Reserve Units/Personnel | Army War College Foundation, INC. - Part 3

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Reserve Units/Personnel

Dave Dean, DDE ‘18

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Dave Dean, DDE ‘18

COL David Dean is Commander of the Hood Mobilization Brigade, which oversees mobilization and demobilization operations at North Fort Hood, including the quarantine of more than 500 troops. Their efforts to combat COVID-19 while mobilizing and demobilizing Active Duty, Army National Guard, and U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers has been complex as it is across the force. In early April, six units were settled in at North Fort Hood, completing their demobilization processing before returning to their home states. That demobilization processing time had to be extended due to the Department of Defense-directed 14-day quarantine for the units filtering through from their overseas deployments. Their first two weeks on American soil are now spent in quarantine to protect our troops, to protect family members, and to protect the communities where they live and work. These 41 troops in the first unit quarantined at North Fort Hood were with the 647th Expeditionary Terminal Operations Element, based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, as they were redeploying from Germany in mid-March. While this unexpected extension to their stay at North Fort Hood was a delay to their homecoming, the seriousness of the pandemic, and the Army’s response, was not lost on these Army Reserve Soldiers. Dave’s unit took on their mobilization mission just a week prior to the quarantine order going into effect, so he and his team has had to hit the ground running. They benefited from some 2014 lessons learned when North Fort Hood was used to quarantine troops for 21 days after they returned from supporting the fight against the Ebola virus in West Africa. Initial plans were based on that model, but tweaks to improve the process had to be made for this novel coronavirus COVID-19, as expected. While in quarantine, troops are screened twice daily, and if a medical situation should arise, the staff of Troop Medical Clinic 14 at North Fort Hood are there to respond. As a Reservist himself, Dave has gone through the (demobilization) process and understands how anxious Soldiers are to return home to their families, but he also understands the importance of safety, well-being, and preventing the spread of this highly-contagious COVID-19.

COL David L. Dean
Distance Class of 2018
Commander, Hood Mobilization Brigade
Fort Hood, Texas

Scott Lynn, DDE ‘14

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BG Scott Lynn is the Deputy Commanding General for Operations, 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support). He has been deployed to New York City supporting his role as the Senior Medical Advisor to Task Force Northeast, which is at the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis.

BG W. Scott Lynn
Distance Class of 2014

Scott Valley, RES ’19

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At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, I was the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support) Crisis Action Team (CAT) that built surge capabilities and tracked issues affecting the medical response. After two weeks of operations at Fort Douglas, Utah, I was deployed to Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) as the G3 for the 807th MEDCOM assigned to ARNORTH to lead the theater medical mission command for Operation Kill the Virus. After establishing base operations at JBSA, I was sent with BG W. Scott Lynn (DDE ‘14) to New York City supporting his role as the Senior Medical Advisor to Task Force Northeast, which is at the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis. During this time, 14 Urban Augmentee Medical Task Forces (UAMTFs), 500 augmentees from the Air Force and Navy, and a medical brigade with two hospital centers were deployed to support Alternate Care Facilities like the Javits New York Medical System or integrated into civilian hospitals. This operation has been a joint, interagency, and intergovernmental mission that has brought life-saving health care to affected areas.

LTC Scott C. Valley
Resident Class of 2019
807th Medical Command

 

Tonia Crowley, DDE ‘14

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Tonia Crowley, DDE ‘14

Tonia Crowley is assigned to the Headquarters, 3d Medical Command (Deployment Support) (3d MC (DS)) working in collaboration for the COVID-19 Response.  The command is actively engaged in supporting the COVID-19 “all of government response.”  It is one of three medical divisions in the Army Reserve and key to the command’s response has been the contribution of its seven USAWC graduates, from the Commanding General, MG Joe Robinson (DDE ’11), to his three Deputy Commanding Generals, to his three lead Division Staff officers (the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff G3/5/7, and the Deputy Chief of Staff G1).

What the Soldiers of the 3d MC(DS) are embarking on has never been done before in the history of Army Reserve medicine.  With critical analysis and focused USAWC-trained senior leadership, the leaders of this organization navigated managing complex strategic operational planning, in an ever-changing environment, using a model outside of Army Doctrine or the utilization of medical forces.  The 3d Medical Command is mobilizing hundreds of Soldiers, in a matter of days across the United States.   This mission was to mobilize critical medical support through several 85-Soldier Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces (UAMTFs), supporting FEMA-led Field Medical Stations (FMS) across the U.S.  Our folks aligned with fellow sister military services and federal partners to assist, as necessary.  In less than two weeks, the 3d MC(DS) created and mobilized five, 85-person UAMTFs designed to provide medical staffing to a FEMA-led FMS and provide comprehensive care for everything short of surgery and ICU care.  These teams are meant to decant clinical work from overloaded areas in COVID-19 hotspots and are deployed throughout the east coast areas of operation to provide critical medical support in hard-hit areas.

As an Army Reserve Medical Command, we are doing everything we can in this fight.  Building these teams from the Reserve Force is challenging because this is largely a zero-sum game.  These Reserve medical Soldiers are largely practicing their craft in their own communities.  It took critical analysis from senior leadership and G-staff to mobilize a provider while ensuring they’re not already essential in the COVID fight.  As we monitor the flattening of the curve, we’re able to pull individuals from areas not saturated with patients, and move them to where they’ll be most needed.

COL Tonia M. Crowley
Distance Class of 2014
Chief of Staff
3d Medical Command (Deployment Support)
Fort Gillem, Georgia

Patrick Arneson, DDE ‘18

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I have been mobilized since March 24th with the rest of my unit, the 4th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). We have been providing logistical support primarily to Task Force West, which is responsible for COVID-19 operations in the western third of the U.S. We have also been providing more modest levels of support to other regions of the country.

LTC Patrick L. Arneson
Distance Class of 2018
Command Judge Advocate
4th Expeditionary Sustainment Command
JBSA Fort Sam Houston, Texas