A Bittersweet Occasion at JPSE

NORFOLK, Va.: Approximately seven out of every ten members of the JECC’s Joint Planning Support Element are reservists, so the command would have a great deal of trouble responding to the needs of the President and combatant commanders without them.? Despite this, the JPSE cannot hold on to them forever. ?

Recently, a rare dual retirement ceremony at the JPSE headquarters brought these facts home.?

Lieutenant Colonels Russell “Russ” Watkins and William “Bill” Brine were commissioned into the U.S. Army in 2002 and 2003, respectively, and spent the first quarters of their careers on active duty.? Both led Soldiers during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004-05, with Lt.Col. Brine’s platoon leading his brigade in seizing Al Ramadi during the Second Battle of Fallujah, and later guarding polling stations during the first-ever free elections held in the country. ?Spending their last five years of service as military planners with JPSE, both drew upon their experiences as military leaders and from their civilian fields of expertise as they steadily built their careers outside the military.? ??

“As a Reservist, the JECC has offered me a chance to enhance my civilian work skills of team building and planning in addition to many other things,” said Watkins, who became a general planner in the JPSE Operations branch in 2018, with a focus on fires and effects, and who now serves as a global merger and acquisition project manager for a major chemical company.?“The training the JECC offers internally and externally is top notch. The assignments provide a chance to engage with other services across the globe at levels many reservists don't get a chance to see,” Watkins added. “I could not have asked for a better assignment to retire from the Army.”?

“The demands of the JECC, while significant, were also flexible enough for me to grow my civilian career, but more importantly, better manage my workload to spend quality time with my family,” said Brine, who turned in his infantry cross rifles to become a logistician in the U.S. Army Reserve as he started his career at Westinghouse Electric Company, where he now serves as senior director of reactor services. ?“Every mission has a real-world implication and a training effect to that end,” Brine added. “The ability to support all of the major COCOMs and serve as a conduit of best practices from one to the next shows the value that the JPSE brings to the fight.”

“Also, the number of lifelong friends that I have met here is the icing on the cake,” said Brine.?“I will forever look back fondly at my experience with the JPSE.”