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
