 Newsmaker
Profile: Col. Eugene V. "Gene" Bonventre
With the intent to raise awareness of USJFCOM's continuing
transformation efforts, this is part of a series of profiles,
which allow command subject matter experts to highlight
command priorities, challenges, and solution paths for
the future in their field.
Building on ad hoc successes in the health aspects of
stability operations, Air Force Col. (Dr.) Gene Bonventre,
an international health specialist at USJFCOM, shares his
insights on health as it relates to the Global War on Terrorism.
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By Air Force Staff Sgt. Bryan D. Axtell
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(NORFOLK, Va. - Sept. 27, 2006) -- For a surgeon who could
be making hundreds of thousands working in the private
sector, this military doctor's seen counterparts around
the world who only make $35 a year.
And, because of the challenges he has seen those doctors
face, he's decided that those high-paying jobs are not
necessarily for him. He'll make a larger difference by
working closely with those doctors in the far reaches of
the world to bring health care and stability to areas around
the world.
He's Air Force Col. Eugene V. "Gene" Bonventre,
the chief of the Multinational Health Branch of the Command
Surgeon's office (J02M) at U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM)."
Bonventre, who has worked in over 80 different countries
during his career, and those like him are breaking ground
in a new area focused on fighting terrorism from the grass-roots
level.
Navy
Rear Adm. Gregory Timberlake, the command surgeon
for both NATO Allied Command Transformation and USJFCOM,
said that Bonventre's efforts directly support the Global
War on Terrorism.
"If you go back to some of the basics of how people
and populations develop, a very smart fellow named Maslow
came up with this hierarchy of needs," said Timberlake.
Timberlake said that a person, or a population, cannot
achieve higher levels of the hierarchy (the ultimate one
being that you are self-aware, and that you will have concern
for others) until the lower levels are in place.
"At the lowest level are the basic human needs for
such things as food, clean water, and health." Timberlake
said.
Terrorist origins usually stem from a lack of these basic
needs, said Timberlake and Bonventre's efforts key into
these basic needs, and the colonel spoke about what he
is trying to accomplish at the USJFCOM level concerning
stability operations:
Q: You most recently returned from leading a team that
taught a course on trauma surgery and disaster management
in Pakistan. Why did you go and what did you do?
A: The biggest take-away from the mission to Pakistan
is that it's a fulfillment of a promise that Ambassador
Ryan Crocker, the American ambassador to Pakistan, made
to the Pakistani government in February of this year when
we [the U.S.] donated the 212th MASH [Mobile Army Surgical
Hospital], and he basically said that we would not merely
donate the MASH and then say goodbye, but we would continue
our medical security cooperation efforts.
At a subsequent meeting with the Pakistanis in February,
at that same time period, we made arrangements with the
Pakistani Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. Afzal, to hold courses
on topics that the Pakistanis were interested in. And so
they asked for courses on trauma surgery and disaster management,
and this most recent trip to Pakistan was a course that
- an off-the-shelf course [from the Defense Institute for
Medical Operations (DIMO)] - that happens to combine both
of those things.
And we had representatives from the Kashmir region that
were affected by the earthquake in the course as participants,
and as presenters.
Q: After you returned you stated in your summation that
this mission directly supports the Global War on Terror
(GWOT). Why do you feel that is the case?
A: Two reasons: Let me ask you. Do you know what organization
sent the first field hospital to respond to the Pakistani
earthquake? It was al-Qaida. They sent two field hospitals
- this is through an organization called Jamaat Ud Dawa
- and so al-Qaida is already winning hearts and minds in
some portions of Pakistan. And their training camps are
in the area of earthquake.
Well, when we donated the MASH we made a very big impact
that the U.S. is also interested in helping the Pakistani
people by helping them improve their disaster response
capabilities. So that's one way.
The second way is the Pakistanis expressed interest in
moving the MASH to where the hunt for Osama bin Laden is
going on, and they plan to use the MASH to treat casualties
that occur in their portion of counter-terrorism operations
there. So there's two ways that it directly supports counter-terrorism.
Q: Missions like the one in Pakistan are only a piece
of what you do though. Briefly outline who the people in
the International Health Specialist program are.
A: [People] who are trained and experienced in regional
languages and cultures, humanitarian assistance, disaster
response, and both the U.S. government and the multi-national/interagency
process, and civil/military operations.
We're the only people in any of the medical services -
Air Force, Navy, everything - trained in those things.
That skill set was vital to successful U.S. response to
help Pakistan through the earthquake.
As a result of that the CENTCOM Command Surgeon Air Force
Col. Doug Robb, asked me to come out with him on a visit
to Pakistan to meet with the Pakistani Surgeon General,
Lt. Gen. Afzal to discuss the way ahead after the MASH
donation and to try to improve Pakistan's capacity to prepare
for future disasters.
