News From USJFCOM: Command to share joint task force health care requirements with senior military medical professionals

Military Medicine photo illustration Command to share joint task force health care requirements with senior military medical professionals

U.S. Joint Forces Command invites senior military health professional to the 12th Annual Joint Task Force Senior Medical Leader Seminar.

By Jennifer Colaizzi
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(NORFOLK, Va., - Oct. 19, 2005) - U.S. Joint Forces Command will host a five-day senior military medical seminar with the intent to optimize joint military health care operations in the set up and execution of a joint task force (JTF).

The Joint Task Force Senior Medical Leader Seminar, sponsored by the USJFCOM's command surgeon, will take place Dec. 5 - 9, 2005, at the Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va. In addition, interested students will have the opportunity to take the optional Joint Planning Orientation Course Dec. 3 - 4, 2005, prior to the seminar.

According to Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Timberlake, USJFCOM command surgeon, the seminar will prepare both active duty and reserve senior health care officers, of all corps, who are likely to be designated by their service as a JTF surgeon or as part of their staff. In addition, the seminar will provide vital information to students representing the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, NATO, allied coalition partners, and other U.S. Governmental agencies.

In reference to why joint medical training is important to medical officers who will be assigned to a JTF, Timberlake gave this example.

"As a Naval officer, I know a lot about our Seabees, our medical capabilities, and what we provide to the Marine Corps. Without joint experience, I wouldn't know much about what the Army and the Army civil affairs program has to offer," he said.

"The Army civil affairs program is very important when we go into host nations and there is a need to rebuild infrastructure. A significant part of that infrastructure is medical - just as poverty is a common cause of conflict, so is poor health," said the admiral. "If we, the medical people, don't understand those things, we can't give the best advice to the commander and to the civil affairs personnel."

Timberlake went on to say that much of present and future JTF medical operations are outside of traditional thinking. "We envision going in, doing a job and coming back out, but it appears that JTFs are standing up and being involved from phase zero" to hand off.

This senior medical leader seminar will provide tools to enable JTF medical personnel to "effectively interface with other important governmental and non- governmental organizations, like the American Red Cross, State Department, and Project Hope to name a few."

According to Timberlake, attendees can expect briefings from speakers who have real world JTF experience, including professionals who helped in the recent tsunami relief efforts.

Officials say that the event has greatly progressed from lectures to a much more realistic and interactive event.

"The seminar emphasizes integration and team building in the joint medical environment," said Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Charles Kobilis, a medical seminar coordinator who works training issues for the USJFCOM command surgeon.

Kobilis said attendees will learn how to form a JTF surgeon's cell and will have hands-on collaborative tools training and catastrophic event media training. In addition, students will break into smaller work groups and participate in a complex case study that will reinforce learning and enable students to experience the challenges of planning and leading a joint operation.

Attendees will be awarded approximately 35 category I continuing medical education credits from the Naval Medical Education and Training Center in Bethesda, Md.

To attend the December JTF Senior Medical Leader Seminar, interested individuals can start their process by clicking here to send an email requesting more information.