JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
Joint Base Langley-Eustis hosted U.S. Navy Adm. Christopher W. Grady, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife, Mrs. Christine Grady, March 24, 2022.
Adm. Grady stopped at sites at both Langley and Eustis during his visit.
At Eustis, he met with U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John D. Kline, U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training commanding general, where he received a briefing on Holistic Health and Fitness and the Army Combat Fitness Test.
At Langley, he met with several senior enlisted leaders about ways that training can be improved to produce better equipped service members from their technical training.
“I’m really fascinated by augmented reality and the possibilities it shows for live virtual training,” said Adm. Grady. “The old fashioned way where instructors stand up front and regurgitate information to students for a test, is that the best way to do business? We’ve got to innovate and move forward.”
Mrs. Grady’s tour included the Langley commissary, medical group, and the Military and Family Readiness Center (M&FRC).
During her tour of the Langley commissary, Mrs. Grady spoke with staff about Virginia’s state-run Women, Infants & Children program and how military families can use this program.
While at the 633d Medical Group, both Adm. and Mrs. Grady learned about access to medical care, specifically mental health to include the Air Force’s True North program, where mental health providers are embedded in operational units.
“We’re trying to find the best solution to the increasing demand in care,” said U.S. Army Col. Harry D. Hung, 633d Air Base Wing vice commander. “True North is in direct response to lessons learned from the special operations community and we’re using those lessons to expand access to care for our personnel.”
At the M&FRC, they received familiarization on deployment support services, the exceptional family member program, spouse employment programs, and financial readiness.
“These services are extremely important to our personnel and their families,” said Dawn Teagle, 633d Force Support Squadron flight chief of military & family readiness. “We do offer additional programs outside this scope and anyone who would like to learn more can come by the [M&FRC] and we’ll show them.”
Both Admiral and Mrs. Grady plan to take what they learned from their visit to JBLE back to the Joint Staff.
“Working with our community partners is paramount for a resilient force,” said Mrs. Grady. “We can take the feedback received today and use it to improve the readiness of the force as a whole.”