Page 122 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Summer 2016

An Ongoing Series

“SWAT Is a Lifestyle; It’s a Way of Life”
Ray Casillas on a Career in Operational Medicine

Interviewed by John F. Kragh Jr, MD

Tell us a little about yourself. (USC) Sol Price School of Public Policy, Safe Communi-
I thank the Journal of Special Operations Medicine for ties Institute program (SCI) (http://priceschool.usc.edu/
this opportunity. I credit the folks that have trained and programs/sci/) and will attend their Executive Program in
mentored me: The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Depart- Counter Terrorism, Center for Risk and Economic Analy-
ment Special Enforcement Bureau sis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) over the summer (http://
(LASD SEB), Huntington Beach SWAT create.usc.edu/). I have worked behind the scenes for
[Special Weapons and Tactics], Hun- many years on TEMS and assisted with various projects.
tington Beach FD [Fire Department], But only within the past few years, because I was asked,
Phil Carmona (retired Special Opera- have I begun to take on a leadership role.
tions Forces [SOF]), Mike Meoli (re-
tired Sea, Air, and Land [SEAL]), Dr The SWAT team you work on, is it a full-time team or
Andy Pennardt (COL, Ret.), Dr Mark part-time team? How does it work?
Ray Casilllas Cannon, Dave Rathbun (retired LASD Team members are collaterally assigned to SWAT, mean-
SEB), Professor ing that our primary assignments are
Frank Quiambao, and, of course, other than-SWAT. As for the med-
my girls—wife and two daughters. I “It’s not about me or you; ics, all of us work full-time assign-
have an awesome wife of 24 years, it’s about them. Them being ments on fire department engine
two incredible daughters, and a the ones we swear to companies. When we are called out
good ol’ dude named Tank, a choco- for SWAT, we jump off our regular
late English Lab [Labrador retriever]. protect and serve.” engine company assignments and
I attend a Protestant church and I try work SWAT. The vacancy on the
to “walk the talk.” I am employed by the City of Hunting- engine is back-filled. SWAT training is led by team lead-
ton Beach FD in Orange County, California, assigned to a ers or by somebody who is being groomed to become a
four-man engine company as a firefighter-paramedic. leader (within the team or elsewhere). Medically, we have
used elements of TC3 (Tactical Combat Casualty Care)
Since the inception of the TEMS [Tactical Emergency since 2000. Our local medical director, Sam Stratton, is a
Medical Services] program in 1997, I have held a collateral huge advocate for TEMS. Tactically, we use certain TTPs
assignment on SWAT. I am the senior TEMS provider on [tactics, techniques, or procedures] that certainly are not
the team. Collaboratively with the team, I plan, organize, a secret but are based on tried-and-true best practices.
implement, and evaluate our training and operations. From a command and control perspective, because of my
time on the team and time as a firefighter, I work in the
I grew up in a rough neighborhood, had some unique chal- CP [command post] in a unified command with the SWAT
lenges growing up, and was very eager to get out of that leadership in a tactical-fire liaison position using common
trying environment. After graduating high school in 1985, California ICS [Incident Command System] methods.
I put myself through both paramedic school in 1988 and Our group of SWAT paramedics is also assigned to the
the fire academy in 1990. Educationally, I have attended Orange County Joint Hazard Assessment Team (JHAT),
and completed training in Urban Search and Rescue, [which] includes select SWAT members from Anaheim, Ir-
HAZMAT [hazardous materials] response, arson investiga- vine, Huntington Beach, and the Orange County Sheriff’s
tion, fire officer, and, of course, TEMS courses. I am on the Department. Other elements in JHAT are EOD [Explosive
back side of completing a bachelor of fire sciences de- Ordinance Disposal] Bomb squad [and the] HAZMAT
gree, I completed the University of Southern California’s responders.

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