FORT BENNING, Ga. – The 14th Combat Support Hospital (14th CSH), 44th Medical Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C., will marked a transitional milestone during a Casing of the Colors ceremony, June 21.
From the earliest of times, warriors used a banner or other symbols to identify specific units, and to serve as a rallying point for troops. These banners and symbols eventually became knowns as their Colors. Today, these Colors, with battle streamers attached, join their unit in formations during ceremonies to signify their presence during past battles.
The 14th CSH will case their Colors and relocate to Fort Stewart, Ga. as the 14th Combat Field Hospital after serving 17 years as a ready and responsive deployable medical unit here. As the Army continues adapting to operations in this new environment, the Army Medical Department continues striving to provide better expeditionary Army health system support. As a result in 2017, the AMEDD began transforming combat support hospitals into field hospitals.
Under the new construct, joint medical forces are able to conduct expeditionary health service support, including early-entry hospitalization, rapidly employable resuscitation, and surgery, to increase personnel survivability during cross-domain and semi-independent operations.
“As we case our guidons and prepare to close this chapter of the 14th Combat Support Hospital’s history, I encourage each of you to stay with the moments, growing opportunities to allowing the esprit de corps we have forged to be etched in our hearts for years to come,” said Capt. Shaina Newton, commander, headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 14th CSH.
The 14th CSH was originally constituted on June 23, 1942 as the U.S. Army’s 14th Field Hospital. It was activated July 25, 1942 at Camp Bowie, Texas and inactivated March 25, 1946 in Germany. It was again activated November 13, 1950 in Korea and was allocated to the Army October 3, 1951. After approximately three years serving in Korea, the unit was inactivated February 1, 1954 and was reactivated in December 1954, again in Germany.
The unit operated in Germany until April 15, 1968 and was not activated again until October 6, 1996, when the unit arrived to Fort Benning. Eight years later on June 21, 2004 the 14th Field Hospital was re-designated as the 14th Combat Support Hospital here.
“As we wind down today it is my fervent hope that this unit takes these capabilities to Fort Stewart Georgia and continue to render its distinguish services to its new home,” said, Maj. Nkwantabisa Godfrey, commander, 926th preventative Health Medicine, 14th CSH.
The 14th Combat Support Hospital lineage includes participating in World War II at the Aleutian Islands, Rhineland, and Central Europe while also serving in the Korean War. Unit decorations include; two Meritorious Unit Commendations (Embroidered) and one Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation (Embroidered).
In September 2005, the 14th Combat Support Hospital deployed to New Orleans, Louisiana in support of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
In January 2006, the 14th Combat Support Hospital deployed to Afghanistan in support of Combined Joint Task Force-76 and the International Security Assistance Force - Afghanistan (ISAF) during Operation Enduring Freedom VII.
In July 2009, the 14th Combat Support Hospital deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom working under Joint Task Force134 performing the Detainee Healthcare Mission.
The 14th Combat Support Hospital was then realigned from 44th Medical Brigade to the 1st Medical Brigade on 27 January 2011 and then realigned back to 44th Medical Brigade on 16 May 2012.
In September 2012, the 14th Combat Support Hospital once again deployed to Afghanistan in support of International Security Assistance Force- Afghanistan (ISAF) as Task Force 14th Medical, a multifunction medical task force responsible for healthcare throughout Afghanistan, a first for a Combat Support Hospital.
Most recently, the 14th CSH assumed a Severe Weather Response Force mission in June 2014 and in October 2017, the 14th CSH provided aid to Puerto Rico as relief effort after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
Both combat support hospitals and field hospitals provide essential care within the theater evacuation policy to either return the patient to duty or stabilize the patient for evacuation to a definitive care facility outside the area of operation.
However, field hospitals differ from combat support hospitals because one or more medical detachments augment the field hospital to increase its capability to provide health service support for maneuver forces within the area of operation. Enhanced mission command and communications capabilities have improved the field hospital's versatility and agility. The augmentation detachments have specific clinical specialties that can adapt to better support an assigned mission.
“We’ve cased the colors but the legacy of the 14th Combat Support Hospital will live on. It’ll live on in you, and the 14th Field Hospital,” said, Col. James G. Pairmore, commander, 14th CSH. “Our motto has been, ‘We’ve got this,’ and you, the Soldiers of the 14th CSH, absolutely has.”
For more photos, click here: https://fortbenning.smugmug.com/Tenant-Units/14th-Combat-Support-Hospital/2021-06-21-14th-Combat-Support-Hospital-casing-ceremony/
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