Page 120 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2014

Figure 2 Preventive Medicine noncommissioned officer Figure 3 Preventive Medicine personnel conduct
prepares to conduct surveillance to assess potential noise environmental surveillance during dewatering operations.
exposure to Title 10 and Title 32 personnel working nearby.

missions. This enabled the command team to proac-
tively identify unmet needs and offer concrete plans for Figure 4 Preventive Medicine personnel take water
meeting those requirements. samples from a home where Task Force Pump is conducting
dewatering operations.
On 9 November, the unit’s mission was expanded to
include covering DoD property in New York State. In
response, the unit conducted split operations, with one
Team continuing to provide preventive medicine sup-
port to JBMDL in New Jersey and one Team moving
to New York to cover Fort Hamilton and Floyd Ben-
nett Field (Figures 3 and 4). Furthermore, while work-
ing alongside Task Force Pump, the command team was
able to identify additional preventive medicine require-
ments for the units making up that Task Force. This led
to a request for preventive medicine support by the com-
mander of the Engineering Battalion that was operat-
ing as the headquarters element of Task Force Pump.
The JCE then placed the unit under the tactical control
(TACON) of the Dual Status Command-New York to
provide the required preventive medicine coverage.

This experience highlighted what preventive medicine Figure 5 Be prepared for media interactions.
personnel often say: Units initially do not know they CPT Stanley provides an interview to KOMO 4 News,
need us until we arrive, and then they manage to keep the Seattle, Washington–based ABC affiliate.
our personnel fully engaged for the mission’s duration.
In this case, we were able to communicate to the Task
Force Pump leadership the importance of documenting
environmental exposures for those Servicemembers par-
ticipating in the dewatering mission (Figures 3 and 4).
Such environmental surveillance provides protection to
the military, the unit leadership, and the Servicemembers
themselves. If exposures are identified, then mitigat-
6,7
ing measures can quickly be implemented to protect all
Servicemembers and leaders, along with documenting
exposures in individual medical records for future com-
plications and treatment. If no exposure risks are found,
then the military is protected from unsubstantiated health
claims. Due to the importance of such documentation,

110 Journal of Special Operations Medicine Volume 14, Edition 4/Winter 2014