FORT HOOD, Texas — The man in command of Fort Hood fort the past few years is close to passing that responsibility to someone else.
Lieutenant General Pat White has spent decades fighting for his country and for the past few years, he has commanded Fort Hood and our nation’s largest armored Corps, III Corps.
”We’ve got almost every single military occupational specialty in the army, in this corps,” said Lt. Gen. Pat White, III Corps and Fort Hood Commanding General. “We fly helicopters, we shoot artillery pieces, we've got tanks and Bradleys out there, we've got the most modern communicators in our engineers are the most modern that you have.”
While deployed in 2020, the murder of Specialist Vanessa Guillen shook Fort Hood and the nation and shed light on systemic issues on the post.
Issues he began to tackle even before coming home.
”We had set the condition with Command Sergeant Major Burgoyne and Major General Richardson as I was coming back,” said Lt. Gen. Pat White. “We issued an order because that is how we operate in the are, on orders, called Operation People First.”
Operation people first led to things like the people first center, creating more time for leaders to get to know their soldiers and their families, and it educating leaders at all levels on how to put their soldiers before the mission.
”I demand that you are a professional,” said Lt. Gen. Pat White. “I demand that you are lethal because you are in the army but I'm going to take care of you and here’s how I'm going to do it. Have that dialogue and show them by creating things like the people first center, that the army has great resources in programs to help take care of you.”
Looking back on what he sees as accomplishments over the past few years it's the missions that fly under the radar that makes him most proud of his soldiers.
”Homeland Security, fighting wildfires, helping out with floods and hurricanes, doing operation allied welcome at Fort Bliss, bringing in the unaccompanied children from the south, and COVID response,” said Lt. Gen. Pat White.
Though not on a battlefield, those missions stand out to White.
Especially when he heard it straight from a young staff sergeant administering COVID vaccines in Dallas.
”He goes, this is the coolest thing I've ever done, but you don't think about it like that,” said Lt. Gen. Pat White. “It's like, you're in the Army ... go do a job. So, what these young men and women are doing makes them proud but we should be amplifying what that's all about. What that means to them.”
White said he shares every accomplishment with the men and women of Fort Hood and III Corps.
Though he will soon be handing that command to someone else, he's excited to see what they do next.
