Page 131 - JSOM Winter 2017

require some changes to our current course, but I think we of injury care for our Soldiers. We need to make sure that
could do it while meeting the demands of the components we continue to focus on the basics; if you don’t master TC3,
and achieving interoperability. there is no reason to do PFC!!

How is the JSOMTC working to prepare SOF medics for Do you have any predictions for SOF medicine 5–10 years
Prolonged Field Care (PFC)? in the future?
We give our students a brief introduction in the concepts It’s going to continue to improve by leaps and bounds. We
of PFC and give them a brief experience with it during the will improve our training, our technology, and our systems to
culmination field-training exercise of SOCM. We don’t have ensure even better care for our Soldiers.
enough time to train PFC. If you really are going to train it,
you need to have medics sit on and treat real patients for Do you have any recommendations on how to further im-
48–72 hours or longer. PFC is primarily nursing care and the prove service interoperability in SOF medicine?
only way to train it is to do it, whether that’s at a unit training
event or in a hospital. Overall, PFC is a unit-level task and We need to train together from day 1 of our medics’ ini-
responsibility, so we give them some familiarization. tial training through sustainment training. I feel like we are
headed back to the pre–9/11 or early GWOT [Global War
What do you see as the role of portable ultrasound (US) on Terror] days, with each component doing its own thing. I
for SOF in the field? think we are forgetting the lessons that we learned early on
It is expanding and, as the technology changes, it is getting in combat that medic/medical interoperability is vital to the
more practical. My biggest fear with US is that it is a perish- survival of our Servicemembers.
able skill. If you do it a lot and know what you are looking
at, it’s an awesome adjunct; if you don’t, its bad, fuzzy black- Do you have any final thoughts you would like to share
and-white TV. with our readers?
It’s a privilege to lead and work at the JSOMTC/SWMG. We
What are your top goals in your current position? produce your medics and if there are things you would like to
Graduate the greatest number of the best medics in the world see them do or not do, please let us know.
while also providing sustainment training to ensure they stay
the best. Everything we do after that is icing on the cake.
COL Kane is commander and dean at Special Warfare Medi-
What do you think is the greatest achievement or advance cal Group/Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center,
in SOF medicine since combat operations began in 2001? Fort Bragg, NC.
Greatest achievement or advance would be tough, as we
have had so many!! Tourniquets, TC3 [Tactical Combat Casu- Keywords: interview; medics; training
alty Care], FDP [freeze-dried plasma], TXA [tranexamic acid],
whole blood, combat-wound pill packs, trauma registry,
CASEVAC [casualty evacuation], to name a few. The entire The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private
SOF medical enterprise has improved so much and it’s also views of the author and are not to be construed as official or
led change in the DoD [Department of Defense] health sys- as reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the
tem. I don’t think you can pick one. Department of Defense.

What do you consider obstacles, if any, to further advance
SOF medicine?
We need to make sure we don’t live on our laurels, and we
need to continue to search out better ways to provide point

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