - active duty military deployed in the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe. It doesn't take barbed wire to secure a civilian recreation center and resort in a stunningly beautiful town in Germany. McCoy knows what it does take.

The AFRC-Europe includes recreation properties in and around Garmisch and a resort called Chiemsee, situated on the largest lake in Bavaria. Garmisch is located in southern Bavaria, near the Austrian border. The AFRC also operates three other properties: Dragon Hill Lodge in Seoul, Korea; the Hale Koa in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Shades of Green in Orlando, Florida. The Garmisch center provides an array of recreational activities including a full-service ski lodge, a golf course, campgrounds and several hotels. Annually, it hosts 250,000 active duty military personnel, other Department of Defense personnel and Department of State personnel.

The Armed Forces Recreation Centers are a part of the Community Family Support Center (CFSC), an arm of the military that provides for the morale, welfare and recreation of active military personnel and the civilian components that support them.

McCoy is no stranger to the military. He served 16 and a half years in the army in Germany and Korea, among other places. He joined in 1975 and worked as an agent for the CID, the army's equivalent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They performed criminal investigations, including murders. In 1992, an "early separation" package was offered and McCoy decided it was time to begin his civilian career.

It was not an easy decision. "Being in the military for 16 years, I had that barbed wire mentality," he says. At the time, he was stationed in Seoul, Korea. His work in investigations and 24-hour-a-day availability did not go unnoticed. The AFRC contacted him in 1992 about a job in security at its recreation center in Korea. McCoy recalls, "I was unsure of going from a criminal investigation situation to a hospitality security and safety environment. I mean, I was a cop! I was unsure what the hospitality industry was about other than my experiences as a customer." He took a part-time job with AFRC-Korea as a duty manager. He was free to roam the hotel and observe. He looked at some control and security issues and found the security program lacking. He agreed to work for them full time because, "I saw that I could make a significant impact."

McCoy spent four years at AFRC - Korea, during which he was promoted to director of security and safety. A job opened up at the Garmisch resort in Germany and in September of 1996, he transferred there. In addition to the resort facilities, Garmisch also houses conference facilities. The customer base is Department of Defense personnel. It is a meeting point for army leaders deployed in different locations in Europe and a destination for soldiers who need a weekend of R&R. An army commander stationed in Frankfurt might have troops deployed in Kosovo; they can meet at Garmisch to discuss operations, budgetary concerns and other business. The resort also serves as a reconciliation space for soldiers and their families. McCoy explains, "Groups of soldiers and family members come to recreate after a soldier has been deployed in Bosnia or Kosovo. The reunion helps to bring the family back together, and assists the soldier in reentering the family unit after being away for awhile."

Sometimes the American ambassador to Germany and United States congressional delegations visit the facilities. Four-star commanding generals routinely visit the facilities for conferences.

McCoy directly supervises one security manager and five unarmed guards. The center employs a contract guard service supervised by the German company contracted by the U.S. Army/Europe. They are armed and do perimeter access control and screening while McCoy's team works internally. McCoy says in the event of an incident, it is better that the armed guards be licensed by the state of Germany. His guards are trained in customer service and they patrol the premises, fielding customer complaints and checking on staff.

Garmisch contains housing for about 250 employees. McCoy says the cost of living is high, and the housing is a service to the staff. It also allows McCoy and his team to patrol the dormitories continuously. "We are overseas, and our concern is avoiding mass casualties. The hotels and the assembly areas are protected so well because you have large masses of Americans there." McCoy also supervises the organizational motorpool which includes nine tour buses and 45 Jeeps and sedans. The resort runs tours for the soldiers to Switzerland, Italy and Austria.

Richard LeBrun, general manager of the AFRC-Europe, comments, "McCoy has often personally patrolled the resident housing areas at night and on weekends. He sets the example of a true leader by not asking his staff to do anything he would not do."

The hotels are located in downtown Garmisch and blend in with the other buildings in the area. Access to the parking lots is controlled by a standard gable gate system, tied into the VingCard 3000 guest card system. An integrated access control system includes digital CCTV. The hotels in Garmisch and the resort at Chiemsee are well covered by surveillance cameras which tape continuously. McCoy was instrumental in installing an electronic key card system.

When he first arrived, McCoy was shocked to find the hotels still using hard keys, placed on key chains with room numbers attached. He knew, however, that he was in unchartered territory as the first director of security and safety that the AFRC had ever employed in its properties in Korea and Germany. He created the security program. One of his more important accomplishments has been writing a detailed security and safety guide for the hotel employees presenting various scenarios and providing step-by-step instructions for resolving issues such as a bomb threat or an obscene phone call to a guest room. McCoy remarks: "I took the knowledge that I have developed over 20 odd years and put it in the book. If there is a bomb threat at one of the hotels, an employee can pick up the book and read how to handle the situation."

While McCoy is not on-call 24 hours a day, he says, "If something goes down, I get a phone call in the middle of the night." He starts his day by checking the reports and staying abreast of current events. Based on the information he receives, he assesses what his team needs to do to maintain a safe and secure environment. McCoy says, "We need to know what ethnic or political group might be mad at the United States on any given day. It is critical to maintain the close liaison between the law enforcement agencies on the ground and us, in our hospitality atmosphere." According to what he learns, he "adjusts fire."

Training is an element of his job he has embraced. McCoy trains the hotel staff, which includes room cleaners, chefs, front desk employees and hotel managers, on fire and life safety, evacuation procedures and bomb threat awareness, among other topics.

McCoy loves to learn and loves to share his knowledge with others. Since he became director of security and safety for AFRC-Europe, he has become a member of ASIS and is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP). While he devotes a great deal of energy and passion to his job, he saves just enough for his other passion: scuba diving. McCoy is a certified S.C.U.B.A. instructor and taught S.C.U.B.A. diving in Korea. He goes diving in the glacier lakes in Germany and Austria where he says the water is cold but the diving is beautiful.

With an eight-month-old daughter, McCoy spends a lot of time at home being Daddy. He says he and his wife have a good life in Germany and they both enjoy golf and skiing. He is modest about his skills in German but admits, "I know how to order a beer."

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