ELWOOD, Ill. –
As part of his overall Army Reserve facilities tour of the Chicagoland region, Maj. Gen. Matthew Baker, commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve's 88th Readiness Division, visited the Area Maintenance Support Activity (AMSA) 45 at Joliet Local Training Area in Elwood, Ill. on May 23. He stopped in to tour the facility and talk with Soldiers working on site.
Many of the Soldiers at AMSA 45 are Military Technicians, a federal service employee who also holds dual status as a member of the Army Reserve. Becoming a Military Technician allows Soldiers to experience the best of two worlds by taking advantage of the opportunity to become a Citizen Soldier in the U.S. Army Reserve Military Technician program. This enables Soldiers to receive full civil service benefits and military reserve benefits.
Maj. Gen. Baker presented the Commanding General’s Blue Devil Award to Sgt. Juan Pantoja and Sgt. Matt Baikie for their continued outstanding performance. Both are MilTech employees at the facility.
The 88th Readiness Division, headquartered at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and is a two-star U.S. Army Reserve command which provides services and Base Operations Support to more than 52,000 Army Reserve Soldiers, serving in 525 units at 277 sites with 579 facilities throughout 19 states in the northwestern U.S. from the Ohio River Valley to the Pacific Coast.