Page 6 - JSOM Winter 2022

fromthe

SOMA PRESIDENT

SOMA Members and JSOM Readers, of GHOSTs and other teams was below
that of SOF surgical teams, which many
he Call for Research Abstracts for the believed increased risk to both force and
Scientific Assembly opened on October mission. SOMA was a natural leader in
G
(R
MS
John Dominguez, MSG (Ret)
h
D
T21st. By now, SOMA has also opened J Jo h n D om i i n gu e z, MS G (R et t ) addressing this risk and sponsored meet-
the Call for Presentations and Labs as well. In ings from a SOF surgical teams interest
the near future, a Call for Nominations for the Board of Directors group in 2018 and 2019. At these meetings, the term “aus-
will be distributed to all members for one open position in the tere resuscitative and surgical care” (ARSC) was coined and
coming election, Civilian Vice President. I hope that you will con- defined as advanced medical capability delivered by small
sider becoming involved in SOMA and sharing your experiences teams with limited resources, often beyond traditional time-
and knowledge with the organization in one of these ways. lines of care, and bridging the gaps in roles of care in order
to enable forward military operations and mitigate risk to
SOMA is constantly working to support those dedicated to pro- the force. A team of surgeons and other clinicians, largely
viding aid and increasing survivability in out-of-hospital encoun- formed by SOMA members, wrote the first ARSC clinical
ters. The following are a few projects that highlight those efforts. practice guideline in 2019, which has been applied and
• New Committee, the SOMA Fellowship Committee – Roland adapted as the battlefield standard by the Army’s Forward
Paquette, PA-C, and Dr Paul Allen are the co-chairs. They are Resuscitative Surgical Detachment, the Navy’s Emergency
in the discovery phase of the resources, curriculum, partner- Resuscitative Surgical System, and the Air Force’s Ground
ships, and cost that a fellowship would require. Surgical Team, among others. SOMA continues to support
• Upgrading from a SharePoint platform to a WordPress plat- the development of ARSC knowledge and expertise with its
form. (www.specialoperationsmedicine.org) – This needed up- popular ARSC track and no less than 13 presentations at
grade is long overdue and was planned to begin after SOMSA SOMSA 2022. No doubt SOF surgical teams will continue
2020 but was unfortunately delayed due to the pandemic. to lead training and technical standards for conventional
• New system for abstract, presentation, and lab submissions – ARSC teams to follow, with SOMSA continuing to fill the
This is part of SOMA’s efforts to modernize technology and vital role of marketplace for sharing knowledge and hatch-
keep pace with the industry standard. The new system will ing new ideas.
track submissions more efficiently. SOMA requests your feed- – SOF surgeon
back on the new system to ensure ease of use and that it meets In mid December 2001, the 274th Forward Surgical Team (FST)
SOMA’s needs and expectations. moved from Karshi Kandahar (K2) Airbase, Uzbekistan, to Ba-
• SOMSA 2023 may see a new collaborative working group on gram Airbase, Afghanistan. SOF had been operating in Afghan-
traumatic brain injury. This project is under development and istan since October, most with surgical support located with the
there will be updates on this in our social media. command element, which was located several hours outside the
At the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) 2022 Con- country. Only a few elite assault forces had their surgical teams
ference, Army Chief of Staff General McConville emphasized that integrated to directly support their assault force on each mission.
our partnership and integration with allies is our greatest strategic Although we took our first casualties in late November, the cat-
advantage over our adversaries. Our near-peer adversaries possess alyst for forward deploying surgical teams into Afghanistan was
capabilities able to disrupt previous military doctrinal employ- a mass casualty incident that occurred on 5 December 2001. The
ment of forces. Our adversaries’ capabilities can be mitigated by distance to damage control surgery (DCS) was too great.
modular multinational force (MMNF) interoperable employment. When the 274th landed in Bagram, rather than delaying setup
Strength with global partners during MMNF exercises and com- and imposing a larger footprint by pitching tents, they adapted to
bat operations during the past 21 years has enhanced our strategy their environment and set up their team in the first floor of the air
toward integrated deterrence. Ensuring medical integration con- control tower (building of opportunity). As partner forces medi-
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tinues at all levels with allies is essential to this strategy and creates cal elements arrived, medical collaboration and integration at the
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deterrence by resiliency. tactical level began for that location.
Small surgical teams have been a part of Special Operations SOMSA 2023 has been themed, “Advancing Innovation and Ca-
medicine for decades with published histories of unconven- sualty Care Throughout the New Environment.” SOMA has been
tional medicine practiced behind enemy lines from at least and continues to be the incubator for new advancements in SOF
as far back as World War II. Counterterrorism activities and military medicine.
of the Global War on Terror in the past decade were pri-
marily conducted by Special Operations, but SOF surgical I wish all of you the best over the holiday season.
teams, limited in quantity, simply could not be everywhere
all at once. As SOF missions continued despite this, it led References
1. US Department of Defense. 2022 National Defense Strategy of the
to increased employment of conventional surgical teams United States of America. Washington, DC: DoD; 2022:1.
in austere settings such as the golden hour offset surgical 2. US Department of Defense. 2022 National Defense Strategy of the
teams (GHOSTs) in Afghanistan. However, the readiness United States of America. Washington, DC: DoD; 2022:8.

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