Photo By Jameson Crabtree | Maj. Gen Steven Ainsworth (right) receives the colors of the 377th Theater Sustainment...... read more read more
BELLE CHASSE, La. — Maj. Gen. Steven W. Ainsworth pinned on a second star on the same day he took the reins of the largest unit in the U.S. Army Reserve during an assumption of command ceremony after his promotion August 25 at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans.
U.S. Army Reserve Deputy Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Scottie D. Carpenter, travelled to the 377th Theater Sustainment Command to preside over both ceremonies and attend a Commander’s Readiness Review. He called Ainsworth the right person at the right time.
“Where we’re going is not where we’ve been. We’re not going to be deployed to the next war like we’ve been in the past 17 years,” said Carpenter. “We’re going to be in a near-peer fight so we need people that are strong, people that are engaged.”
Maj. Gen. Ainsworth, a native of Jackson, Miss., served as the commander of the 7th Mission Support command in Germany and was dual-hatted as the Deputy commanding General for the 21st Theater Sustainment Command before returning stateside to head the 377th TSC.
“It’s a great honor to serve. Every day is an exceptional thing because every day I wake up and I know the tremendous responsibility of being a commander,” said Ainsworth.
Ainsworth takes over at a time when the Army is globally engaged in 140 countries. 185,000 Soldiers are currently deployed in operations in which the Army Reserve plays a critical role providing unique capabilities and filling in the gaps within the active component. Ainsworth said Soldiers share a common path with their service counterparts and he wants to ensure his new unit does its part working toward mission success.
“I want to make sure that [the] 377th pulls its share of that,” he said. “We have to be the best we can be to be efficient and effective utilizing the tax payer resources but expeditionary, deployable, lethal for supporting lethal operations. We have to be that in the future.”
In the past, he said, the Army has had the time and space to prepare its formations for any contingency, but that won’t necessarily be the case going forward.
“In the future we may not have that luxury, so therefore, we have to be ready quicker. We have to be ready right now,” said Ainsworth.
Maj. Gen. Ainsworth started his career as an enlisted Soldier spending five years serving as a radio telephone operator, administration clerk, and a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear noncommissioned officer. He later earned his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Since then, he has risen through the ranks holding a variety of positions from platoon leader, to chief of operations for deployment and redeployment for the 377th Theater Support Command in Southwest Asia and serving as Deputy Commanding General at the Sustainment Center of Excellence – Combined Arms Support Command, Fort Lee, Virginia.
In his civilian capacity, Ainsworth is a commercial banker having earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi and a graduate degree in banking from Louisiana State University.
Ainsworth will spend the coming weeks and months meeting with staff and visiting units abroad and within the 377th TSC’s 34-state footprint. As he prepares to move the command into its next chapter, he told the crowd that while he is the commander, it’s not about him.
“There’s a clock ticking on me,” he said. “Command is about this unit. It’s about what we do and I want to make sure as commander that you’re very proud of everything that we do.”
| Date Taken: | 08.28.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2017 16:51 |
| Story ID: | 246333 |
| Location: | BELLE CHASSE, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 628 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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