Secretary of the Army visits Joint Base Balad

Photo By Staff Sgt. Gary Hawkins | Keeping with Army tradition, the senior ranking member, Secretary of the Army, the Honorable Pete Geren, follows Soldiers through the dining facility line while visiting Army Reserve and National Guard non-commissioned officers at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. While at JBB, Geren also visited the 3d ESC joint operations center, support operations fusion cell, and attended an Iraqi Business Industrial Zone briefing.  

BALAD, IRAQ

09.19.2008

Story by Sgt. Michael Behlin 

3rd Corps Sustainment Command

By Michael Behlin
3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – The Secretary of the United States Army visited Joint Base Balad Sept. 18 -19, 2008, to receive updates on current operations, visit Soldiers, meet with Army leadership, and assess future Army requirements to support combatant commanders.

Escorted by Brig. Gen. Michael Lally, 3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) commanding general, Pete Geren visited the 3d ESC joint operations center, support operations fusion cell, and attended an Iraqi Business Industrial Zone briefing.

"Today, we had the Secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, visit Joint Base Balad," said Lally. "The purpose of his visit to the 3d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) was to see how Army logisticians are providing support to the U.S. Army and coalition forces in Iraq."

Also while on JBB, Geren met with active duty company - grade officers; as well as Army Reserve and National Guard non-commissioned officers, and visited wounded Soldiers and Airmen at the 332nd Air Force Theater Hospital.

"The highlights of the visit were seeing the hard working Soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers that we have in this command, their enthusiasm, and their dedication to getting the job done on time and providing world class support to the war fighters in Iraq," said Lally. "Furthermore, he was very impressed with the high energy and creativity that he saw from all the Soldiers."

Geren, the 20th Secretary of the Army, has a statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installation, environment issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management.

As Secretary of the Army, Geren leads a work force of over one million active duty, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve Soldiers, 230,000 Department of the Army civilian employees and 280,000 contracted service personnel. He also has stewardship over 15 million acres of land.

"Overall, Geren's visit was a big success," said Lally. "The Secretary of the Army walked away with a much better understanding of the challenges and the successes we have in providing high quality, world class support to our forces in Iraq."

• Date Taken: 09.19.2008
• Date Posted: 09.20.2008 02:17
• Story ID: 23891
• Location: BALAD, IQ