Assistant Chief of Army Reserve visits ARMEDCOM

Photo By Angela Wallace | Mr. Stephen D. Austin, Assistant Chief of Army Reserve, meets with senior leaders and staff members of Army Reserve Medical Command in Pinellas Park, Florida at the C.W. “Bill” Young Armed Forces Reserve Center on Friday, Sept. 16. The ACAR also met with Soldiers and leaders from Army Reserve Medical Management Center co-located with ARMEDCOM at the C.W. Bill Young Armed Forces Reserve Center. ARMEDCOM enhances readiness, medical support, and medical training and is the largest medical footprint of the Army Reserve with more than 100 different medical units located throughout the United States.  

PINELLAS PARK, FL, UNITED STATES

09.16.2016

Story by Lt. Col. Angela Wallace 

Army Reserve Medical Command

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. – Mr. Stephen D. Austin, Assistant Chief of Army Reserve, met with senior leaders and staff members with Army Reserve Medical Command in Pinellas Park, Florida at the C.W. “Bill” Young Armed Forces Reserve Center on Friday, Sept. 16.

During his first visit to the command since being selected as ACAR in October of 2015, Austin discovered another first. In 2013, ARMEDCOM submitted a command implementation plan which began a transformation process for the command. Sept. 16 marked the effective date of those proposed changes with the completion of 63 activations, 19 inactivations and 23 conversions, creating a total structure for the command of 119 units located throughout the U.S.

“We need to continue to look for efficiencies in the Army Reserve and find better ways of doing business,” said Austin. “Regardless of change, there will always be a need for an Army and a U.S. Army Reserve.”

ARMEDCOM, commanded by Maj. Gen. Mary E. Link, is the key medical asset to Army Reserve readiness, providing enhanced medical skills that serve as a force multiplier to the total force. The latest transformation changes ensure the command is constructed to be more efficient to mobilize and deploy in support of the command's go-to-war mission with Army Medical Command.

“The Army Reserve has over sixty-percent of the medical capabilities for the total Army. The Army, the nation cannot go to war without the support that ARMEDCOM provides in facilities, in hospitals, in troop units throughout the country,” said Austin.

Prior to departing, Austin shared some final thoughts, “I’m always impressed by the quality of the Soldiers and [civilians] at our reserve centers, and I’m incredibly impressed by the full span of what ARMEDCOM does for the Army Reserve and for the Army. Keep pressing.”

• Date Taken: 09.16.2016
• Date Posted: 09.18.2016 10:36
• Story ID: 209924
• Location: PINELLAS PARK, FL, US