[caption id="attachment_1281" align="alignright" width="325" caption="Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy John Campbell presents Mr. Bob Carrington, Director of Care Coordination, with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exception Civilian Service. Mr. Carrington received the award in recognition of his leadership and service as a deployed DoD civilian supporting Governance and Development Lines of Operation as a multiple District Support Team Leader in Naray, Afghanistan, working with a U.S. Army Task Force."]
Civilian leadership and military leadership shape and formulate policies that affect our Service members every day. For many military leaders, combat experience nowadays is a given -- but our civilian leaders also deploy to combat theaters around the globe and face harrowing expereinces in order to accomplish the mission.
One of those civilian leaders was injured in a combat zone, medevaced, and now works on policies for improving the lives of wounded warriors and their families - every day.
As Director of the Recovery Coordination Program at the Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy, Mr. Bob Carrington thinks about wounded warriors and their families every day as he executes and oversees policy designed to help them through the phases of recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration.
Mr. Carrington has deployed multiple times as a civilian to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan and was recently presented with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service for the leadership he provided during his last assignment.
“It is an honor to receive this award,” Mr. Carrington said, “and it was an honor to serve alongside our brave men and women in uniform during my time in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sacrifices they make and the skill and bravery they demonstrate every day are truly awe-inspiring. My experiences working with them in the field motivate me today as I work for them here at WWCTP.”
After more than 20 years as an Army officer, retiring in 2000, Mr. Carrington volunteered to deploy to Iraq as a civilian in 2007 on a detail to the Department of State to serve as a Senior Governance Advisor on the Western Anbar Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team working with the U.S. Marine Corps. He returned from Iraq in 2008 to serve as an advisor in the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Enterprise Task Force, later transferring to the Office of the Secretary of Defense to serve as Chief of Staff of the Plans Deputate. In the summer of 2009, Mr. Carrington was asked to serve again on a detail, this time supporting Governance and Development Lines of Operation as a multiple District Support Team Leader in Naray, Afghanistan, working with a U.S. Army Task Force.
It was during this second deployment that Mr. Carrington was found unconscious and was medically evacuated through Bagram to Landstuhl, Germany, the same medical evacuation route taken by many of the wounded warriors Mr. Carrington works to support today. After his evacuation and recovery, Mr. Carrington chose to stay in Theater and returned to his position at the Forward Operating Base Bostick in northeast Afghanistan.
“Mr. Carrington took one of the toughest Department of State assignments in the field and excelled,” states the award letter. “It was at this remote and dangerously located frontier combat outpost that he formed with the U.S. Army Task Force Commander the very successful civil/military effort overseeing the overall security, governance and development efforts within a four district area in northeast Afghanistan. He provided outstanding leadership, mentorship, guidance and counsel to the local Afghan government officials, security forces, and village elders. Mr. Carrington quickly won the confidence of local Afghan officials and his military counterparts, while producing innovative solutions that directly supported governance, development and security lines of operation, which directly assisted in our overall counterinsurgency objectives. Mr. Carrington reflects great credit upon himself and the Department of Defense.”
If you are a wounded warrior and want to find out more on the Recovery Coordiantion Program, or want to know if you qualify for the assistance of one, contact your respective military Services wounded warrior programs.
Army Warrior Transition Command; Air force Wounded Warrior ; Navy Safe Harbor; Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment; Special Forces Care Coalition.