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Video by Spc. Elsi Delgado

Fort Stewart's 14th Field Hospital changes commander

3rd Division Sustainment Brigade

May 12, 2023 | 2:54

U.S. Army Soldiers, Family members and friends witnessed the 14th Field Hospital commander, Col. Edgardo Ramirez, relinquish command to Lt. Col. Michael D. April during a ceremony at Alwyn Cashe Garden on Fort Stewart, Georgia, May 12, 2023. Formal change of command ceremonies are rooted in the Army tradition of ensuring a unit’s Soldiers witnessed the passing of authority from one commander to another. Col. Laurel A. Neff, commander of the 16th Hospital Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, officiated the ceremony. The 14th Combat Support Hospital, originally located at Fort Benning, reflagged as the 14th Field Hospital on Aug. 17, 2021, as part of the Army's force design update in pursuit of the Army of 2030 concept. The unit provides an expeditionary Role 3 health service support, including early-entry hospitalization, rapidly employable resuscitation and surgery to increase personnel survivability anywhere in the world. Ramirez, who hails from Puerto Rico, assumed command at the unit's activation and oversaw several field exercises and a team's deployment to provide COVID-19 defense support of civil authorities in Rhode Island. April recently served as the commander of the 40th Forward Resuscitative Surgical Detachment at Fort Carson, Colorado.