Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Neil W. McCabe | Col. Maria E. Ostrander, left, incoming commander, Northeast Medical Area Readiness...... read more read more
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The soldiers and officers of the Northeast Medical Area Readiness Support Group witnessed the change of command at the historic grounds on Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, N.Y., Feb. 8, 2014.
During the ceremony, Command Sgt. Maj. Terry G. Dibert, the senior enlisted advisor for NEMARSG, took the command’s flag from the color guard and returned to the diamond formation with the other principles.
First, Dibert passed the flag to Col. Thomas J. Motel, the outgoing commander, who then passed it to Maj. Gen. Bryan R. Kelly, the commanding general for the Army Reserve Medical Command, representing Motel’s relinquishment of command to the general with the troops always having a superior officer.
Kelly then passed the flag to Col. Maria E. Ostrander, the incoming commander. This passing demonstrated to the troops in formation that the new commander has the full confidence of the commanding general.
Finally, Ostrander passed the flag to Dibert, her command sergeant major, who then, in his first act as her partner, returned the flag to the color guard to end the ceremony.
In addition to the troops, several unit commanders and senior NCO’s, Brig. Gen. Mary E. Link, ARMEDCOM’s deputy commanding general and its senior enlisted soldier Command Sgt. Maj. Harold P. Estabrooks, also witnessed the ceremony.
After the change of command ceremony, Kelly said in his remarks that he was grateful for Motel’s leadership of the NEMARSG.
“Leaders do not--as Colonel Motel has pointed out a number of times in the last 24 hours that I have been here—succeed without the support of everyone around them,” general said.
“The morale and character demonstrated by the NEMARSG here certainly is an indication of the type of leader he has been here,” he said.
Kelly said he was confident that Motel would continue his success at his new command of the 7301st Medical Training Support Battalion at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., a unit dedicated to preparing troops for mobilizations.
The general also said he appreciated members of the Motel and Ostrander family for their attendance and support of the colonels. “Just as the NCO is the backbone of the Army and our formations, the family is the backbone of the soldier.”
In his own remarks, Motel a resident from Mill Hall, Pa., said few people outside the military understand the loss of time with family that duty in uniform requires and he was grateful to his family for what they sacrifice, so he can serve.
“Soldiers of the NEMARSG: Thank you,” said Motel, who is an alumnus and Laboratory Supervisor for the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering for Penn State University, State College, Pa.
Turning to Kelly, he said: “Sir, you have some fine soldiers here. They are quality soldiers ready to do what you need them to do.”
Then, he said to Ostrander: “I am giving you some fine soldiers. They will work hard for you and you could not ask for better soldiers.”
In her first address to her new command, Ostrander a native of Mexico City said, “I am really looking forward to working with all of you. I know, I have great shoes to fill—it is going to be hard work, but I am willing to do it.”
During the reception, Ostrander said she joined the Army in 1976 as a private because she wanted to be a nurse and the Army would send her to nursing school, and make her an Army nurse.
Following her goals, she completed her nursing education program in 1987 from Gadsden Community College, Gadsden, Ala., and in 1999 received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Ala., and later in 2002, graduated with a Master’s of Science in Nursing from the University of South Alabama, Mobile, Ala.
Although she deployed as a civil affairs officer with the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team, Ostrander said she would moonlight at the Green Zone combat support hospital as a nurse and it was there in 2007 she worked with Capt. Maria I. Ortiz, the first Army nurse killed in combat since Vietnam.
The colonel said it was a very difficult deployment during the height of the Surge. “We were attacked every day, two or three times a day.” The attacks were nearly always indirect fire from mortars, such at the attack that killed Ortiz as she was walking to her quarters from the fitness center.
During her tenure as the NEMARSG commander, Ostrander said she will focus on readiness and taking care of soldiers.
“I will be building on what Colonel Motel has done here,” she said.
Dibert said working with Motel was a great experience.
“He is the best commander I have had the chance to serve with,” the command sergeant major said. “He is a natural leader, everything he does just flows and we are going to miss him.”
The Northeast Medical Area Readiness Support Group, part of the Army Reserve Medical Command, is a brigade-level command and control for U.S. army hospitals and medical support units from Virginia and Maine and east of the Mississippi River.
| Date Taken: | 02.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2014 10:38 |
| Story ID: | 120566 |
| Location: | STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 481 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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