Page 12 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Spring 2017

from the

SOMA PRESIDENT

Hello SOMA members, family, If, in your travels or in your orga-
friends, and volunteers, nizations, you find someone who
you’d proudly stand next to in our
efforts to advance our approach to
would like to take a moment to Steven Viola medicine, bring them into the fold.
I thank those members who have al- SOCM, ATP, NREMT-P
ready renewed their membership in Spot-on assessment!
the Association. In the unlikely event you haven’t
already done so, I highly encourage you to do so Coming from the community where the difficult is
pronto. You don’t want to miss out on a single is- done immediately and the impossible may take a
sue of this publication, voting in this year’s Board little longer, what does that “gap” mean? In simple
election, or the great program we have in store for terms, it is a steep learning curve in an unforgiving
the 2017 SOMSA in Charlotte, North Carolina. environment. If you don’t have your game wired
The dates are 21–25 May 2017, so be sure to mark tight, you will suffer the consequences of being ill
your calendar. You can renew your membership prepared, ill advised, and, ultimately, ill fated. This
online or with the renewal form that was mailed mindset to fill the “gap” came about nearly three
to you. Your membership is important and, with decades ago by a group of guys gathered to share
your continued support of the Association, we can their ideas of how “it ought to be,” honoring those
continue to provide a forum for exchanging vital who have contributed to the progressive nature of
information that helps decrease the suffering, mini- Special Operations Forces (SOF) medicine and re-
mize the mortality, and increase the survivability membering those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
of tactical elements. More succinctly, from SOMA’s In that same vein of functional responsibilities, we
Secretary/Treasurer John Dominguez: just finished our Board meeting and we are hard at
work for you, the SOMA member.
Over the years many “gaps” in tactical medi-
cine have been identified and addressed by It’s an exciting time. I’ve been involved for nearly
SOMA members. These solutions and advances 26 years and I’m probably the most excited I have
were relentlessly pursued to prevent loss of ever been about the developments we are pursu-
life from our specialized community. Many ing. SOMA and its members are a unique group
of these advances have been and are continu- that brings decades of experience and knowledge
ing to be transitioned to the global prehospi-
tal and tactical community. This is largely in to “fill the gap” in all things in the SOF realm.
part to the intelligence, dedication, and experi- You’d be hard pressed to find another community
ence of SOMA’s members. Each member car- of SOMA’s size in the medical arena that has im-
ries the evidence-based, medical professional, pacted so much, from infrastructure support to the
tactical-minded approach to complex point-of- point-of-injury methodology and care.
injury situations. We need to continue to grow
SOMA’s membership community and network. As we get closer to spring, we are looking forward
This will allow us to continue to innovate and
transition advances in prehospital and austere to another great gathering of our members and
medicine beyond local acceptance of standards. colleagues. We are completely focused on bring-
SOMA members are a unique tribe of warriors. ing the best speakers, vendors, presenters, and

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