Photo By Staff Sgt. Robert Farrell | Brig. Gen. Michael C. O’Guinn (left), a native of Newark, Ohio, stands alongside,...... read more read more
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As the Army Reserve’s premier joint Global Medic exercise moves into its second week, Brig. Gen. Michael C. O’Guinn, a native of Newark, Ohio, takes command of the San Antonio based Medical Readiness and Training Command during a ceremony held here May 10.
Maj. Gen. Bryan R. Kelly, a resident of East Sandwich, Massachusetts, and commanding general of the Army Reserve Medical Command in Pinellas Park, Florida, and officiating officer for the change of command remarked on the unique timing of the ceremony.
“This particular change of command is a unique opportunity to have it done here, during the Medical Readiness and Training Command’s premier exercise Global Medic,” said Kelly who commanded the MRTC from April 2009 to September 2012. “About three years ago, this was the first joint accredited exercise, and MRTC was the driving force getting Fort McCoy and Fort Hunter-Liggett certified as the platform for joint training.”
“I welcome Brigadier General O’Guinn, and his family to our Army Reserve Family,” said Kelly. “This ceremony is something I will always remember, and I am sure Brigadier General O’Guinn will store this in his memory bank.”
O’Guinn began his military service in 1982 when he enlisted in the Army Reserve as a combat medic in the Special Forces; four years later he was commissioned as an officer and entered active duty as a Medical Service Corps officer in 1987. Now, 32 years later, as a brigadier general he stands in front of his command comparing this special day to a favorite holiday.
“I am like an 8-year old coming downstairs on Christmas morning, seeing the one and only gift I asked for under the tree,” said O’Guinn, who began his officer career at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a Medical Platoon Leader with 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. “This is how I feel about being the Commander of MRTC.”
During the ceremony, Kelly transferred the MRTC colors to O’Guinn with the assistance of the senior enlisted advisor for MRTC and a Tempe, Arizona native Command Sgt. Maj. Marlo V. Cross. The passing of the colors symbolically represents the passing of responsibility and authority over to the new MRTC commander.
Addressing the audience, O’Guinn said, “What MRTC does, as the only collective medical training command in the Army, is to help prepare our forces for whatever mission they may be called to execute. It is fitting that MRTC is in the Army Reserve given the majority of deployable medical units are in the Army Reserve.”
O’Guinn talked about his earlier years in the military, commenting on all the medical training and exercises he had participated in before September 11, 2001.
“After 9/11 we all got a chance to put our training into practice to see if what we did truly prepared us for combat, and we performed remarkably well where medics on the battlefield saved lives,” said O’Guinn a five time deployed veteran. “As our deployment tempo thankfully decreases, the role of MRTC and the training command is only going to get more important in the Army Reserve and to help ensure the overall readiness of our military.”
Throughout his military career, O’Guinn took on several command assignments, to include, Commander of the Joint Logistics Support Element and Edwin Andrews Air Base with Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines in Zamboanga, Philippines, Deputy Commander and Support Operations Officer for U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center, Southwest Asia at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. He commanded the Salerno Hospital at Forward Operating Base in Salerno, Afghanistan, and Task Force 807th Medical responsible for mission command over all medical forces in Iraq.
O’Guinn’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal with one Silver and two Oak Leaf Clusters, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal w/Oak Leaf Cluster, Combat Action Badge, Expert Field Medical Badge, Airborne Badge, Air Assault Badge, Army Staff Identification Badge, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, and the Army Superior Unit Award.
He is a member of the Order of Military Medical Merit, and was the Medical Service Corps Award of Excellence winner in 1997.
O’Guinn resides in New Windsor, Maryland, with his wife Monica, a retired lieutenant colonel, and their three daughters, Kierstin, Molly and Taylor.
O’Guinn was a Distinguished Military Graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, earning a bachelor’s degree in Education. Later, he received a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a second Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
O’Guinn is Twice the Citizen, serving as an Army Reserve Commanding General for MRTC, and as a civilian he owns a woodworking business and is also an independent consultant.
| Date Taken: | 05.10.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.19.2014 11:40 |
| Story ID: | 130279 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 1,127 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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