82nd Civil Affairs Battalion, Ft. Stewart, GA

Again, I'm a bit behind on posting big news. Last Wednesday (as in, a week and a half ago), I received word that I will be becoming the preventive medicine officer for the 82nd Civil Affairs Battalion of the 85th Civil Affairs Brigade. For those of you confused about what the difference between a battalion and brigade is, here's a chart for you:

The 85th Civil Affairs Brigade is brand-new (activated 16 SEP 2011), which means my battalion (based in Ft. Stewart, GA) is brand new--as in, the stand-up date is SEP 2012. So I'll be coming into a brand-new position, which is kinda cool and really scary. Cool because I get to drive what my position is, scary because I have to drive what my position is. The whole, "Am I really smart/talented enough for this?" question that will, I hope, be answered soon (and answered to the positive).

Little bit of background as to the brigade and battalion. The 85th CA Brigade was stood up because the Army realized it needed more civil affairs assets, and decided to put that in the active component, instead of the reserves, where most of the other CA assets are (nine reserve CA brigades and one active duty to support special operations existed previously). There are 5 battalions in the new brigade: the 81st is at Ft. Hood (activated in 2011); 82nd at Ft. Stewart, one (forget the number) at Ft. Bragg, to be activated in September; and one at Ft. Lewis and one at Ft. Bliss to come in 2013. Each of the battalions takes a different part of the globe, with the 82nd taking Africa. The only other part of the world I think would be more interesting to go (in terms of health needs and diseases) would be the Pacific, and that's going to belong to Ft. Lewis, once that battalion exists. I've started convincing my friend Raul, who will be graduating next year, that that's the job he wants.

As far as what I'll be doing, here's the official guidance in the field manual for Preventive Medicine Services (Field Manual 4-02.17, in case you were wondering):

3-14. Civil Affairs Units
In CA units, assigned PVNTMED personnel assess the public health capabilities of a country or area, but
are not responsible for directly providing PVNTMED services to them. As such, PVNTMED personnel
are assigned to CA companies, detachments, brigades, and commands. The type and number of PVNTMED
personnel assigned is dependent upon the unit. Since the staff's role is advisory, it has no organic
equipment and must coordinate for support from PVNTMED detachments and the AO supporting medical
laboratory. If available, CA units are also supported by PVNTMED detachments.

That's what I'll be doing when I'm in the field, but in the meantime, I'm still waiting for my official orders to appear and trying to figure out what training I need to do before September, but I am excited about it.