Page 6 - JSOM Spring 2020

AFB to become the United States Special Operations JSOM is currently subscribed to in 80 countries, as both indi-
Command (USSOCOM) command surgeon. Then Maj vidual and institutional (military units, medical and university
Michelle DuGuay Landers was publishing the JSOM library) subscriptions.
from the USSOCOM Surgeon’s Office. The four quar-
terly issues of Volume 6 were half over when I arrived The Inaugural Edition through the Fall 2010 Edition are
in Tampa that summer and the total page count was available in PDF on our website without subscription. Go to:
about 380 for that volume. I always have believed that https://www.jsomsonline.org/Publications/Vol1Ed1.pdf.
quantity has its very own quality, and by the end of
Volume 7, Maj Landers had produced a stellar volume JSOM Training Supplement NKA the ATP-P Handbook
of 650 total pages, then followed by Volume 8 with
more than 800 pages. The commanding general of The annual JSOM Training Sup-
USSOCOM at this time was incredibly supportive as plement was implemented in
he had become familiar with the journal while he was 2007. Like Goldilocks and the
the commanding general at USASOC at Fort Bragg. three bears, the first supplement
Thanks to Maj Landers’ arduous work and the repu- was the same size as the JSOM—
tation within the SOF headquarters, the journal was too big to carry in your pocket;
turning into a sizable, high-quality instrument of Spe- the next version was too small to
cial Operations medical knowledge and policy within read; and the next version was
the community. just right. The guidelines con-
tained in this supplement are de-
The late COL Tom Deal, USA, came into the USSOCOM-SG veloped through lessons learned
office in summer 2009 and was the JSOM executive editor for and adjusted as best practice SOF
the last six editions. medicine guidelines. They are created, reviewed, and approved
for use by the advanced tactical practitioner (ATP) by a com-
I was the only person in the Surgeon’s Office bined group of SOF physicians, ATPs, SOF
who had ever worked on all aspects of the medical personnel from all of the SOCOM
JSOM, and when I retired, no one wanted to try component branches, and civilian medical
to take it on. Due to DoD budget constraints personnel working to ensure that our SOF
at that time, I was asked by COL Deal and the personnel have the most highly trained medi-
component commanders if I would consider cal care in the field.
keeping the JSOM going in my “retirement”
provided, of course, SOCOM was willing to This ACU pocket-sized handbook is a quick
divest ownership of it. Without thinking about reference “checklist” for SOF Medics that
it, I said yes! I had been doing it for 10 years contains the USSOCOM Tactical Emer-
now as the production and managing editor— gency Medical Protocol (TMEPS) and Tacti-
how hard could it be, right?! Once retired, I cal Trauma Protocols (TTPs) for SOF ATPs,
started Breakaway Media, LLC and became the Recommended Drug List (RDL), Canine
its “Publisher” as well. What I underesti- TCCC, Tactical Medical Planning and Ops,
mated at the time was all the other working as well as, Burn, Nerve, and Military Acute
parts that I had taken for granted, because . . . well, they just Concussion Evaluation (MACE) Charts and Concussion Man-
happened! The journal (production, printing, shipping . . .) agement algorithms.
was no longer being funded by DoD and I needed to figure out
how I was going to pay for it. This checklist gives step-by-step guidance for treating different
emergences. The JSOM Training Supplement changed names
The JSOM funding sources changed; the journal became a in 2013 to the Journal of Special Operations Medicine Ad-
subscription-based journal, and advertising from the compa- vanced Tactical Paramedic Protocols Handbook.
nies whose products support our SOF and TEMS community
became the funding source for the journal. A big shout out and A lot of great things happened in 2013
THANK YOU to all our subscribers and advertisers (some
who have been with us since the beginning) who support the The Journal of Special Operations Medicine and Tac-
JSOM and allow it to remain in publication. tical Combat Casualty Care Advances in trauma care
are not inevitable. Witness the fact that an estimated
The JSOM has made great strides in becoming the preeminent 3,400 US military Servicemembers died as a result
journal for SOF medical personnel. This did not happen over- of extremity hemorrhage in the Vietnam conflict, yet
night; it took years of dedication by our professional and para- most US forces nonetheless went to war in Afghan-
professional contributors and readers to get the journal to this istan—more than a quarter-century later—without
level. The JSOM is the only medical journal that specifically tourniquets in their aid bags. One of the reasons that
addresses the SOF medical professionals’ work and allows this occurred was the lack of a medical journal dedi-
a forum for universal SOF contribution and discussion. The cated to battlefield trauma care that could effectively
ability to identify, propose, and debate issues through profes- serve as a forum for topics related to caring for our
sional writing is invaluable to the force of SOF medics world- combat wounded and sharpen the focus on the most
wide and to their professional development, both officer and pressing topics in this field. The continued advance of
NCO alike. The JSOM is one of the most practical and popu- new concepts in battlefield trauma care requires good
lar journals in tactical, operational, and clinical medicine. The information, effectively presented and applied within

2 | JSOM Volume 20, Edition 1 / Spring 2020