SEMBACH, Germany– The U.S. Army is modernizing medical care to provide sustained expeditionary, tailored, medical forces to support the Army against any adversary in joint, multi-domain, high-intensity battlefields of the future and through the next pandemic.
One way Army Medicine is doing that is by redesignating its four existing region health commands as Medical Readiness Commands.
The Regional Health Command Europe, headquartered at Sembach, Germany, was redesignated as Medical Readiness Command, Europe during a ceremony near Landstuhl Regional Medical Center on September 30. The event was hosted by Maj. Gen. Dennis P. LeMaster, Deputy Commanding General (Support) U.S. Army Medical Command and the 19th Chief, U.S. Army Medical Service Corps.
“Today’s redesignation ceremony marks our compliance with NDAA, which redirects MEDCOM’s focus and priority onto the readiness of our Soldiers and medical forces,” said LeMaster. “We will provide trained and ready forces that are prepared to deploy today and fight tonight.”
In accordance with the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the Army, along with the other branches of military service, transferred administrative control of their fixed medical facilities to the DOD Defense Health Agency. The newly minted Medical Readiness Commands, which remain with the Army, are essential to carrying out the MEDCOM readiness mission of sustaining a trained and ready medical force and a medically ready force.
“It really is a historical event for us to recognize our past and celebrate what we’re doing as we move forward into the future,” said Brig. Gen. Clinton K. Murray, commanding general of Medical Readiness Command, Europe. “Here in Europe, we are the only fully forward deployed medical readiness command in the Army Medical Command and we are the receiving Role 4 medical facility for all casualties coming out of AFRICOM, CENTCOM and EUCOM and that is a significant lift. There aren’t that many Army units in the world that have that many lifts at the same time, and it’s incredibly impressive.”
The newly redesignated Medical Readiness Command, Europe will provide regionally ready, globally responsive medical forces, health service support, and force health protection to conserve the fighting strength of the Army. Additionally, it will provide command and control to Medical Department Activities, Medical Centers, Dental Health Commands, Public Health Commands, and Soldier Recovery Units.
As part of the reform and restructure of Army Medicine, the four existing Regional Health Commands are being restructured to better support Army readiness.
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