Page 7 - JSOM Winter 2018

“As a result of his remarkable accomplishment and the force You will be true to your
of his personality, Col. Mabry was subsequently selected to friends and to yourself.
serve on the staff of the Army Surgeon General to provide And your work might
input on trauma care issues. He left this position earlier than make a difference. To be
planned because the military found an even more pressing somebody or to do some-
need for his knowledge and skill set—Command Surgeon for thing. In life there is often
the Joint Special Operations Command—one of the most im- a roll call.
portant and sought-after operational medicine positions in the
U.S. military,” Dr. Butler said. That’s when you will have
to make a decision. To be
Asked to identify high points in his professional life, Mabry or to do? Which way will
said he’s not sure if he would call it a high point, but the Soma- you go?”
lia episode in 1993 was a turning point for him. But the Col- Col. Mabry’s positions
onel shared some unforgettable moments in the line of duty, come with great respon-
including:
sibility that are offered
• Freezing in the Florida swamps as a Winter Ranger only to individuals in
• Being only one of 7 out of 75 candidates to make it whom the U.S. military
through the Special Forces medic course straight through. places a great deal of trust, Dr. Butler said. “Col. Mabry has
• Somalia repeatedly earned that trust.”
• Spending 8 months on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border
as a Special Forces Battalion Surgeon Past Letterman Winners
• Being directly responsible for the Army’s new Critical 2008 City of Frederick, Maryland
Care Flight Paramedic program
• Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee 2009 Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care
(MC4)
on battlefield medical readiness 2010 Group: Joint Trauma Analysis and Prevention of Injury in
• Serving as a health policy fellow in the U.S. Congress Combat (JTAPI)
and helping to develop policy and legislation that will Individual: COL (Ret) Robert H. Vandre
improve the care we deliver to the men and women of Research Area Director, Combat Casualty Care (RAD II)
our Military 2011 Group: Military Amputee Research Program (MARP)
• Seeing his oldest son earn his Green Beret and youngest Individual: COL (Ret) Alexander Stojadinovic, MD, FACS
son become a Marine officer. Mabry also shared three Bon Secours Cancer Institute Surgical Oncology
favorite quotes or life’s lessons he subscribes to: 2012 Group: Combat Casualty Care Research Program
1. “The recurring themes in military medicine are the (CCCRP)
Individual: Craig D. Shriver, MD, FACS, COL MC
recurring themes in military medicine . . .” Director, Murtha Cancer Center, Walter Reed NMMC;
2. I actually made this one up. We perpetually forget Professor of Surgery, USU; Director, Clinical BreastCare
and re-learn the medical lessons of war. There are Project, Cancer Center at WRB
many reasons for this and there are many parallels 2013 Group: Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research
now to Dr. Letterman and the Civil War. This para- Center (TATRC)
digm will be very difficult to change with our current Individual: Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH
Distinguished Professor, University of California Davis
organizational and leadership model. School of Medicine and Betty Irene Moore School of
3. “Sacred cows make the best hamburgers.” This Nursing, and Director, Institute for Population Health
means you should always question your assumptions Improvement, UC Davis Health System
and the status quo. 2014 Group: U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research
Individual: COL Peter J. Weina, PhD, MD, FACP, FIDSA
Finally, as he starts to see the end of his career, the quote from Chief, Department of Research Programs, Walter Reed
Air Force fighter pilot John Boyd below resonates with him. National Military Medical Center Scientific Lead for the
“It talks about making a difference versus doing what is safe Intravenous Artensunate Integrated Product Team
and advancing your career. While we talk about the impor- Director of the Leishmania Diagnostics Laboratory
tance of ‘disruptive innovation’ and the need to challenge the 2015 Group: Joint Trauma System (JTS)
Individual: Dr. Laura Ruse Brosch, RN, Colonel,
status quo, military organizations by their very nature are very US Army (Retired)
resistant to change.” Director of ORP Human Research Protection Office
Headquarters, Fort Detrick.
And according to Boyd, “And you’re going to have to make
a decision about which direction you want to go . . . (Boyd 2016 Group: U.S. Army Medical Material Development Activity
The Tissue Injury and Regenerative Medicine Project
raised his hand and pointed). If you go that way you can be Individual: Colonel John Bradley Holcomb USA,
somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will Ret, MD, FACS
have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a 2017 Individual: CAPT. Frank Butler, USN (Ret.), MC, MD
member of the club and you will get promoted and you will
get good assignments.” Then Boyd raised his other hand and Permission to republish parts of the Eleventh Annual Major
pointed another direction. “Or you can go that way and you Jonathan Letterman Medical Excellence Award program was
can do something—something for your country and for your granted by David Price, Executive Director, National Museum
Air Force and for yourself. If you decide you want to do some- of Civil War Medicine. For the full details, please go to www
thing, you may not get promoted and you may not get the .civilwarmed.org.
good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of
your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. —Lt Col (Ret) Michelle Landers, MBA, BSN, RN

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