Public Health Command Europe hosts strategic off-site

SEMBACH, Germany – Public Health Command Europe hosted a three-day strategic off-site at the Sembach Community Activity Center, 10 – 12 Sept.

More than 35 military and civilian personnel attended the conference to build cohesion, exchange knowledge, align mission effectiveness and success and discuss the upcoming fiscal year.

Medical Readiness Command, Europe commanding General Roger Giraud provided opening remarks which highlighted the importance of the collective effort to meet mission goals and enable readiness across the theater.

“What I want you to focus on in the next fiscal year is the collective effort. Can your team do what it needs to do to successfully execute the mission?,” said Giraud. “I encourage you to plan collaboratively and not parallel. It takes everyone in this room and beyond to converge our capabilities to get the mission done.”

During the three-day event PHCE leadership discussed leadership philosophies and applications that promote the development of daily practices to increase PHCE’s effectiveness at accomplishing the unit’s mission and tasks at every echelon in form of leadership development programs, group discussions and tabletop exercises.

Among leadership, a selected few junior Soldiers had the opportunity to attend “to gain a different perspective and understand why we are doing what we are doing” according to PHCE commander Col. Paul Lang.

“We often have a group of senior leaders in the room who are expected to have all the answers,” said Lang. “It is beneficial to have junior Soldiers in attendance that are able to give us their input based on their daily, hands-on experience in the field.”

Spc. Eva-Marie Howells, veterinary technician at Veterinary Medical Center Europe, attended the off-site for the first time.

“Being in the Army for only 18 months, I don’t know a lot of things that I don’t know yet,” said Howells. “I believe anytime you have a networking opportunity, you should take it because you can get something valuable out of it.”

Public Health Command Europe is responsible for providing comprehensive military public health programs in support of garrisons, training areas, and contingency/combat forces operating in the EUCOM, CENTCOM and AFRICOM areas of operation to sustain force health protection and readiness. Those programs include medical entomology, environmental health engineering, food and water sanitation, veterinary care, industrial hygiene and occupational health, and preventive medicine readiness planning and training.