One of the Army's top advocates for the care and treatment of its ill and wounded Soldiers and their Families now will serve as assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition.
The Army has assigned Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, who has been deputy commander of the Army's North Atlantic Regional Medical Command as well as director of the Army Medical Action Plan (AMAP), to lead the service's warrior care and transition effort.
Tucker, a two-time combat veteran, has been known by the media as a "bureaucracy buster," and was charged with transforming wounded warrior care in March following news reports a month earlier about substandard living conditions and procedural obstacles for wounded Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
"As a leader of Soldiers, I am humbled by this responsibility and the implications it will have on the force for years to come," said Tucker, a 35-year Army career veteran. "What we do today to transform the military health care system and respond to the needs of our Soldiers and their Families - at a time in their lives when they need us most - will shape the force for years to come. Anything other than a complete transformation of the system is unacceptable."
Tucker and his staff have spearheaded efforts to create warrior transition units (WTU) to give better leadership and supervision to Soldiers recovering from wounds, to improve their housing and other service facilities and to establish centers to provide administrative and social-work services for Soldiers and Families.
According to Maj. Gen. Gale S. Pollock, Acting, The Surgeon General, Soldiers who are recovering from injuries or illnesses in our hospitals, or who are leaving the Army for civilian life or to receive care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, have earned the very best service and support we can provide. They have an advocate in Mike Tucker. He impresses everyone with his energy and enthusiasm as he aggressively tackles these important issues. He will continue that focus in his new position as assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition.
While Tucker's title has changed, his team remains focused on providing policy and program oversight of 35 WTUs. In the WTUs, each patient is assigned a squad leader, a case manager and a primary-care manager to make sure the wounded Soldier receives appropriate treatment and adequate administrative support, and his or her Family's needs are met.
Tucker, a former drill sergeant, said that during his career he has faced many challenges, but the personal responsibility he feels for improving the lives of his fellow Soldiers is what drives him to bust through the bureaucracy. The general is quick to credit the team of Army physicians, nurses, social workers, benefits counselors, platoon sergeants, squad leaders and other support staff members who have stepped up to this new challenge and who have repeatedly shown their dedication and commitment to serving and caring for their brethren.
"Our team has worked hard to change the way we provide care to our ill and wounded," Tucker said. "I am proud of their work." The AMAP chief of staff agrees, adding that it has taken courage and leadership to see this vision through.
"We are determined from top to bottom (of the organization) to transform this process," said Col. Jimmie O. Keenan, chief of staff for AMAP. "General Tucker has empowered all of us to make a difference. Of course, it is not perfect. We will have to make adjustments as we move through this process to make sure we are truly meeting the needs of our troops, and we will. There is so much passion and commitment at all levels of the organization from our specialists to senior Army leaders to make sure we are serving our fellow Soldiers as fiercely at home as they served the nation on the battlefield. I can see the sense of duty and responsibility in the eyes of everyone on the staff. We all know what we are doing is the right thing for our fellow Soldiers."
Keenan said the transformed military health care system focuses on the total care of ill and wounded Soldiers and their Families, including the severely injured. No longer will a Soldier or a Soldier's loved one have to search for the ID card section, how to get billeting or even a ride to the airport.
The WTUs will also link Families to warrior medical care, rehabilitation and benefits as they have never been before with the addition of Soldier Family assistance centers. The Installation Management Command-sponsored assistance centers will provide help with documents, payments, access cards, insurance and more. Ill and wounded Soldiers will also receive legal assistance concerning Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) and Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) cases.
"These warriors have risked life and limb to defend our nation's freedoms, and it is our duty to honor and serve them with compassion and dignity," Tucker said. "These Soldiers are warriors in need of healing. They need to know that's what we are there to do for them, so that their focus is on recovery and not whether their rent will be paid."
Tucker enlisted in the Army in 1972 and served as a cavalry scout and a drill sergeant before being accepted for Officer Candidate School in 1979. His assignments included operations officer of an armor battalion during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, assistant professor at West Point, and command of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was serving as deputy commanding general and assistant commandant of the U.S. Army Armor Center and Fort Knox, Ky., when he was called on to address the problems uncovered at Walter Reed.
Tucker's education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, a Master's degree in military arts and sciences from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and a Master's degree in public administration from Shippensburg University.
(Amee Roberson with Army Medical Action Plan Strategic Communications contributed to this report.)
For more information contact Cynthia Vaughan, Cynthia.vaughan@us.army.mil; 703-681-0519.
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