Page 121 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Summer 2014

Train to Failure
MSG Dennis Lyons of USASOC on Medical Training and Learning

Interviewed by John F. Kragh, Jr.

How did you enter Special Operations? in to training. Look closely, objectively, and honestly at
failure for the opportunities for growth and improvement.
I was an infantry medic, came back from Korea to Fort Our goal of training should be for our skill level in the next
Bragg’s emergency room. SOF docs there recommended
me, and I tried out for a job, and it worked out pretty well. conflict to start better than where we ended the last.
What training priorities do you have today?
You were in JSOC for 9 years and Civil Affairs (CA) for
2 years? Train to fight the way you’re going to fight. Perform in train-
ing how you’re going to perform in war. Wear in training
Yes, I learned early the value of joint operations planning,
which is even more important now and will be more so in the what you’re going to wear to war. Pack what you are going
to use in war. Don’t treat the grade sheet; treat the patient.
next couple of decades. CA was challenging, as well. They
are Special Operations Combat Medics with additional skills Try to mimic mission conditions as closely as possible with
the correct operational stressors. A great example is how in
in veterinary, agricultural, and pub-
lic health and preventive medicine training I often see people yelling
over a trainees shoulders. The real-
for civil military operations. We had Dennis loves whitewater
a very wide scope of practice. We kayaking in western North ity is medics are often working in
silence with little outside feedback.
focused on improving the sustain-
ment training and the pre-mission Carolina, the Mecca of A medic once summed up his expe-
rience with “the silence was eerily
validation of medics and refined the southeast whitewater.
SOF CA Medical Sergeants Course. deafening and stressful”.
Where were you in CA? What training strategies seem best for you?
I spent 2 years in CA, which included time in the 98th Civil Train to failure. You rarely learn by getting a 100% on a
Affairs Battalion, which was oriented toward Southern test. Real learning comes from failure. As human beings we
Command, and in the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) have been at war for thousands of years. Current lessons
as the Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor. learned are rarely innovative, but just relearned from past
events, which then have new technology applied to an old
What does your job “CMF 68 Coordinator/Med Training problem.
NCO” mean?
What problems do you anticipate in training in the next
Advisor for SOCM medics within USASOC for profes- 2 to 4 years?
sional development and training development. There are
about 360 SOCM medics within USASOC. I try to focus Medics have perishable skills, which degrade quickly.
on developing medics for future positions of responsibility Sustainment training starting the day after graduation is
to look at how they can provide input not only to their key to preserving those skills. Hands-on training takes a
current unit and teams, but to the larger SOF medical com- lot, and computer-based training takes very little. Online
munity so we continue to evolve our medical capabilities training seems to be the new answer to most training gaps,
and training. Within the training cell we also provide input but delegating our sustainment training responsibility to
to the DOD Joint Program Committee for Medical Simula- computer-based will be a costly mistake.
tions and Training (JPC1).

What advice do you have for the JSOM (Journal of Special
Operations Medicine) community?
Lessons learned are to be re-learned, and often they are
not so innovative but have to be refound and incorporated

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