Fort Hood Dental Activity under new leadership

The Fort Hood Dental Health Activity (DENTAC) is under new leadership following a change of command ceremony with outgoing commander, Col Michael Garvin, passing the last unit guideon of his 30-year career to his successor, Col. William Greenwood, who was previously commander at Fort Benning, Georgia's DENTAC.

Garvin, a Citadel graduate and native of South Carolina, is retiring and entering the academic world to teach dentistry, which he says is his passion.

"I love teaching newly minted dentists coming out of dental school to start thinking independently and learning new ways to get from A to Z," he said after the July 21 ceremony, which was held on 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command's Hildner Field.

That mentoring spirit, said reviewing officer, Col. Michael Roberts, commander, Regional Dental Health Command-Central, Fort Bliss, Texas, is why Colonel Garvin is a "world-class educator who has poured his heart and soul into training the highest caliber of comprehensive dentists who, would in turn, provide outstanding care."

"It's one thing to be an excellent clinician. It's quite another to grow excellent clinicians," said Roberts, talking about Garvin's tenure as an educator in several dentistry residency programs.

Under Garvin's command, Roberts said, the Go First Class (GFC) initiative that incorporates routine dental care and procedures into a single appointment has significantly reduced the number of non-deployable Fort Hood Soldiers. He also touched on Gavin's ability to strengthen relationships with both III Corps and Army Medicine, which has resulted in a planned multi-million dollar renovation of Fort Hood dental clinics beginning with the Billy Johnson Dental Clinic.

In praising the retiring Dental Corps officer, Colonel Roberts told the Soldiers in formation and the civilians attending the morning ceremony about how Garvin's leadership has impacted Army Medicine.

"Colonel Garvin has never taken his eye off the 'why,'" he said, referring to Army Medicine's mission of taking care of Soldiers. "Just ask any of the some 785,000 Soldiers he has treated throughout his 30-year career to confirm that he is a top-shelf clinician."

Roberts said Garvin has never wavered in ensuring that every Solider receives the highest quality of dental care possible.

"He knows full well that each and every Soldier is someone's son or daughter, husband or wife, mother or father," Roberts said, reflecting on his personal experiences as a father who recently said goodbye to his son who was deploying on a combat mission to Afghanistan. "My son's deployment gave me pause to reflect again on why we in Army Medicine do what we do: We do what we do so that my son would receive the best medical care in the world, if and when, he should need it."

In welcoming DENTAC's new commander, Colonel Roberts complimented Col. William Greenwood's leadership experience.

"He is a Soldier's Soldier," he said, referring to Greenwood's four years has a junior enlisted Soldier and his deployment rotations to Honduras, Korea, Bosnia and Iraq. "These experiences combine to make him an exceptionally well-rounded, well-qualified Soldier who is ready to take the Fort Hood DENTAC forward.

In his final remarks as an officer in the Dental Corps, Colonel Garvin thanked the troops and civilians under his command for their "unwavering commitment" in implementing operational and strategic changes without sacrificing mission readiness and how honored he was to have served alongside them.

"You have borne the brunt of all the changes and demands of continuing the unrelenting mission of readiness and our collective awesome honor to serve America's warriors in the face of truly rapid and salient change," he told them.

He also said that implementing the GFC initiative and its proven success, was one of his proudest achievements while commanding the nation's second largest Army DENTAC.

"The pace and significance of change that the Dental Corps has seen during the past few years is almost too overwhelming to even catalogue, let alone to have led during it," he said, on the mission of leading the Corps to a true high-reliability status through the myriad of challenges of full implementation of GFC."

Gavin closed out his remarks by reminding his former dental team about their mission and duty in caring for "America's sons and daughters."

"Thank you for living our motto," he said, wishing them success in continuing to "provide the highest quality dental care in the safest possible environment of unfailing dignity and respect for all we serve and with whom we serve."

Colonel Greenwood, in his first official speech as commander of the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center's dental activity, closed out the ceremony by promising to build on Garvin's accomplishments.

"You are the majority and continuity part of our mission," said the Illinois native, reiterating readiness as the number one priority. "Whether it's a medically ready force or a ready medical force, this mission will be successful."

Prior to the ceremony, Maj. Gen. Tempel, chief of Army Medicine and chief, Army Dental Corps, honored Gavin with the Dental Corps 2017 award for exceptional service, leadership and significant contributions to Army dentistry.