An initiative from the SP Corps office, started this year, gives all of us an opportunity to use our knowledge, skills and experiences in mentoring the next generation of SP officers. The SP Corps is looking for retired officers from all areas of concentration to participate at installations around the globe. The details are below. If you are interested, please reach out to your regional director to get connected with an IST.

From the SP Corps Office:

We are certainly standing on the shoulders of giants (e.g., AMSCA members) that set the stage for our success and broke the glass ceilings that enable us to operate at our peak potential. We thank you for building a strong foundation upon which we pledge to continue building.

This is our decade to make it happen as promised and we will deliver! This is the decade of the SP Corps - in the sense that we are continually being given golden opportunities across the organization! From direct access, to command at all levels, to involvement in major readiness initiatives (such as Holistic Health and Fitness [H2F]), we SP Officers are displaying our expertise across all four of AOCs. We are demonstrating our value by doing what we do best… optimizing the health and readiness of the Force.

Realizing this is a huge responsibility for our Corps, we are doing what we can to support our Officers in their tireless efforts. One of the ways we are working to support SP Officers is through leveraging interpersonal connections, resources, and mentorship. To that end, the SP Corps kicked off a new initiative called Installation Support Teams (IST) in May 2021. These local SP ISTs are now operating across 26 installations world-wide. The IST initiative presents an excellent opportunity for AMSCA members to get involved and continue to support our local SP Officers and their ongoing efforts across the globe.

The purpose of an IST is to create a local support structure for all SP Officers on a given installation. Each IST is led by the senior officer on the installation and a junior officer is appointed as the “IST Representative” (functioning essentially as the IST Executive Officer). The IST Representative spearheads installation-wide SP Family (to include Officers, Enlisted, Civilians, and Retirees) networking/collaboration. The IST Representative is also responsible for sharing of lessons learned and concerns that impact SP Officers with the SP Corps leadership. In so doing, they serve as the voice for all SP colleagues across their installation. The Senior SP Officer on the installation serves as the host of the local IST meetings (typically monthly or quarterly) and mentors/guides the more junior SP Officers on the installation.

The intent is that this local SP-led support structure, along with its associated IST activities, will foster a strong installation-wide SP Corps community that lean on each other for support in all their varied TOE/TDA missions. This structure can also serve to provide valuable information to SP leadership on issues that the Corps leadership may be able to best address at higher levels.

This will be critical as we roll-out initiatives such as H2F and the TRADOC Medical Support structure. The IST initiative will provide a venue for professional development and for sharing best practices. Having AMSCA members participate in this initiative will greatly enhance the quality, depth, and efficacy of support that we are able to provide to our SP Officers around the world.

If you are interested in participating and/or engaging with our Officers, please reach out to your AMSCA Regional Representative who can provide you the local IST representative POC information.