The Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit (FDPMU) East Team 1, Norfolk, completed its 2016 Operational Readiness Evaluation (ORE) Nov. 15-22 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

Instructors from the Navy Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) were on site to evaluate members of the unit as they worked through scenarios which incorporated vector surveillance, and evaluation of chemical, biological, and radiological threats. The team's capability to provide force health protection in a theater of operations through rapid assessment, prevention, and control of health threats allowed them to gain their certification as a worldwide deployable unit.

The FDPMU is the operational arm of the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit (NEPMU). An east coast team based at NEPMU2, Norfolk, and west coast team based at NEPMU5, San Diego, can provide sustainable force health protection (FHP) services to forward-deployed elements of the Navy and Marine Corps through the advent of state-of-the-art detection and diagnostic equipment, and real-time analytical capabilities.

The 14-member FDPMU team is composed of five distinct components -- preventive medicine, chemical (including a radiological subcomponent), microbiology, disease vector, and logistical support.

After more than one year of classroom learning and field exercises, the team completed its ORE.

"This training prepares the team as a theater asset, which is an incredible responsibility," said Lt. Cmdr. Rhonda Lizewski, preventive medicine physician with NMCPHC who has previously been a member of the FDPMU, and served as exercise controller for the ORE. "Therefore, we take care to ensure that the team is trained in a professional sense with their skills and utilization of their high-tech equipment, so that they are prepared to work with command cells at a base level and theater level."

According to Gregory Crisp, NEPMU2 Operations Department, who oversees FDPMU training, the team performed admirably and demonstrated both technical expertise and unit cohesion.

"The number of taskers in the eight-day ORE is accelerated above the normal operation tempo not only to confirm that they can accomplish their mission effectively, but also to stress the team physically and mentally," said Crisp. "They have proven their readiness to serve when called upon as the 'tip of the spear' for Department of Defense public health deployable units."

Members from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a combat support agency which develops tools in response to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats, were also on hand to observe the exercise.

"The opportunity to observe and interact with the FDPMU teams supported our director's intent to get the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) scientists out with the service members and units that use the capabilities that we develop," said Lt. Col. Cindy Landgren, acting division chief, Headquarters, Department of the Army, DTRA. "We clearly heard that we need to pursue solutions that are smaller, self-contained, reduce logistic footprint, provides answers today, and not necessarily highly technical."

"This event was extremely productive and enabled government and military scientists to gain real-world, immersive experiences with warfighting activities associated with the Navy's current operational CBRN missions," said Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin Espinosa, program manager, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, who was also present to observe the ORE. "BUMED looks forward to strengthening its ties with the Joint Science and Technology Office (DTRA), Chem/Bio Directorate, to continue providing these opportunities in the future."

Historically, the first time the military deployed this specialized mobile medical team was for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. Subsequent FDPMU missions have supported Operation Enduring Freedom and disaster relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

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