Heck in line for Army Reserve promotion to general
WASHINGTON — Rep. Joe Heck, who couples politics with careers in medicine and the military, is in line for a bump up in the Army Reserve.
Heck was included Thursday on a Pentagon list of officers recommended for promotion, in his case to brigadier general. He would become one of a small number of Congress members who ever attained flag officer rank in the military.
Heck, 51, is a colonel and a medical adviser to Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Talley, chief of the Army Reserve.
Along with the new rank, Heck was recommended for assignment as deputy commander in the Atlanta-based 3rd Medical Command.
In March, Heck relinquished command of the Western Medical Area Readiness Support Group, a 20,000-person unit based in San Pablo, Calif., at the end of a three-year assignment.
The Nevada Republican departed Thursday for weekend reserve duty at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, and was not available to comment, a spokesman said.
Heck, who has been in the Army Reserve for 22 years, applied for promotion in August, spokesman Greg Lemon said. Lemon said the new rank and assignment will not affect Heck’s service in Congress.
Heck, an emergency room physician and osteopath, is in his second term representing Henderson, Boulder City and the southern triangle of Clark County. He has carried out Reserve duties on weekends and during the summer when Congress is out of session.
About 65,000 military promotions are referred to the U.S. Senate each session, and most are approved routinely, sometimes hundreds at a time.
Of the 12,098 individuals who have served in Congress since the first session in 1789, a handful have achieved general’s rank, according to research by the Senate librarian. A number of early lawmakers were generals during the American Revolution.
More recently, Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, became a brigadier general in the Utah Air National Guard while serving as senator during the 1970s.
Other generals who became well-known office-holders included Sens. Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Follow him on Twitter @STetreaultDC.
