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Col. Judith Lee accepts the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center colors from Col. (Dr.) Jeffrey Clark signifying Lee as the new LRMC commander during a May 29 change of command ceremony.
In a dual ceremony, Col. Judith Lee assumed command of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center while Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Sprunger assumed his role as the new LRMC command sergeant major.
The May 29 change of command and change of responsibility ceremonies also honored the services of outgoing Commander Col. Barbara Holcomb and Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Gragg.
During her remarks, Holcomb told Lee and Sprunger that she and Gragg were “passing the baton to you a little reluctantly, only because this is the best job in the Army. You are inheriting a fabulous team who will give its best every day. I know you will take care of them. Best wishes to you as you embark on your journey.”
Gragg told the hospital staff that it was “truly an honor and a privilege to have stood shoulder to shoulder among them … We are Landstuhl. There is power in that name and there is power in you as an organization.”
Gragg said the experience has affected him, just as it has all those who have preceded him at LRMC.
“Landstuhl changes people,” he said. “I have changed, and I have changed for the better because of you.”
Assuming command of the largest U.S. hospital outside the U.S. was not something Lee said she foresaw in her future when she joined the Army in 1986. The new commander said it was a “true honor and privilege” to have been selected to command Landstuhl.
“I will serve you 110 percent, and I will continue with the mission and vision here,” she said.
Holcomb moves on to become the command surgeon for U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. Holcomb’s mission will be to prepare conventional forces to provide a sustained flow of trained and ready land power to combatant commanders in defense of the nation at home and abroad.
Gragg will be the command sergeant major for the 32nd Medical Brigade at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Gragg’s mission will be to provide command, logistical and operational support to safely and effectively train and qualify technically and tactically skilled warrior medics and leaders who embody the warrior ethos and live the Army values.
LRMC is the largest American hospital outside of the U.S. LRMC provides primary care, tertiary care, hospitalization and treatment for approximately 218,000 U.S. military personnel and their families within European Command. LRMC is also the evacuation and treatment center for all injured U.S. service members and civilians serving in Afghanistan.
