AMCOM Missile Maintenance Officer departing for assignment with 10th Army

After making history last year as the first female in her military occupational specialty to achieve the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 5, Araceli Rial is departing her position as missile maintenance officer for the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command later this month. Her next assignment is with the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Kaiserslautern, Germany, where she will join the G-4 support operations cell as the senior air and missile defense advisor for maintenance and logistics operations.

“I’ve been at AMCOM for four amazing years and I believe my biggest impact was increased integration between enterprise-level operations and the air and missile defense community,” said Rial.

Rial said her tenure as the AMCOM missile maintenance officer provided her with an insider’s working knowledge that she will use to help other leaders make educated decisions regarding sustainment at the tactical level.
“This role has really provided me the ‘behind-the-curtain’ operations on sustainment and lifecycle management decisions,” said Rial. “At the tactical and even operational level, we often do not fully understand how or why certain decisions are made. I can bridge that gap.”

Although she enjoyed her time at AMCOM and is appreciative of the professional development it afforded her, Rial is ready for her next assignment overseas.

“I’m excited to go back into the force and share what I’ve learned with anyone who will listen,” said Rial. “With the flurry of activities going on in Europe right now, I’m excited to seek and tackle new challenges while continuing to improve and contribute to our [air and missile defense] community.”

As with most permanent change of station moves, there’s a mix of excitement of what’s to come and sadness at what’s being left behind – and Rial has a message to the AMCOM workforce before she leaves.

“I cannot express how incredibly blessed I’ve been to work with the AMCOM team over the last four years,” said Rial. “The AMCOM workforce truly takes every role and responsibility seriously and understands the impact they have on their No. 1 customer: the warfighter.”