Fall - United States Special Operations Command

Neuro-cognitive Assessment Metrics (ANAM) to all deploying
service members. In my opinion, it is more difficult to administer
and interpret than ImPACT and provides questionable
results. As such, use of the ANAM is falling out of favor in
many realms within the DoD. While hundreds of studies
proved the validity and effectiveness of ImPACT, designed
specifically to detect concussion (mTBI), surprisingly few
studies validate the effectiveness of ANAM in the detection of
concussion. The good news is that several studies are currently
underway to evaluate ANAM compared to ImPACT, and many
experts believe ImPACT will outperform the ANAM in the diagnosis
of mTBI. Even if ANAM remains the neuro-cognitive
test of choice for the DoD, NSW will continue to utilize Im-
PACT to help our medics and corpsmen evaluate the potential
mTBI patient. We look forward to the research comparing
these two tools and we’re proud to be leading the Navy in the
use of ImPACT in mTBI.
An additional initiative in my office involves how we
administer medical care at the smallest operational unit level.
Several years ago, NSW lost a very valuable asset, the
SEAL/SWCC Independent Duty Corpsmen. Before the advent
of the Special Warfare Operator (SO) and Naval Special Warfare
Boat Operator (SB) enlisted rating, Hospital Corpsmen
who completed Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL
(BUD/S) or SWCC training could attend the Joint Special Operations
Medical Training Center (JSOMTC) “SO IDC” course
and earn the title of NEC 5391, or SEAL/SWCC IDC. Now
NSW operators no longer carry the Hospital Corpsman (HM)
designation and the program or pipeline that supported the
SEAL/SWCC IDC (NEC 5391) withered away. We have now
come to a place and time when the only SEAL/SWCC IDC’s
are in senior leadership roles and an entire generation of NSW
operators have completed only the JSOMTC short course and
provide combat medic capability for NSW as a Special Operations
Combat Medic (SOCM). This resulted in an immediate
demand for “US Navy Surface Warfare Independent Duty
Corpsmen” augmenting NSW forward deployed units down to
the platoon level and assigned to forward operating bases to
provide the primary care capability and more in-depth medical
expertise to our operators.
This model of employing non-operator IDC’s in small
operational NSW units has been challenging as our units become
smaller and are involved in direct action and over the
horizon intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance. The IDC
will have variable if any training and is not an “operator” capable
of accompanying these small NSW units during remote
“disaggregated” operations. Currently, we operate in “mature
Component Surgeon
theatres” with robust military medical assets. This has helped
to alleviate the stress of relying on IDC’s to provide our primary
care and advanced medical care to our forward operating
bases. Future “ridge lines” dictate more disaggregated operations
conducted without the luxury of mature theatre military
medical assets. Likewise, the Surface Warfare IDC community
is becoming increasingly constrained as we ask for more and
more resources from a limited pool of IDC’s.
Emerging from the dust of NSW’s past is the SEAL
or SWCC operator trained as an Independent Duty Medic
(IDM). As we begin to operate in smaller and smaller units and
deploy to more austere locations, it is imperative that we operate
more efficiently by having more skill sets organic to the
small operational unit. An obvious solution is the
SEAL/SWCC IDM. Not yet formally approved by
NAVSPECWARCOM leadership, we hope to initiate training of
our first pool of IDM’s in 2011. It will take four years of training
12 NSW operators per year to reach full operating capacity
with one SEAL IDM per Platoon. Additional numbers will be
needed to train our SWCC’s as IDM’s. We are eager to get
started on this initiative as we continue to develop the governing
instructions and programs to support this invaluable NSW
medical asset. We will keep you informed of our progress in the
weeks and months ahead.
The annual SOMA Conference is just around the corner
(December 12-16) and we are busy planning our NSW
Medical Conference in the two days preceding the SOMA conference.
Currently, we are scheduled for December 10 and 11
at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel, Tampa, Florida. We are
developing an ambitious conference schedule and hope to add
important educational topics for our NSW medical team to include
guidance on Dietary Supplements and Sleep Disorders
from experts within NSW. We will have important updates on
the NSW Tactical Athlete Program, as well as our Combat Operational
Stress Control Program. Breakout sessions will include
medical equipment and supply and Authorized Medical
Allowance List (AMAL) review and changes, the newly formed
NSW Medical After Action Report Working Group and a special
session on use of the ImPACT. It’s also time to submit your
packages for the NSW Medic of the Year up your chains of
command. We know our NSW Medics do amazing things
downrange, so submit their names and accomplishments for
recognition! If selected, both the NSW SEAL and SWCC
Medics of the Year will have a paid trip to this year’s SOMA
Conference to compete for the USSOCOM Medic of the Year
title. If you have not already made your reservations, time is of
the essence! We look forward to seeing you in Tampa!
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