Senior leaders visit deployed troops

By Sgt. Tom WadeAugust 15, 2017

Senior leaders visit deployed troops
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Terrence McKenrick (left), U.S. Army Central deputy commanding general, discusses trip and mission topics with U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Griese (right), assistant adjutant general, South Dakota National Guard, at the Joint Monthl... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Senior leaders visit deployed troops
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – U.S. Army Gen. Terrence McKenrick (right), U.S. Army Central deputy commanding general, congratulates U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joanne Sheridan (left), Louisiana National Guard assistant adjutant general, for completing her first Joint Monthly Access for R... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - Several senior U.S. Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve leaders participated in the Joint Monthly Access for Reserve Component, Aug. 2-6, at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. The purpose of this program is to enable leaders to observe first-hand the contributions of their deployed personnel in the U.S. Army Central area of operations.

This quarterly iteration included general officers and command sergeants major from the Louisiana and South Dakota National Guard's.

"The sergeant major and I want to talk about our troops' mission, see if they have any issues that they need to address back home and how their families are doing," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joanne Sheridan, assistant adjutant general, Louisiana National Guard. "We have mobilized and deployed 18,000 or more Army and Air Guardsman ... so our focus is on their needs and readiness."

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Griese, assistant adjutant general, South Dakota National Guard, echoed the same sentiments when asked about the purpose of his visit.

"My primary focus is to visit the Soldiers we currently have deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, from South Dakota," said Griese. "We have an engineer battalion headquarters and their forward support company stationed here, who ... is trained to support the operational needs of the Army total force construct."

The Army total force policy is an effort to transition the Army National Guard and Army Reserve into an operational force. The overarching model is to create a holistic and seamless "total force" governed by the same interchangeable procedures and policies.

Both generals and their command sergeants' major expressed pleasantries when asked about their visit and how the timelines worked for them.

"Just spending some time with the Soldiers on the ground and seeing the job they're doing with the attitude they've displayed is just amazing to me," said Sheridan. "This trip was a great trip, one I plan to make again soon."

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