Top Army general confident in JBLM leadership
Mar 23, 2012, 5:22 PM | Updated: 6:49 pm
It has been called a “rogue” base, but a top military
official visited Joint Base Lewis-McChord Friday, saying
troop morale there is high.
The Vice Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army, Gen. Lloyd
Austin, spent the day talking to soldiers and their
families at the Tacoma, Wash., base.
“We all recognize that JBLM has been dealing with some
especially difficult challenges as of late and leadership
is doing a terrific job aggressively addressing the issues
they have to deal with on a daily basis,” he said. “A lot
of great things are happening here at JBLM, as well.”
Austin said it is clear that troops at JBLM have
confidence in their chain of command.
“A great overall indication of the effectiveness of these
and other programs is the number of service members who
like to reenlist here at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,” he
said. “It’s one of the highest in the Army.”
Since 2001, Austin said more than 110,000 troops have
mobilized and deployed from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, many
of them multiple times.
He said the Army will shift its focus to the mental well-
being of the force, which has now been fighting two wars
for more than a decade.
