Page 151 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2014

from the
NATO Surgeon

Build It and They Will Come
The Allied Centre for Medical Educa- station. The Turkish SOF Medical person-
tion (ACME), celebrating its 1-year nel are taking full advantage of the train-
anniversary, remains the cornerstone Michael D. Henry, MD ing opportunities available at the ACME
for the NATO SOF Medicine Devel- COL MC, USA (A) by scheduling 2 weeks of national medical
opment Initiative (NSMDI). It has NATO Special Operations training this fall, after five of their medics
keyed JMED’s success in supporting Headquarters successfully completed the CMSC this past
the NSHQ mission of being the pri- Medical Advisor/ spring. They are applying training skills in
mary point of development, coordi- Command Surgeon the creation of effective medical curricu-
nation, and direction for all NATO lum and its augmentation with simulation,
Special Operations–related activities, in order to opti- acquired during the course. Four other NATO partners
mize employment of Special Operations Forces (SOF). will conduct national training at the ACME prior to the
This fall’s activity and the increased demand signal for end of the year. The fall CMSC is full and there are only
courses are very encouraging. The ACME will be uti- six seats remaining for the next course scheduled for
lized for NSMDI courses, Research Workshop, and/or 9–13 February 2015. Additionally, we will be conduct-
national training for 13 of 18 weeks. ing two iterations of the Special Operations Surgical
Team Development Course (SOSTDC). The success of
The first Advanced Special Operations Medical Leaders this course is attributable to the outstanding instruction
Course (ASOMLC), training eight students from seven and, most importantly, to the mentorship provided by
nations, was successfully completed in October 2014. members of other nations’ Special Operations Surgical
The course provided the students with the tools to criti- Teams—thank you for the continued support!
cally evaluate their nation’s existing medical system to en-
sure that it sufficiently provides the capabilities needed to The fall Special Operations Forces Medicine Expert
support the SOF Commander’s objectives. Each student Panel (SOFMEP) meeting was extremely productive.
returned to his or her home station armed with both the The SOFMEP agreed to the establishment of the Special
tools and knowledge to fulfill or mitigate any capability Operations Forces Tactical Medicine Panel (SOFTMP).
gaps noted at the tactical, operational, and strategic lev- This will be a complementary and supporting panel to
els. The students realized that regardless of how robust the SOFMEP. This panel will bridge tactical SOF medi-
their nation’s medical system may or may not be, many cine needs, throughout the Alliance, with the opera-
shared a number of capability gaps or issues needing to tional and strategic NATO SOF initiatives. The priority
be remedied. The smaller size of the initial course allowed for the SOFMEP and NSHQ JMED is the finalization
the NSHQ staff and the instructors from the University of and submission of AMEDP 24 and the proceedings
College Cork to conduct daily after action reviews with from the Prolonged Field Care and the SOF Maritime
the students and instructors to refine future courses in an Medical Support research workshops.
effort to best meet the needs of the nations.
This coming year is going to continue to be exciting
The Combat Medical Simulation Course (CMSC) re- and productive in NSHQ JMED’s efforts to increasing
mains one of the most sought after courses in NSMDI the interoperability of the Alliance’s medical assets and
and is the primary driver for the busy fall schedule at the growing the SOF network. The solid foundation built
ACME this year. Graduates of the CMSC are eligible to by LTC Dan Irrizary and the JMED team provides us
schedule and conduct training using the simulators ei- the framework to continue to grow and expand our ef-
ther on site at the ACME simulation lab or at their home forts in support of the NATO SOF Commanders.

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