Reserve Units/Personnel | Army War College Foundation, INC. - Part 5

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Reserve Units/Personnel

Jocelyn Leventhal, DDE ‘16

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Just a few months short of retirement, COL Jocelyn Leventhal, the Parker Chair of Reserve Component Studies at the U.S. Army War College, was expeditiously recruited by BG Doug Cherry, DDE ‘10 and Commander, 76th Operational Response Command (ORC), to help lead the nation’s Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) COVID-19 response as Deputy Commanding Officer for Joint Task Force-West in FEMA Regions VIII, IX and X.

COL Jocelyn A. Leventhal
Distance Class of 2016
Deputy Commander – Operations
JTF-West/TF-76/76th Div (Operational Response)
Salt Lake City, UT

Doug Cherry, RES ‘10

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Doug Cherry, RES’ 10

I am leading Task Force-76 (TF76), built on the Army Reserve’s 76th Operational Response Command (ORC), headquartered at Ft. Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am both the Commanding General of the 76th ORC and TF76. The 76th ORC is a two-star HQs that has all of the Army Reserve’s MTOE Chemical Force Structure and 13 specialty organizations which includes:

  • 37 CBRN Companies and 3 CBRN Detachments in 10 CBRN Battalions under 2 CBRN Brigades and a Regional Support Group
  • The Nation’s only Consequence Management Unit
  • The Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer (EPLO) Group
  • 2nd Space Battalion
  • 11 Army Reserve Elements (ARE) at the Combatant Commands and Defense Support Agencies.

The 76th ORC exists to prepare Army Reserve forces for what might be America’s worst day.  We will do this by preparing TF76 to respond to CRE-A events within 96 hours and to meet other ARNORTH and NORTHCOM requirements, and by providing administrative support, training, readiness, and oversight to assigned units, elements, and detachments supporting other Combatant Commands, Army Service Component Commands, and Combat Support agencies.  By doing this, the 76th will be ready and capable of being the Army Reserve’s single coordinator for DSCA response, while providing Army Reserve staff for worldwide contingencies.

Here are some key points regarding the current COVID-19 mission:

  • TF76 stood up the TORCH Party and EECP at our HQs location on 11 MAR.
  • TF76 was activated on 16 MAR and subsequently designated TF-West.
  • TF-West was assigned FEMA Regions VIII, IX, and X which included the 12 western states (less HI and AK).
  • TF-West provides C2 for all Title X forces employed in its JOA under the JFLCC.
  • TF-West dispatched the Mission Command Group (essentially a TAC) to Seattle on Tuesday 24 MAR and I remained there with the TAC until 11 APR.
  • The TAC performed PDSSs with USACE to determine possible locations for Title X medical assets in western WA and established a Base Support Installation (BSI) at JBLM.
  • TF-West assumed TACOM of the Dual Status Commander in Washington state, all three Defense Coordinating Elements, as well as the 62nd Medical Brigade, 627th Hospital Center and 47th CSH.

In support of FEMA and the state of Washington, the TF converted an events center in downtown Seattle to a world class field hospital. Thanks to the hard work and discipline of the people of Washington state, the local hospitals never went over capacity – though three of the largest hospitals all exceeded 95%, with one reaching 98% of capacity – and therefore the Title X hospital was not needed. The Title X hospital is now partly staged at Ft Carson, Colorado on a 48-hour PTDO and partly supporting operations in Guam.  TF-West provided planning expertise in Region VIII, particularly for the front range of Colorado.  TF-West is providing planning expertise across Regions VI, VIII, and IX to the Navajo Nation that is expected to reach their peak in mid-May. TF-West remains poised to respond to other DSCA events in the Nation as we enter both fire and hurricane season.

BG Doug Cherry
Resident Class of 2010, Seminar 19
Commanding General
TF-West/TF-76/76th Div (Operational Response)

 

 

 

 

Donna Barbisch, RES ‘96

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Donna Barbisch, RES ‘96

I’ve worked over the years on senior leader decision support tools and serious gaming to drive better outcomes in overwhelming crisis situations, using pandemic scenarios as the battlefield. During the current COVID-19 crisis, I am involved in supporting communities across the country as well as globally, especially in the Caribbean, with the Global Health Response and Resilience Initiative (GHRRI). GHRRI works bottom up and coordinates the top down efforts, in building resiliency and resolving complex global issues. I am also engaged in COVID-19 research to find predictors and targets to improve outcomes. The USAWC was instrumental in honing my focus on future threats with pandemics and biowarfare central to those threats, and my final assignment prior to retirement in 2005 was as the Director of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Program Integration within Office of the Secretary of Defense, Chem Bio Defense. I completed a doctoral degree at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1999 focusing on the integration of military medical assets for domestic bioterrorism. Over the past 20+ years, I worked at all levels of government, public and private, as well as non-profit organizations, in researching and developing solutions. I publish and lecture extensively on the complex challenges in the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) environment of Wicked Problems. Among relevant published articles are: Is There a Case for Quarantine? Perspectives from SARS to Ebola and Understanding Surge Capacity: Essential Elements.

MG (Ret) Donna Barbisch
Resident Class of 1996
Wicked Solutions, LLC

Lisa Gittleman, DDE ‘19

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I was recently mobilized to be one of two Navy Reserve Medicine LNOs leading a team of 200 Reserve physicians and nurses responding to the COVID-19 crisis in New York City. I am normally assigned as the XO of Reserve Expeditionary Medical Facility Great Lakes, out of Great Lakes, Illinois. A colleague and I are now embedded in the U.S. Army’s 44th Medical Brigade TOC at Javits Center, part of a large joint team. My Navy team is split into five (soon to be seven) small teams that are sent out to local hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients. They are truly on the frontlines, contributing valuable expertise and staff augmentation to these hospitals. To think, a year ago, I was deep in the world of Collaborate sessions and Forums!

CAPT Lisa Gittleman, Nurse Corps, USN
Distance Class of 2019

Jennifer Marrast Host, DDE ‘18

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Jennifer Marrast Host, DDE ‘18

I am working this crisis not from the state or federal level, but from the Army Reserve Brigade Command level, providing Medical professional Soldiers to this fight. Sixty-five percent of the U.S. Army medical power resides within the Army Reserve. Never in history has the Army Reserve mobilized Soldiers to the fight on the home front, and never have they mobilized Soldiers within one week. This is an unconventional mission leading to the development of unconventional units, to answer the call of the American people in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment. The Army Reserve through the 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support (MCDS), 807 MCDS, and Army Reserve Medical Command (ARMEDCOM) provided over fifteen Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force (UAMTF) Teams to combat this invisible enemy. The 85-person UAMTFs provided Command Teams, Doctors, Nurses, Medics, and Respiratory Specialists to Civilian Hospitals in the heavily-hit patient populations of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The added military power increased these cities’ medical capacity and capability relieving the burden on their established hospital systems. The UAMTFs also provided medical relief to patients by staffing the newly established hospitals of the Federal Emergency Management Agencies (FEMA). Working through the fog of war, the UAMTF Teams integrated and established a common operational foundation and got to work. Proud to be an Army Reserve Brigade Commander. “The Nation called; We answered.”

COL Jennifer Marrast Host
Distance Class of 2018

Ben Richardson, DDE ‘17

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I am currently serving as the Chief of Staff for the Dual Status Commander (DSC) in NY for the NYARNG and am frequently engaged at the HQ levels dealing with different elements of the COVID-19 crisis in NY State including the Title 10/Title 32 coordination. I have been typing in lots of lessons learned as I go.

Benjamin M. Richardson
Distance Class of 2017
COL, NYARNG