Rhein Ordnance Barracks, Germany – More than 120 U.S. military medical leaders, providers, planners and logisticians from across the European and African theaters gathered at Rhein Ordnance Barracks, Germany, Aug. 20-22 for a senior leadership forum hosted by Medical Readiness Command Europe.
The purpose of the forum was to establish a common operational picture, bring medical leaders across the European and African theaters of war, and synchronize all theater medical activities for any real-world contingency that may occur.
The forum was hosted by Brig. Gen. Roger Giraud, Commander, Medical Readiness Command Europe, Command Surgeon for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, and Director, European Defense Health Network. In his opening remarks, Giraud emphasized the importance of unity of effort, convergence and cooperation among theater U.S. military medical services.
“The purpose of this forum is to achieve convergence, unity of efforts toward common goals, a common vision, and support for the combatant commands and service components across the theaters,” Giroux said. “We are here to become more integrated, coordinated, synchronized, and work toward a strategy with clear outcomes.”
According to event organizers, the forum provided a unique opportunity for U.S. military medical assets deployed in Europe and Africa to share lessons learned and establish common operating plans to better serve U.S. forces dispersed across the European and African theaters.
“As we move from competition to crisis to potential conflict, we must now be prepared,” Giroux added. “Of course, we can be prepared to provide excellent health care to the people who depend on us. And that's non-negotiable.”
Senior U.S. military medical officials have indicated that providing the best possible medical care to U.S. soldiers and their missions is a top priority for all Department of Defense medical leaders across theaters and areas of operation.
“We need to bring together all of the Department of Defense medical assets that are supporting Europe and Africa,” Giroux added. “We need to understand the overall plan that we're supporting, develop a support plan that ties into that operational plan, and ensure that our medical teams understand what they need to provide to the forces that they're supporting.”
Military medical experts say planning for such events is critical to supporting U.S. military tactical operations across the theater.
“The people we put at risk are our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen, our Marines, our Coast Guardsmen,” Giroux said, “and when they call for medics and combat medics, we have to answer their call with the right medical capacity and the right skills so other people can live.”
Date taken: August 22, 2024 Date posted: August 22, 2024 07:57 Story ID: 479206 Location: DE Web views: 3 Downloads: 0 Public domain
This piece, “U.S. Military Medical Corps Synchronizes Medical Operations in Europe and Africa,” is by Kirk Frady, as identified by DVIDS and is subject to the restrictions set forth at https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