Q: One of the things that can play a role in stability
operations is the level of basic health care available
to a population. What are some of the difference between
US medicine and that in other nations?
A:
It's only the U.S. and Western Europe and a few select
other countries where the majority of
the people have access
to basic medical care, clean water, and sanitation."
Q: How does teaching a course that essentially addresses
disasters and humanitarian efforts tie into making a country
more stabile, and less susceptible to this kind of thing?
A: I think the most beneficial thing about courses like
this disaster management course is it helps the average
person in those countries. Because when an earthquake strikes,
it's the average person who's hurt. It's the poorer people
who can't afford nice housing who are hurt. It's people
in remote areas. This is one way for the US military might
and power and wealth to help the average person in developing
countries.
That really gets at one of the root causes of terrorism,
because if you're a young, unemployed Muslim male in country
X, and you're poor. You have no hope of getting ahead in
the world, and your government isn't supporting you at
all. There are terrorist organizations that will support
you.
This is what happened in Lebanon with Hizbullah. Hizbullah
started as a charity organization. So the terrorist organizations
will take care of the population. Hamas does the same thing,
but primarily in Palestine We're helping the governments
to take care of their populations so that people support
their governments not the terrorist organizations.
So to me, that really embodies the Global War on Terrorism.
You have to fight it at the root cause level. There's only
so far that combat operations get you in counter-terrorism,
and this particular mission, and this whole project that
I'm working here at Joint Forces Command, goes right to
that root cause.
There was a RAND study on this, health as a cause of conflict
and instability that made the exact same point. It was
a non-medical study, but it made the point that you can't
be successful in reconstruction/rehabilitation, stability
operations basically, unless you address the basics of
the health sector, and basic essential services - water,
sanitation and public health.
Q: Is the whole idea to create the national experts in
these different regions, or is that just the beginning.
A: Well, this is just the Air Force International Health
Specialist program. We've proposed at Joint Forces Command
that it become a joint program that not only is this skill
set resident in each of the services, but also it's resident
jointly, so that it can be used for joint task forces,
for when you stand-up a Standing Joint Force Headquarters,
etc. Right now, we're not quite there.
Q: Define this skill-set.
A: It comes down to a couple of things:
• Expertise in regional languages and cultures
• How to use your knowledge of culture to improve mission
success
• Knowledge of the interagency process
• Civil/military operations, humanitarian relief, and disaster
response.
Q: Is it important to be in the medical field to do this
kind of work?
A: No, it's not unique to medical. I think in every aspect
of the military, every military person who sets foot outside
their own office needs to understand cultural differences.
Because there are not only cultural differences in places
where we work like Iraq and Afghanistan, there are cultural
differences when you go over to a civilian agency, or when
you work in a community downtown.
Civilians and military people have different cultures,
different personalities, different ways of looking at the
world. If the military and the civilian agencies - and
the local and the national agencies - are going to work
together, they have to understand the cultural differences.
And know how to use those differences to improve mission
success, not to hinder it.
Q: So if you had to quantify - is the majority of your
work in cultural and that kind of work. How much of your
medical work is medical?
A: I'd say, at the moment, medical is just the tool that
we're using. Because if you're trying to improve, say,
civil/military relations - particularly internationally,
say with Pakistan - there's always a little bit of distrust
of combat people.
For instance if you're working with an non-governmental
organization such as Doctors without Borders, Red Cross
- an international organization - something like that,
it's easier for a medic to relate to a medic in one of
those organizations because medicine is a universal language.
We're non-combatants. We're working for the common good.
So if you put a Pakistani soldier in a room with an American
soldier, they always wonder, you know, 'What is this guy's
motive,' and 'What are they thinking,' you know, 'Are they
spying on us?' - are there ulterior motives?
You put a Pakistani medic in a room with a U.S. medic,
they instantly have a rapport. They know that they're interested
in the same thing. Then take it one step further.
Take
a U.S. military medic, put him in a room with a Pakistani
military medic, and a Pakistani civilian medic - and the
civilians and the military don't necessarily get along
with each other in Pakistan - but now you have the three
medics in the room who all speak the same medical language,
even if your first language is Urdu and my first language
is English, still the medical terminology is the same.
The ideas, the concept, the professionalism is the same.
And because we're all non-combatants and working in a humanitarian
profession, there's instant rapport there.
So 80 percent of your job is done for you, just by the
fact that you're speaking the same medical language. Using
health as a vehicle in stability operations helps us to
bridge gaps that need to be bridged if we're going to be
successful in counter-terrorism.
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