Photo By Capt. Fernando Ochoa | Brig. Gen. James T. Cook wears full battle rattle for his Black Hawk fly over Warrior...... read more read more
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JOLON, Calif. — After a distinguished 34 year career, Brig. Gen. James T. Cook, commanding general of the 91st Training Division (Operations), retired from the U.S. Army Reserve. Cook was presented with the Legion of Merit during the change of command ceremony held, June 29, 2012.
During Cook’s three year tenure, he oversaw the 91st transformation from a headquarters at Camp Parks to being the executive agent for the Warrior Exercise and the Combat Support Training Exercise, leading, training and managing those two exercises. By allowing the unit’s personnel to attend battle assemblies four days every two months instead of two days monthly, he was able to retain the core and vital personnel necessary to keep the 91st one of the leading and elite training units in the U.S. Army Reserve.
“My tenure here was very good. There were some challenges, but we were able to stabilize and grow the unit,” said Cook.
Cook is proud of three main accomplishments. The first is growing and expanding the training division and telling the story of its mission and relevance within the Army Reserves, but also conveying the same message in the active component and National Guard. For instance, last year Camp Milpitas was staffed and run by elements of the Texas National Guard.
The second accomplishment is having the capability, through its small arms readiness unit, to spread throughout the United States and provide its customers marksmanship training. This allowed the 91st to provide mobile military training teams to go to its customer’s base and provide that service to them at their locations. That small arms readiness unit, based out of the 3rd Battalion Headquarters, Camp Bullis, San Antonio, Texas, not only provides that kind of training to their customers but allows it to recruit OPFOR for our exercises.
Cook’s most important accomplishment is including other military services during the summer exercises. Following the vision of the Joint Chief of Staff of the Army, the 91st has intergraded its sister services, utilizing their expertise and skill set to improve training and build the infrastructure of Fort Hunter Liggett. A couple of years ago, Cook reached out to Navy Seabees and through his efforts they build structures on Fort Hunter Liggett camps and training bases. They were also able to validate their Navy personnel prior to their deployment.
The 91st also integrated Global Medics into the warrior exercises when they received Air Force Reserve assets, receiving lift capability and Medical Air Force hospitals that worked in conjunction with combat support hospitals. And finally, using Marine Corps air lift capability helped with several different operations, including attack helicopters to work with convoys to provide a very realistic scenarios and utilizing C-130s for air lift and drop capabilities.
“So those are the three major accomplishments, taking us forward to the next level. As I look at it we are ‘super facilitators,’ meeting the needs of our customers,” said Cook.
When Cook retires, he intends to spend his time working with the non-profit organization Warrior Water Center. This organization takes care of veterans and returning service members that have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or Traumatic Brain Injury. By using alternative healing methods such hydrotherapy, acupuncture, sound and light therapy, and equine therapy (using horses), service members, particularly Army Reserve and National Guard, are able to make a smoother transition into the civilian world; the cornerstone being resiliency training.
“Educating family members is very important. Letting them know what they can do to support their family member in recovery,” said Cook. “Also by educating the public, that enlists volunteerism. People will volunteer for things if they know what they are volunteering for.”
Cook has had a very productive and successful tenure at the 91st Training Division. He has turned Fort Hunter Liggett into one of the premiere training sites in the U.S. Army Reserve and the 91st into a multiservice training unit that prepares soldiers and service members for the future. He wanted the troops to know that he values their service saying,
“I just want to say that if it wasn’t for the troops I would never have had such a great experience in my 34 years because my love is for the soldiers.”
| Date Taken: | 06.29.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.10.2012 12:44 |
| Story ID: | 91326 |
| Location: | JOLON, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,335 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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