Photo By Sgt. Adam L. Mathis | Lt. Col. Steven Donnelly gives a farewell address at the French Theater on Joint Base...... read more read more
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – The job of helping soldiers prepare for deployment changed hands Aug. 1 on Joint Base Lewis-McChord when Col. John Velliquette Jr. assumed command of the 1st Joint Mobilization Brigade from Lt. Col. Steven Donnelly.
Velliquette steps into a crucial role for the base. The 1st JMB runs the Soldier Readiness Center, a hub for preparing service members for deployment. This brigade has mobilized over 73,000 service members and demobilized 48,000 soldiers.
“Without the efforts from the JMB, we could not have done what was asked of us,” said Col. Thomas Brittain of Savannah, Ga., the JBLM commander.
Velliquette is a graduate of the United States Army Military Academy, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science in engineering management. He served on active duty for five years before transferring to the Washington Army National Guard and then the United States Army Reserve Corps. After switching to the reserve, he deployed to Iraq where he served as the Chief Automated Fingerprint Identification Officer, among other roles.
Velliquette’s last unit, the 2214th Mobilization Support Battalion, also joined him at his new assignment. Some of the former 1st JMB are leaving with Donnelley and the 2214th will assume the name of the 1st JMB.
“The assignment’s challenging because we’re taking care of soldiers during the mobilization and reintegration process,” said Velliquette of Sumner, Wash. “We’ve already established good working relationships with the Soldier Readiness Center at Waller Hall, and so just working with them has been a great experience so far. There are always challenges; we’ve worked through them so far, and we’ve tried to streamline the process even further.”
The outgoing commander, Donnelly, is an aviation officer, commissioned through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Washington State University. He has held positions as an Attack Helicopter platoon leader, company commander, and a provost marshal, among other positions. When Donnelly assumed command of the 1st JMB, the unit was undergoing a major transition from helping Reserve component soldiers deploy to active duty.
“The change of mission from supporting reserve component to active component actually change our daily requirements for the types of services that we provide because most active components who live here are self sufficient,” said Donnelly of Elizabethtown, Pa. “So we went from providing housing, feeding, and transportation to simply providing SRP processing and readiness and the reintegration of the active component.”
Velliquette’s new assignment already presents some challenges. Some Reserve component Soldiers who work at the SRC on a voluntary basis are being phased out by 2015. This year, Velliquette and his unit will face a 33% reduction in those volunteers.
“Every job in the military is different, so this is unique in itself,” said Velliquette. “All of my soldiers, we’re ready to do the mission.”
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.17.2012 21:40 |
| Story ID: | 93415 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Hometown: | ELIZABETHTOWN, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 175 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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