Army Reserve medical personnel improves readiness serving local communities
Spc. Johnica Turner, an optical laboratory specialist assigned to 166th Medical Det. (Optometry), based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, is joined by Yatziri Deoola and Samantha Medina, volunteers from Socorro High School Health Professions Academy, to assist an excited patient who is picking up his new eye glasses at Escontrias Early Childhood Center in Socorro, Texas. Turner is one of approximately 50 U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Army Soldiers who are working in partnership with the Texas A&M Colonias program to provide medical care to El Paso County’s underserved colonias population. Services provided by military personnel are done through the Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training, a civil-military program that builds mutually beneficial partnerships between U.S. communities and the DoD. The missions selected meet training & readiness requirements for Army Reserve service members while integrating them as a joint and whole-of-society team to serve our American citizens.