The WTB–E
The Warrior Transition Battalion–
Europe (WTB–E) has the same task
as other WTUs: to provide complex
medical care management for qualifying Soldiers. But the WTB–E is
not a typical WTU.
WTUs in CONUS usually handle
the warrior care mission at just one
installation. The WTB–E, however, manages warrior care for all U.S.
Army Soldiers in Europe. Since its
inception in 2008, the WTB–E has
been successful in accomplishing
this mission through determination
and innovation in spite of its geographically dispersed footprint.
The WTB–E’s operational environment is very different from other
WTUs. It supports the active duty
members of U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) and the Reserve members
of the 7th Civil Support Command,
including U.S. Army Soldiers located across Europe, from the United
Kingdom to Turkey. Currently the
battalion operates on 14 separate
bases.
As of July 2014, the battalion
had 193 Soldiers in transition out
of 306 total personnel. This is a low
cadre-to-patient ratio, but the geographic separation requires nonstandard support solutions compared to
WTUs in CONUS, which typically
serve Soldiers on one installation.
Another difference is that the
WTB–E manages Soldiers in the
Integrated Disability Evaluation
System (IDES) in Europe who have
a permanent profile and are undergoing medical evaluation boards. CONUS WTUs do not. The WTB–E
created a cell in 2012 to manage this
process across USAREUR for IDES
Soldiers assigned to parent units and
to the WTB–E as an exception to
policy.
The WTB–E’s mission, manning,
and locations have evolved over time.
USAREUR created four geographically separate companies in June
2007 for the major U.S. Army population concentrations in Europe.
They reported directly to the European Regional Medical Command
(ERMC), a one-star headquarters.
But coordination and standardization challenges that soon developed
required a change, so USAREUR
stood up the WTB–E headquarters
in Heidelberg, Germany (and later
moved it to Kaiserslautern, Germany). The headquarters was modeled
after the table of distribution and
allowances for a WTU headquarters
company—about 30 military and civilian personnel.
The initial rationale for creating
WTU facilities in various locations
throughout USAREUR instead of
one or two centralized locations (or
returning Soldiers to CONUS) was
to allow Soldiers and their families
to recover in the communities where
they reside. This mitigated the potential of effectively punishing Soldiers for becoming wounded, ill, or
injured by requiring them to uproot
their families from a familiar, stable
environment and potentially damaging their rehabilitation process.
The geographic dispersion of the
Soldiers the battalion supports requires a capable and experienced
cadre and staff. The challenges in
coordinating health care and local
garrison support are significantly
more difficult than in CONUS since
the battalion has more than just
one MTF, Red Cross office, United
Service Organization office, depart-
Soldiers play wheelchair basketball, an adaptive sport. (Photo by Linda Steil)
SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2014
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