Page 105 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2016

An Ongoing Series

“It Always Starts With the Heart.”

Ricardo “FLO” Flores on personal pushes in moving current care toward best care.

Interviewed by John F. Kragh Jr, MD

How did you come to Special Operations? launched out just that morning to Somalia. I only missed
My dad went to Ranger school, so I knew that I wanted to that first flight to Somalia because I didn’t arrive until the
be in the Ranger Regiment from some of the stories and afternoon. On October 3, 1993, while Bravo Company
knowledge that he shared with me. Because I knew that was in the middle of that fierce firefight, we were in the
Ranger Medics did a lot of the same air—flying over to support them. The biggest worry that
things as the rest of the Rangers, such I had was whether or not I would remember all of my
as shooting the same weapons, jump- medical skills, or if I had forgotten anything critical during
ing out of planes, and other extreme Ranger school and would let someone die from some-
tasks, I felt like it would be a fit for me. thing that I could have prevented if my skills and memory
I went ahead and passed through Ba- were sharper.
sic Training and then graduated high
school. My dad gave me the great ad- When I arrived in Somalia I heard that Dr Holcomb—I had
Ricardo “FLO” Flores vice that if I didn’t like being a Medic, never met him before then—had held live-tissue training
then I could always switch out later on. for Bravo Company in order to sharpen their Medics. I had
He also advised that being a Medic never participated in live-tissue train-
would give me some additional op- ing but was confident that as the Al-
tions when I retired from the mili- “FLO loves people, travel, pha Company Senior Medic, it could
tary—options that I may not have if I and The Gates of Fire, be a powerful asset for my Medics
was just an infantry guy while in the a book by Steven Pressfield and [me]. As soon as I was able to
service. track him down, I approached him
about the 300 Spartans in and said, “Sir, I’ve been told that
I learned early on that I loved the battle at Thermopylae you conducted live-tissue training
satisfaction of helping other guys against the Persian army.” with Bravo Company. I just gradu-
when they need it the most—there’s ated Ranger school and I was won-
just something exhilarating about dering if you would be willing to
having a capability that you are competent in and being do the same training with our guys?” Dr [John] Holcomb
able to apply that knowledge and skill at the critical mo- calmly replied, “No problem,” left to get us some equip-
ment. I found out that if you’re a good Medic living in the ment, and coordinated with the task force. That training
Ranger Regiment, that these guys will take care of you— was a huge boost in confidence. Later, I was able to tell Dr
basically there’s nothing that you will lack. (laughs) I didn’t Holcomb, “You’ll never understand the appreciation that
have a vehicle until I’d been in the Regiment for 5 years I have for your willingness to help someone that you had
because every time one of the guys went off to Ranger never met before by coordinating that live-tissue lab. The
school they would give me the keys to their car! confidence it left me with made me a better Medic.” I’ve
been privileged to reiterate that to him on several occa-
When I arrived at 3d Batt[alion] in September ’91, I felt like sions since that day. The fact that he recognized the value
I was more of an infantryman than a Medic. The Ranger of the Medic on the ground and was willing to help us was
school training was just so much fresher in my mind. I huge. I can’t honestly say whether or not I could have per-
remember graduating from Ranger school, when im- formed a [cricothyroidotomy] or chest tube in the heat of
mediately the Sergeant Major put us on lockdown. We the moment without that training, but after the live-tissue
packed that weekend and headed out to link up with the lab, I was confident that I could competently complete
rest of 3rd Ranger Battalion in Texas. Bravo Company had the task should it be required.

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