Capt. Richard Knittig, C2F fleet surgeon, and his team sponsored the event to gather medical personnel from commands around the 2nd Fleet area of responsibility to initiate and develop dialogue regarding the future of Navy Medicine.

“It is important for Navy Medicine and its leadership to operate at a high level of performance in current and future mission tasking,” said Knittig. “The integration of Navy Medicine across the military operations spectrum allows us to better optimize human well-being, increase resilience and safety, provide more effective health services, and implement effective force health protection protocols.”

The training focused on the development and mentorship of medical leaders through sharing fleet experiences and lessons learned. Guest speakers covered topics from interagency cooperation and Defense Support to Civil Authority (DSCA), to human factors and sustaining medical readiness during deployment.

“It is important that we train operational medicine leadership to understand the whole battlespace picture and to be able to make decisions based on a correct understanding of capabilities throughout a theater of conflict,” said Force Master Chief Michael Roberts, director of the Hospital Corps. “Theater medical interoperability plays a vital role in the readiness of the Navy and being able to anticipate the changing demands of Navy Medicine is integral to our success at home and abroad.”

The Fleet Medical Training also stressed the importance of seamless logistics in a distributed environment, and how rapidly deployable, modular, and scalable medical options would provide necessary flexibility during joint service, interagency, and DSCA operations.

“The success of joint service, interagency and defense support to civil authority operations heavily relies on having the right capabilities, in the right place, at the right time,” said Murad “Mojo” Raheem, regional administrator for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Region 2. “Improving processes, understanding capabilities, and building relationships between organizations, before an event occurs, allows us to ensure that we are able to properly utilize assets necessary to achieve success in any situation.”

C2F’s Medical team advises Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet, Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer, on health service support and force health protection related matters, provides medical leadership and oversight for units assigned to C2F, develops and executes medical plans, and represents C2F to external partners on health service matters. 

U.S. 2nd Fleet, reestablished in 2018 in response to the changing global security environment, develops and employs maritime forces ready to fight across multiple domains in the Atlantic and Arctic in order to ensure access, deter aggression and defend U.S., allied, and partner interests.

For more news from U.S. 2nd Fleet, visit https://www.c2f.usff.navy.mil/ and for more information visit https://www.facebook.com/US2ndFleet or https://twitter.com/US2ndFleet