Col. James Coleman, a Burdett Resident, Takes Command of New York Army National Guard Medical Command

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New York Army National Guard Col. James Coleman and his family.

LATHAM, NY (10/23/2012)(readMedia)-- Colonel James Coleman, a Burdett resident, took command of the New York Army National Guard's Medical Command during a ceremony at Division of Military and Naval Affairs headquarters here on Sunday, Oct. 21.

Coleman, a military flight surgeon with four combat deployments during the last ten years, replaced Col. Greg Meinking who retired after 32 years of service.

Coleman entered the Army as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1992 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

He later received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Harvard and his Doctor of Medicine from Upstate Medical University at Syracuse in 1997.

Dr. Coleman entered active duty and completed his Family Medicine Residency at Martin Army Community Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine and earned the Outstanding Senior Resident Award. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2003-4 as the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) Flight Surgeon.

Coleman joined the New York Army National Guard Medical Command in 2004 and has served in multiple positions to include Flight Surgeon, Senior Physician, and Deputy Commander. He deployed as a battalion flight surgeon to Kuwait and Iraq in 2006, Kosovo in 2008-2009 and again to Iraq in 2011.

He is a graduate of U.S. Army Airborne School, U.S. Army Air Assault School and Flight Surgeon Course. His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terror Expeditionary and Service Medals, and National Defense Service Medal.

Coleman is married to Dawn Coleman. The couple have a daughter, Wendy, age 4.

The New York Army National Guard Medical Command operations clinics at the Watervliet Arsenal outside Albany, Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh and Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse.

The command's mission is to ensure the medical readiness of 10,000 New York Army National Guard Soldiers and does this through an aggressive program of medical readiness checks, health assessments and dental checks held across the state.

Medical Command Soldiers deployed to New York City as part of the state response to 9/11, providing sick call for troops and also operating Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) CISM teams to help Soldiers and Airman cope with the traumatic missions at ground zero.

Medical Command troops again deployed to New York City in 2004 for the Republican National Convention, providing staff sick call and aide stations for troops assigned to the security missions.

Over the past decade of overseas contingency operations, the pace of operations for the Medical Command increased dramatically due to the medical and dental readiness requirements of thousands of Army National Guard Soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.