One of the U.S. Army’s most accomplished leaders in military medicine was promoted to brigadier general by the Army’s surgeon general during a recent ceremony at Marshall Hall, the U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) Headquarters.
With his wife, Terry, assisting, Col. Brian C. Lein was promoted by Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker. Brig. Gen. Lein is the command surgeon for U.S. Army Forces Command Headquarters.
As the command surgeon, Lein advises the FORSCOM commander on all medical issues relating to providing trained and ready forces to combatant commanders. He is also advises the commanding general on the health and fitness of the nearly 800,000 active and reserve component soldiers who make up the command.
“As a hospital commander, you have a special staff of surgeons and doctors that can be taken at any time if their country needs them,” Schoomaker said. “Brian Lein was one of those surgeons, and I am so pleased to see him as the command surgeon for FORSCOM. He is right where his country needs him now.”
Before coming to FORSCOM, Lein commanded Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. Landstuhl is the primary evacuation hospital for military personnel wounded or injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.
As a licensed surgeon, Lein operated on many of the soldiers who required surgery before being transferred back to hospitals in the United States.
“Continuing to perform surgery gives me two things,” said Lein. “First, I enjoy it. Second, it allows me to do the same training and access resources that we ask our medical staffs to do. So, if I can’t give my ‘thumbs up,’ how can I expect them to?”
Lein contrasted his recent command to his earlier service at Landstuhl in 1993 when the Army had a mission in Somalia.
“We are definitely improving survivability, care of the soldier at point of injury, the individual first-aid kits and rapid evacuation off the battlefield are part of it,” Lein explained. “ (From) ‘Damage control surgery’ to the U.S. Air Force Critical Care Air Transport Team, there is more developed, comprehensive, multi-service, multi-injury support to all service members.”
A 1984 U.S. Military Academy graduate, who completed medical school at Temple University, Lein said, “It’s the people you work with that make you a success, and I’ve been surrounded by some of the best professionals that keep me focused on the Soldier.”
He also attributes much of his success to his family. “They’re an incredible group of people. There is no way I could have made it this far without their sacrifice and support.”
Board-certified as a general surgeon, Lein was born April 28, 1962, in Bridgeport, Conn., and reared in New York.
Lein is upbeat about his future as the FORSCOM Command Surgeon. “I haven’t stopped having fun,” he says. “Taking care of soldiers, veterans and their families is what I will continue to have fun doing.”
U.S. Army Forces Command prepares and deploys soldiers from across the nation to support operations worldwide in defense of the nation at home and abroad. FORSCOM is the Army’s largest command responsible for the training and readiness of more than 75 percent of the Army’s force structure and 87 percent of the Army’s combat power.
