WASHINGTON (Feb. 8, 2015) -- "What Doc Providence brings to bear are
the skills, the experience, the commitment and the dedication to deliver
exactly what our Soldiers need on the battlefield," said Army Vice
Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel B. Allyn.
Allyn spoke during the 10th Annual Stars and Stripes recognition dinner,
Feb. 6, in Washington, D.C. The annual event recognizes top-performing
African-American general and flag officers, senior executive service
civilians and leadership within the U.S. armed forces, and is held
concurrently with the Black Engineer of the Year Award, or BEYA, STEM
conference, now in its 29th year. "STEM" is shorthand for science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics.
This year, Army Brig. Gen. Bertram Providence, command surgeon for U.S.
Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was chosen as the
Army's award recipient.
"[Providence] earned his skills where it matters most: putting together
broken paratroopers as an orthopedic surgeon at Fort Bragg," Allyn said.
"He subsequently went on to train with, and train the very best, as
both a doctor of orthopedic surgery, and a trainer of future doctors."
Allyn said Providence served multiple assignments overseas in combat and
as a special operations task force surgeon for Combined Joint Special
Operations Task Force-Philippines. He also served as a surgeon deployed
in the early phases of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and as
a senior surgeon in Iraq during Operation New Dawn.
"He has been a command surgeon, a Soldiers' doc, and a commanders' doc,
at every level in our Army, from task force, to division, to corps --
and now as the U.S. Army Forces Command surgeon," Allyn said.
BRIDGES TO SUCCESS
Each year, one branch of the U.S. military serves as host of the Stars
and Stripes recognition dinner. This year, the Air Force served as host.
Speaking before an audience of active and retired Service members, as
well as members of the defense contracting community and college
students, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James drew on a quote from
television personality Oprah Winfrey, who once said her success has come
from the stories of history-making African-American women she calls
"bridges."
Among those women are Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Madame C. J. Walker and Fannie Lou Hamer.
"Bridges tie us to the past, and they join us to the future," James
said. "Take William Cathay, for instance. Mr. Cathay enlisted in the
U.S. regular Army during the Civil War. But it turns out that Mr. Cathay
was actually Ms. Cathay Williams. She was the first African-American
female to enlist, and she dressed as a man in order to do so.
"She is a bridge for today's armed forces," James said. "And then there
is Elizabeth 'Bessie' Coleman, the first female African-American pilot
-- really, the first African-American pilot, male or female, to hold an
international pilot's license. Bessie was another bridge."
James said that for her, Dr. Sheila Widnall is a "bridge." Widnall was
the secretary of the Air Force from August 1993 to October 1997, and is
the first woman to have served as a military service secretary.
THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN
For those at the BEYA conference and attending the Stars and Stripes
award dinner, James said, the Tuskegee Airmen are a bridge. The Tuskegee
Airmen were the first African-American pilots in the U.S. military.
They served as both fighter and bomber pilots during World War II.
"This conference, BEYA, is really a bridge for all of us. To me, bridges
transcend race, color and creed," James said. "Our bridges speak to the
innate courage, strength of conviction, and perseverance in the face of
adversity."
As part of the Stars and Stripes event at the 2015 BEYA Conference,
military leaders, both officer and civilian, participated in mentoring
sessions with youth from in around the national capital area.
James said such interaction will for those youth serve as a bridge to
their future. She asked those in the audience who had participated in
the mentoring to continue to build the connections that link those who
are successful with those who have the promise to be.
'AMERICA NEEDS YOU'
"Keep on making those connections, and keep on building those bridges.
America needs you," James said. "And if you are still in school, America
needs you to keep working hard. We need Americans in the future who are
grounded in science, technology, engineering and math, to continue
building those bridges.
"For those of us who are more senior -- America needs us too," she
continued. "We need to be individuals who are part of organizations that
continue to connect and to become bridges that lead others to follow
that path to excellence."
SENIOR LEADERS RECOGNIZED
During the Stars and Stripes event, senior African-American leaders from
each military service were recognized for outstanding performance.
Those recognized include:
-- Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., director of operations,
Strategic and Nuclear Integrations Headquarters, Ramstein Air Base,
Germany;
-- Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Jacob P. Dunbar, installations and
mission support chief enlisted manager, Headquarters Air Force Special
Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Florida;
-- Arthur G. Hatcher Jr., director of communications, Headquarters Air
Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana;
-- Army Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Bertram Providence, command surgeon for U.S. Army Forces Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina;
-- Marine Corps Lt. Col. Nick I. Brown, commander of Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan;
-- Navy Capt. Cedric E. Pringle, director of Senate liaison, U.S. Navy Office of Legislative Affairs; and
-- Coast Guard Capt. Kenneth D. Ivery, chief of the Surface Forces Logistics Center, Norfolk, Virginia.
The Stars and Stripes recognition dinner is not associated with the Stars and Stripes news service.
http://www.army.mil/article/142419/Army_surgeon_recognized_as_top_performer_at_2015_BEYA_conference/
By C. Todd Lopez
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