JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Members of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord community gathered at the Mission Training Complex here May 17 for the activation ceremony of a new I Corps unit.
The I Corps Main Command Post – Operations Detachment will provide direct support to the I Corps headquarters. The detachment is a U.S. Army Reserve unit comprised of 75 Soldiers stationed at JBLM and commanded by Lt. Col. Erik Flint.
“The MCPOD embodies the one Army concept,” said Flint. “The concept that the active Army, the Army National Guard, and the Army Reserve are not separate entities but parts of a greater whole -- a greater United States Army. And that Army has one mission; to fight and win America’s land wars.”
The activation ceremony was presided by Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, I Corps and JBLM Commanding General. Volesky said the added capabilities of the MCP-OD will be crucial as I Corps’ operational tempo increases.
“In the next few months we will be very busy with four different exercises preparing for potential combat deployments in three different countries,” said Volesky. “Two of these exercises are validations. The Soldiers in front of you will be instrumental in our preparation and future deployments. We can’t do it without them.”
MCP-OD Soldiers wear the I Corps shoulder sleeve insignia, and are co-located within the I Corps headquarters where they are in direct support of nine different staff sections.
“Make no mistake about it,” Volesky said, “these Soldiers provide trained and ready key capabilities that fill gaps that were created by the Army’s decision to reduce Corps headquarters by 25 percent as a result of the Budget Control Act.”
He said he was confident the Soldiers in the MCP-OD would rise to the challenges of augmenting I Corps, adding that they would improve the Corps’ ability to execute simultaneous missions across multiple deployments.
“I have no doubt with you in our ranks, we will exceed our nation’s expectations in anything we are asked to do,” Volesky said.