Page 6 - JSOM Summer 2018

future. Particularly as operations become more and more
disaggregated, and standard service-support requirements
increase.
(continued from page 1) Our men and women in combat don’t know what
This is a powerful point. As lethal as combat has uniform is being worn underneath a doctor’s or nurse’s
become, and in a unit that is clearly never been “risk scrubs in an OR. And they don’t care—they just want to
averse,” the results are conclusive—leadership and train- know they have the best our country has to offer taking
ing matters, especially when it comes to taking care of care of them. Your efforts to further integrate healthcare
our people. Simply stated—Operators will move further, both on the battlefield and back at home are notable and
faster, and fight harder knowing they are backed up by are proving to be fruitful. I encourage you to continue
competent medical professionals, a comprehensive care working with all combatant commands as you develop
system, and involved leadership. your joint approach to medical readiness and healthcare
Another capability that has improved survivability delivery. This is clearly another area where we can work
and minimized preventable deaths is the early use of blood together. And while we can justifiably be proud of our
products, and in particular whole blood at the point of in- accomplishments, it has been estimated that up to 40%
jury. I continue to push the Joint Trauma Blood Program, of combat deaths are surgically survivable if we can keep
the CENTCOM and Combined Joint Task Force surgeon those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines alive to a sur-
generals, and my operational commanders to ensure that gical facility. My challenge to you is to continue innova-
blood products are available closer to the point of injury, tive research efforts that save those lives without simply
and that trained forces are available to transfuse those increasing surgical teams on the battlefield. I am asking
products to minimize the risk of transfusion injury. you to find innovative and transformational changes in
Now, we recognize that even with recent advances, battlefield medicine that will not make us chose between
we can’t rest on our laurels by any stretch of the imag- saving lives, and being judicious with precious and lim-
ination. There is still work to do. As the article about ited resources.
TCCC that I just mentioned also points out, “Medical Although there are plenty of areas to work on in
training in the DoD is not consistent among the Services the future, I am encouraged by organizations such as
and between units.” At first glance, this does not seem to the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and the Center for
be a large problem. After all, to some degree each Service Public-Private Partnerships and the strong partnerships
and each unit has its own needs. However, as the last 17 you have developed between the military and civilian
plus years have clearly shown us, we don’t operate solely medical communities. Only through working together
as homogenous units or as Services on our own. We oper- can we do the most important task of any leader—taking
ate in a joint, combined-arms, and coalition environment. care of our people.
Interoperability among our medical personnel is more im-
portant now than it ever was—and will remain so in the —Lt Col (Ret) Michelle Landers, MBA, BSN, RN

4 | JSOM Volume 18, Edition 2/Summer 2018