NEW ORLEANS -- Nearly 100 active and reserve Navy medical personnel convened May 17-19 at the Marine Corps Support Facility New Orleans for the annual Marine Forces Reserve Surgeons Meeting. All four major subordinate commands were represented by senior medical officers and enlisted sailors from over twenty-five states.
MARFORRES Executive Director, Mr. Gregg Habel, kicked off the meeting on Friday with highlights on “the way ahead” for the Force. He stressed the importance in striving to stay relevant as global conflicts rise and fall, recognizing that with the drawdown in Afghanistan, active forces would likely assume a greater role in many of the Theater Security Cooperation exercises primarily conducted by Reserve units over the past 10 years. In addition, the audience heard presentations from each of the MSC chiefs-of-staff.
“This was the only chance all year to look our senior medical leaders in the eye and push out vital messages,” said Force Surgeon Capt. Brian Pecha. “We come from 175 sites in 48 states and we rarely get to have offline discussions. But they’re critically important to providing the kind of medical assets like those required last year in Morocco when a Reserve Forward Resuscitative Surgical System team saved two pilots critically injured in an Osprey mishap.”
Rear Adm. Mike Anderson, the Medical Officer of the Marine Corps, and Rear Adm. Charles Harr, the Deputy Medical Officer of the Marine Corps for Reserve Affairs, also addressed the group. On Saturday the Chief of Navy Reserve, Vice Adm. Robin Braun, joined by videoconference and took a number of questions.
The Surgeons Meeting is held annually to discuss recent Marine Corps initiatives, review lessons learned from the previous year, and sets the stage for upcoming support to MARFORRES Marine units. It is also a prime venue for recruiting, developing, and retaining critically-needed medical professionals. Specific topics covered during the two-and-half-day conference included medical planning in an operational setting, reserve medical logistics, and presentations on suicide prevention, the Wounded Warrior Program, Force Structure Review and joint-professional military education.
Navy Medicine personnel deploy with Sailors and Marines worldwide, providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield.