JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Three recent Navy graduates of the Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) Preventive Medicine Technician (PMT) course acted as role players in the Entomology block of the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence (MEDCoE) Principles of Military Preventive Medicine Course May 10.
Hospital Corpsmen 3rd Class Alexander Mincey and Rickey York, and Hospital Corpsman Noah Ziepke, all currently assigned to the Navy’s Transient Monitoring Division (TMD) as they await follow-on orders, assisted MEDCoE course leaders by engaging students while role-playing scenarios during the end of course field training exercise.
The 9-week MEDCoE course is designed to provide Army Medical Department officers with the skills and knowledge to function in entry-level preventive medicine specialty areas.
York said that he enjoyed supporting the Army course. “Being out in the field utilizing our training alongside our Army brethren was an amazing experience for learning and teaching,” he said.
According to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Alicia Sammons, METC Preventive Medicine course director, the services are making small strides at full joint interoperability. “A Navy PMT should be able to be plugged into an Army exercise and operate fully with little guidance,” said Sammons. “We all essentially do the same mission for preventive medicine and public health.”
METC PMT course leadership is developing a program to provide TMD personnel an opportunity to utilize their new skills while awaiting follow-on orders after graduating from the course. Although assisting MEDCoE was a step toward that effort, Sammons said the larger effort will have them working full-time with the Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) assisting its preventive medicine team.
“The goal is to get newly graduated PMTs out and working in their field while they wait on the execution of their orders,” explained Sammons. She added that PMT graduates have already started working at BAMC full-time assisting its preventive medicine team.
“This program will be a huge benefit for not only these new graduates as they gain real-world experience, but for BAMC’s preventive medicine department getting extra operational support as well.”