Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Hernandez | : U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Jeremy Porterie, a behavioral health specialist assigned to...... read more read more
More than 140 Army Reserve Soldiers of the 7246th Medical Support Unit out of Elkhorn, Nebraska; the 7232nd MSU out of New Orleans, Louisiana; the 7408th Troop Medical Clinic out of Fort Harrison, Montana; and other Soldiers cross-leveled from various Army Reserve medical units; conducted pre-deployment health assessments and readiness exams at the Soldier Readiness Processing center here, and performed medical and dental services at the TMC here during Mobilization Exercise Level III here, or MOBEX Level III, from July 29 to August 18.
The three Army Reserve Medical Command-based units processed and supported Active, Guard and Reserve Component Soldiers during MOBEX Level III, which is one of varying levels of this training event to measure the capabilities of units moving in and out of Mobilization Force Generation Installations, or MFGIs, in preparation for large-scale combat operations and large-scale mobilization operations.
Lieutenant Col. Joseph Mangiameli, an Army Reserve public health nurse and officer-in-charge of the 7246th Medical Support Unit out of Elkhorn, Nebraska, said that the intent was to prove that they can push about 400 Soldiers a day through the SRP center if LSMO in the Continental United States, or CONUS, is enacted in tandem with LSCO.
"It used to be a 60-day process, and now they can turn it into a 22-day process," Mangiameli said. "Eventually, we will have nine active MFGIs across the CONUS, and we can move corps out as opposed to where we were moving battalions out."
The SRP center operational dates were from August 5 to August 9, and the 12th and the 13th, Mangiameli said.
Captain Marianne Rose, a clinical laboratory scientist and the SRP OIC for the 7246th MSU, said that the Army Reserve role in LSMO greatly amplifies the Total Force in support of LSCO.
"One of the biggest things that our mission here was able to establish was that we can come on ground and be functioning within a week of having boots on ground and pushing Soldiers through a SRP center at a higher volume that they are seeing currently," said Rose. "We serve as that force multiplier, by our ability to come in and function at a high rate -- especially with the short amount of time (in which we need to be mission capable) -- it is really critical to mission success."
"Us able to prove that fact shows that Fort Riley will effectively be ready to answer the call if large-scale combat operations kicks off and then we have to activate large-scale mobilization operations," Rose said.
The Papillion, Nebraska native said that this training event provides realistic training in preparation for LSMO and LSCO.
"For my unit in particular participating in these types of exercises, it gives us a good idea of what to expect in the future if we have to support missions like these," said Rose. "We get a lot of good experience for a lot of individuals who don't necessarily perform their MOSs or AOCs on the civilian side, and they kind of get to brush up on those skill sets when they come down here."
Additionally, she said that this is an opportunity for Soldiers to strengthen their knowledge and skill sets in their military occupational specialties or areas of concentration.
"We also got to see the flow of an SRP center, how it would function, and it gives us a good idea of maybe where we may be lacking, or where we could plus up manpower-wise for a real-world mission," said Rose.
Captain Nicole Faoro, a medical-surgical nurse and the TMC OIC for the 7408th TMC, said that her unit's involvement with this year's MOBEX differs not only in its level classification upgrade, but the addition of dental operations as well.
"We ran essentially two operations of the TMC, as we ran a medical sick call and medical care for service members who were identified with needs back at the SRP center or who became injured during training," Faoro said. "And we also had dentists and dental techs who were operating on a sick call basis and who were also providing treatment for service members who needed it."
The SRP OIC said that although the Reserve Component provided staunch augmentation of medical and dental support in this training exercise, the active-duty Soldiers of the Irwin Army Community Hospital here were also extremely helpful to the MSU and the TMC operations.
"I just want to give credit where credit is due, as the IACH support team and their credentialing operations team both did a fantastic job in my opinion," Rose said. "They were there right by our side, helping us and making sure that we had what we needed and they put in additional hours more than anybody could ask of them. Without their support, we would not have been able to conduct this mission."
According to Mangiameli, the cumulative efforts of the AR-MEDCOM medical team drew commendation from the Brig. Gen. Gary Ropers, land component commander for the Nebraska Army National Guard and deputy commanding general of Fort Riley Mobilization and the deputy commanding general of MOBEX Level III. Additionally, he said that Ronald Keohane, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, was astounded by the level of expertise and commitment to excellence that was exemplified by the MSUs and the TMC.
"(Keohane) was very impressed, our Soldiers impressed him and what he shared with me afterward was that he is been through a lot of military installations, but these Soldiers were some of the most professional," Mangiameli said. "I think it speaks volumes for Army Reserve Soldiers coming in, people that don't wear the uniform every day, and I was very proud that they created that impression with the Assistant Secretary of Defense."
Finally, Mangiameli said that his team took the initiative in rectifying issues with records updates and health assessments that were in dire need of overhaul for Soldiers of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.
"We absolutely still scrubbed their records on what they needed medically, and we actually took care of all of their medical deficits," said Mangiameli. "Anything that they needed, we got it knocked out."
"It was a decision that I made at the local level, and I think that is a perfect example of force generation."
| Date Taken: | 08.27.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.29.2024 10:43 |
| Story ID: | 479555 |
| Location: | FORT RILEY, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, AR-MEDCOM Soldiers augment, ensure soldier readiness during MOBEX III, by SFC Christopher Hernandez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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