Page 136 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2015

An Ongoing Series

“I always wanted to be part of something bigger than myself.
Even more so if I could make a small contribution to the bigger effort.“

—MSG Harold “Monty” Montgomery on a Career as a Special Operations Forces Medic

Interviewed by John F. Kragh Jr, MD, 20 August 2014

How did you come to SOF medicine? I believe this rings true at all levels, from service-policy level
I always wanted to do it. When I got a chance, I jumped on to international, academic, and R&D efforts.
it. Then I stayed. I was a leg at Hunter Army Airfield in Sa-
vannah, Georgia; I walked across the street to the Rangers What did you like most?
and talked to Doc (Bill) Donovan, Wow . . . hard to say. I tried to make all of it fun. Deep
the long-serving physician assis- down we all want to go back to be that platoon or team
tant, and to battalion senior medic, medic. Knowing what I know now, I could be a much bet-
then-SSG Greg Bromund. They en- ter junior medic. We are all guilty of that—leaving when
couraged me, and I had to prove we are finally qualified to do a job. But in order to learn
myself. I went through the 1/75 and make change, we have to step up. I stayed in a hand-
Ranger EFMB [expert field medic ful of positions for a very long time. I believe the normal
badge] test and was the honor 2- to 3-year assignment system breeds a “I gotta make an
grad[uate]. Bill then promptly got impact now” drive, which leads to blemishes, scars, or lega-
me on orders for Ranger Assess- cies on organizations. Blemishes have little impact and are
MSG Harold “Monty” Montgomery
ment and Selection to give me the fixed by the next guy; scars often take policy correction and
opportunity to join the unit. That was 1990, followed by 6 years to overcome. Legacies are changes with the right re-
years in 1st Ranger battalion and then 16 years at regiment quirement and resources that are built on the foundation
and now at SOCOM. that the unit maintains. Legacy building takes time to see it
through. I sat for a long time in the regiment; I’m very guilty
How was Regiment? of that, but we were constantly building.
For me and others from that time, such as “The quickest way to Undoing the scars you cause yourself also
Rob Miller, Ric Flores, and Perry Black, our takes time—I’ve caused a few I had to fix.
first effort was establishing medic stan- get me to leave the It goes both ways. You can’t become the
dards. Our second effort was resourcing room is to turn on lil’ ol’ lady in tennis shoes just maintaining
them and refining things to push perfor- Real Housewives how things are done; that’s not innovating,
mance to the next level—taking the ideas of Anywhere.” not building. I always wanted to be part of
of the guys and finding ways to make them something bigger than myself. Even more
work and last. Our third effort was in the so if I could make a small contribution to
latter half of my time in regiment, the last 6 to 8 years; we the bigger effort.
worked on a pathway to the future in order to set the condi-
tions for the future—codifying, institutionalizing the gains What are your thoughts on SOF training?
so they aren’t temporary or only personality-driven sys- To me, absolute mastery of the basics is the fundamental
tems. Modifying training requirements over time to meet essence of being Special Operations. I think that is a clas-
current needs was critical. Listening and talking among the sic theme across all of SOF units and specialties; we have
joint SOF senior enlisted about what went well or what did to be masters of the basics before we take the leap to the
not work so well. We often concluded our discussions with, higher-level task or high-speed gizmo. This is applicable in
“No, that’s your problem, not ours” or “You’re right; we all everything we do from marksmanship to physical fitness to
should do it that way.” It’s about persons, not people: we medical training to battle drills. SOF must master the fun-
have to focus on individuals so they function well in groups. damentals and then take it to the next level. That said, we

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