FORT SAM HOUSTON, TEXAS -- U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) Chief of Staff, Mr. Herbert Coley, spoke at a recent U.S. Army Medical Information Technology Center (USAMITC) Commander's Call held at the Blesse Auditorium on Fort Sam Houston.
The Commander's Call started with a welcome and a motivational video on "Teamwork" that contained 3-D animation with special effects created by USAMITC's Administrative Support Division (ASD). After the video, USAMITC Commander, Lt. Col. Beverly Beavers, introduced Coley as the event's guest speaker.
Since the overall theme of this Commander's Call was "Teamwork," Coley began speaking about the importance of communication as it pertains to teamwork. "Communication implies that a message was sent, along with a confirmation that the message was received. That's a crucial point about information sharing," he stated. "You can communicate all day long, but if you don't have any way of knowing if your message is being received, then you're not communicating at all," he continued. "Teamwork starts with communication. You have to understand the Commander's vision, your bosses' vision and your strategic objectives," he said. "You will need to understand that you will know how to come together as a team to accomplish the mission."
Coley then brought the USAMITC audience up to date about events and happenings in the MEDCOM and the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG). "Major General [Patricia] Horoho was confirmed as the next Army Surgeon General, and she will also be the next Commander of the Medical Command," he said.
Coley went on to describe how Maj. Gen. Horoho will have a change of command ceremony later this year, will be promoted to Lieutenant General and serve as the next U.S. Army Surgeon General. "This is historic for us, because she is the first female surgeon general, and the first other than a physician from our Military services to be in this position, and that's definitely a first," he said.
"In regard to teamwork, another historic study taking place right now is on how the Military Health System should be governed -- whether or not it should be governed by a joint unified medical command," said Coley as he began the next topic of his presentation. "Our leaders have been proponents of having a unified medical command and having a tri-service approach to things because if you look at Iraq and Afghanistan, it's all the services [Army, Navy, Air Force] providing health care services to the combatants," he added.
Coley then spoke about the ongoing internal analysis and command vision between the MEDCOM Office of the Chief Information Officer and USAMITC -- going into detail about the increased responsibility of the USAMITC Commander, and then bringing the audience up to date on possible MEDCOM changes in the future. "We're in good shape concerning the civilian workforce, and it also appears that we'll be in good shape on the Military side, at least for MEDCOM," he added.
After fielding some questions at the conclusion of his presentation, Coley thanked the USAMITC audience for inviting him to speak at this commander's call. "Again, meetings like this are extremely important because they're face-to-face. That way, we can ensure that the message sent was the message received. Thank you very much," he concluded.
Later, and on behalf of USAMITC, Lt. Col. Beavers presented Coley a framed commemorative photo with an engraved leadership quote. It was a quote from him that was highlighted during the video.
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