JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -  JBLM & I Corps will host a press

conference at 2 p.m. today, May 18, with Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Vice

Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, Surgeon

General, Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby, Jr., commanding general, I Corps,

Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, commanding general, Western Regional Medical

Command and Brig. Gen. Jeff Mathis, National Guard officer who served as

Acting CG of I Corps and Ft. Lewis while I Corps was deployed.   Please

see below for details.

During the demobilization of the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team

(IBCT) from the Oregon National Guard after a one-year deployment to

Iraq, some Soldiers voiced concerns about the quality of their medical

processing.  The Soldiers specifically expressed concerns to as to

whether Reserve Component Soldiers were being processed differently than

their fellow Active Duty Soldiers.   Oregon's Senator Ron Wyden and

Congressman Kurt Schrader helped bring the Soldiers' concerns to the

attention of Army officials.

As a result of these concerns, JBLM's senior mission commander and I

Corps commanding general, Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby, Jr., launched a

commander's inquiry to investigate the complaints, and later met with

Senator Wyden to address concerns and discuss the issues.

"This past year, I Corps was deployed to Iraq and fought side by side

with the 41st IBCT," said Jacoby. "We have a shared combat experience

and consider the 41st one of our own. It's simply not reflective of our

culture to treat one unit differently from another-Active or Reserve.

Anything we find during our inquiry, we will fix.  We will keep faith

with our fellow Soldiers."

In the last two years, almost nine thousand Guardsmen and Reservists in

109 units have been mobilized or demobilized at JBLM. 

"We take great pride in how we have supported the units who have come

through JBLM," said Col. Jerry Penner, commander, Madigan Healthcare

System.  "When Soldiers from the 41st IBCT voiced concerns about the

medical processing they received, we took it very seriously. The history

of this base and the history of this war have been built on the

contributions and teamwork of all the components of the military.  All

Soldiers deserve to be treated the same, and we won't stand for anything

less," he said.

Leaders at JBLM and the Western Regional Medical Command and the office

of the Surgeon General are working closely with the Oregon State

Deployment Medical Officer and the leadership of the 41st IBCT to

address each of the issues that Soldiers have identified.  The results

of these efforts will be used to further improve medical processing for

all Soldiers who deploy or redeploy through JBLM and other sites across

the Army.