Page 6 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Spring 2016

from the
SOMA PRESIDENT

SOMA Professionals, improvement. Part of doing a great job
is building a strategy and relationships
ere’s hoping the New Year finds that can be sustained, and that strat-
H everyone healthy and happy at egy should be able to allow the opera-
heart. I’m pleased to tell you that the tional and tactical elements to “lift and
SOMA Symposium: Translating SOF Steven Viola shift” as needed for any unforeseen cir-
Lessons Learned to the Conventional SOCM, ATP, NREMT-P cumstances. To be clear, if we get the
Forces that was held in San Marcos, strategy right, then the operational and
Texas, was a great success! More than 350 participants tactical elements can make adjustments “on the fly” for
and 80 vendors attended the event. the situation they are faced with and are unencumbered
by levels of bureaucracy.
The Symposium was a venue to build new relationships
made in a variety of capacities and we look forward to This philosophy holds true for SOMA as an associa-
the continued support from those relationships. I’d like tion, but also in regard to building a stronger relation-
to take a moment to thank a few folks for their efforts: ship between the “line side” and the medical side. While
LTC Cord Cunningham and his herculean accomplish- I would never presume to tell anyone how to do their
ments, from Army Medical Department Center and job, I would humbly submit the following recommen-
School; MG Jones and his senior enlisted leader CSM dation with regard to strategy building and sharing
Rhoades; CSM Sprunger; MSG Eldred from the Cen- information.
ter for Predeployment Medicine, from III Corps; COL
Geracci, LTC Zinnante, and MAJ Delgado, SAMMC/ We live in a world that is dominated by data, and how
ISR; the guest speakers; and, of course, the fabulous we collate that data into useful information is impor-
vendors. We could not have done this Symposium tant to meeting our objectives. In a continuing effort as
without the help of all hands. Last, it was a pleasure to a supporting role for the warfighter, the strategic guid-
acknowledge the Bulverde/Spring Branch Fire and emer- ance given by the “line side” can be difficult to navigate
gency medical services personnel; and Col (RET) Mani- through to determine what the priorities are. How do
fold, MD, medical director; and Mr Bolleter, NREMT-P, we better understand useful information and its impact?
director of Clinical Direction, for their efforts to “Stop
the Bleed” in the education of 22,000 school children Suffice it to say that most medical staff already have a
and for supplying 600 tourniquets to the schools in the strong foundation on which to build even greater capac-
surrounding area. ity and expertise, but merely relating their perspective
to the “line side” may fall short of shared goals. Simply
With the start of the New Year, we are looking to secure stated, by the perspective provided by the medical staff,
new members and hope to retain our sustaining mem- does the “line side” wish to mitigate the risk or assume
bers for what will be an informative and exciting time the risk to their personnel?
at the upcoming Special Operations Medical Associa-
tion Scientific Assembly (SOMSA), 23–26 May 2016 in At times we operate in a system that doesn’t provide co-
Charlotte, North Carolina. In the Navy, we have a tradi- herent strategic guidance, planning is stove-piped, and
tion when individuals are present at the start of a new results are inadequate at best.
ship, command, or location; those individuals are called
“plank owners.” I invite you all to be “plank owners” What we are engaged in? Building an association/
at this worthwhile event. Please check the website for command component that provides shared, vertically
details and updates. integrated situational awareness, coherent strategic
guidance, integrated planning and execution, and tools
During my short term as the SOMA president, I’d say for measuring effectiveness to better achieve the mis-
we are doing a good job, but there is always room for sion’s objectives. In this case, reducing the mortality,

iv Journal of Special Operations Medicine Volume 16, Edition 1/Spring 2016