TOP ARMY RESERVE LEADERS VISIT 7TH CIVIL SUPPORT COMMAND TROOPS IN GERMANY

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany, March 10 -- The U.S. Army issued the following news release:

By Sgt. 1st Class Osvaldo P. Sanchez, 7th CSC PAO

Top U.S. Army Reserve leaders visited Germany-based Soldiers of the 7th Civil Support Command in Kaiserslautern and Weisbaden, Germany, March 6-7.

Brig. Gen. Jimmie Jaye Wells, the commanding general of the 7th CSC, welcomed Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, the chief of the Army Reserve, and Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Schultz, who recently took over the top Army Reserve enlisted position.

The senior leaders were shown the 773rd Civil Support Team's equipment capabilities to include its analytical laboratory system. The 773rd CST is the only active Army Reserve civil support team stationed outside of the continental U.S. and its territories.

The unit is capable of deploying in support of U.S. Army Europe's response to a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incident. It can identify agents or substances, and assess current and projected consequences before, during or after an incident.

The command team had lunch with officers and enlisted, respectively, to discuss their career obstacles and ideas to help improve the ranks of the Army Reserve.

As snow fell, approximately 150 participants from the command formed its first human formation in the shape of the numeral seven, representing the 7th CSC. Senior leaders were positioned in the front two rows.

Soldiers had the opportunity to voice their concerns during a town hall held at the Kaiserslautern Community Activity Center on Daenner Kaserne, where Stultz explained about how the Army Reserve has evolved from a strategic reserve to an operational force.

"We are 75 percent there, but change is constant," said Stultz.

The Reserve is a force of 208,000, but it's not the right mix and that there are too many chaplains' assistants, and not enough civil affairs or military police; too many senior enlisted and not enough staff sergeants. The force needs to be reshaped, said Stultz.

Stultz briefed the Soldiers and their spouses about the Employer Partnership program.

He praised the benefit of partnering the private and public sectors with Reserve forces, saying it's a win-win for all involved.

"They are looking for the same people we are," said Stultz.

He told the audience companies are looking for drug-free, physically and morally fit employees. Stultz said more than 800 businesses - such as General Electric Co., American Trucking Association and Wal-Mart - have joined the partnership with the Army Reserve.

Laura Stultz traveled with her husband to Europe to meet with Army Reserve family members. While here she heard from families about the unique issues facing them overseas and offered guidance and suggestions gleaned from her many years as an Army Reserve spouse.

Michiel DeVito, Installation Management Command-Europe Army Community Service, Devon Paul, Kaiserslautern Army Community Service, Rosemary Dow, American Red Cross, and Linda Lookabill, Military and Family Life consultant, briefed Laura Stultz and the Army Reserve family members on employment readiness and various programs offered to community members during mobilization and deployment, as well as the day-to-day programs offered to support the strength, resilience and readiness of the Army Reserve Family in Germany.

The following day, Stultz and Schultz stopped by Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and were greeted by a team of Army Reserve liaisons.

"The liaisons track all the Army Reserve Soldiers from the theater of operations to the States," said Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Jefferson, LRMC liaison noncommissioned officer in charge. "We track Soldiers like Lt. Col. Randee Turner, a nurse anesthesist, who was medically evacuated from Iraq. She is going to be transferred to the Brook Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. We stop tracking her when she leaves here."

Stultz asked to meet and talk with servicemembers and civilians throughout the hospital and asked about their hometowns, where they were deployed and how their recovery was going. His tour included the Chaplains' Closet, Fisher House, USO Warrior Center and the Medical Transient Detachment. He also ate lunch with selected personnel.

The Medical Transient Detachment reassigns and houses outpatients until they either return to duty downrange or are flown back to their U.S. home station. The USO Warrior Center provides troops with internet, movies, a game room and phones to keep in touch family and friends.

The chief of Army Reserve also met with Maj. Gen. Patricia McQuistion, the commanding general of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, and Command Sgt. Maj. James Spencer, the 21st TSC command sergeant major. In addition to his tour, Stultz was the guest speaker for the 209th Army Liaison Team's change-of-command ceremony at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Last September, during the command's transformation, the 209th ALT became one of the four brigades under the 7th CSC. Its commander is responsible for not only the brigade, but eight additional units, that include the 221st Public Affairs Detachment, 406th Human Resources Company, 589th Engineer Detachment, 772nd and 774th civil support teams, 793rd and 1177th movement control teams, the 1172nd MCT.For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.