FORT KNOX, Ky –
USAREC Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Frank M. Muth, and USAREC Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. Tabitha A. Gavia, joined USAMEB Commander, Col. Oscar H. Pintado, and Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. Steven R. Laick, to present Soldiers with the new shoulder patches.
“Command Sgt. Maj. Gavia and myself, are glad to be standing in formation with you again,” Maj. Gen. Muth said. “Your nation needs you! Your Army needs you, and we need each other because we’ve been given the mission to put people in boots.”
Moving to USAREC signals the brigade’s continued efforts in support of the operating and generating force. The USAREC Commanding General addressed the importance of USAMEB’s unique capabilities in helping achieve the Army’s increased enlisted end strength.
“We’re growing,” Muth said, referring to ongoing initiatives to functional fitness and e-sports and adding to the outreach company.
Functional fitness and e-gaming exhibits used to engage prospects and influencers will join the United States Army Mission Support Battalion (MSB) in 2019. MSB is co-located with USAMEB headquarters at Fort Knox, Kentucky. USAMEB also includes the Army Parachute Team at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia.
After the patch ceremony, Muth joined Pintado to cut the ribbon on a third Science Technology Engineering Mathematics display exhibit dedicated to public awareness of STEM opportunities in the Army.
“As we put on the USAREC patch, the brigade reaffirms its commitment to Army accessions and recruiting operations,” Pintado said. “It is also a period of tremendous opportunity for USAMEB as we further integrate our mission with USAREC as one of its brigades.”
The U.S. Army Marketing & Engagement Brigade influences the American people to join the Army by enhancing and conducting recruiting operations through direct engagements and demonstrating elite army skills and exhibits, in order to enable the Army's recruiting mission.
A formal memorandum signed by Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper directed the brigade’s realignment. “As a result of this realignment, the Army will have a more effective, integrated, and synchronized use of accession resources from the strategic to the tactical level,” according to the memo.
USAMEB becomes USAREC’s eighth brigade.