JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Thirty-three students attending the Army Medical Department Noncommissioned Officer Academy, or NCOA, Senior Leader Course 201-20 volunteered to speak to several Soldiers at the Brooke Army Medical Center Warrior Transition Battalion, or WTB, and their families Sept. 28.
Three SLC squad leaders, including Staff Sgt. Richard M. Davis, who is currently in the SLC class that graduates Oct. 31, facilitated the volunteer event that they named “Operation Buddy Check.”
The impromptu initiative had a positive outcome. Among the WTB population were four soldiers of high medical risk.
The NCOA students, in leader training with the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, or MEDCoE, purchased pizza and soda and visited at the WTB’s Liberty Barracks, while a team of 10 students accompanied two of SLC Squad Leaders to visit wounded warriors at the Fisher House.
Many of the Soldiers in transition at the WTB said they were thankful they had others to speak with and share their stories. At one point, Soldiers who originally did not sign up for the event came out of their rooms and joined the gathering.
A result of the event was re-emphasizing comradery, ensuring Soldiers who are transitioning out of the Army for medical reasons and their families understood they were not forgotten after they are assigned to the WTB. The SLC also students had a new perspective on the leadership attributes required to serve in MEDCoE, a complex Army medicine organization.
The Warrior Transition Battalion provides competent and compassionate leadership through mission command, complex case management, comprehensive transition planning and primary care in a safe environment promoting optimum healing for wounded, ill, or injured Soldiers returning to the force or transitioning to civilian life as productive veterans. To learn more about the WTB, visit https://www.bamc.health.mil/wtb/.