General Medical Officer (GMO) Manual: Administrative Section
Battalion Surgeon
Department of the Navy
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Introduction Battalion Aid Station In the Field Reporting Aboard Thoughts on Deployment Leadership
The commanding officer (CO) is your boss. He or she will be the one that writes your fitreps and to whom you are ultimately responsible. Make sure you cultivate a good relationship with the CO; this will make your life much easier. As the battalion surgeon, you are the senior medical advisor to the command and you have the privilege of an open-door policy with every officer in the battalion. Make an effort to become a part of the battalion by meeting and getting to know the principle officers and senior enlisted members of the battalion and they will often be more likely to support your plans and policies.
- Advice on the initial interview with the CO - ask about any specific medical concerns or pet peeves.
- Introduce yourself to the executive officer (XO). This is the person who manages the day to day business of the battalion and supervises the battalion staff. Keep him or her informed at all times! The XO will be an important intermediary in helping present information to the CO.
- Introduce yourself to the sergeant major. This person will be your contact point for any problems concerning the enlisted community in the battalion.
- Remain formal in your initial relationship with your corpsmen. It is easier to become less formal later than to regain lost formality. Don’t try to change things in the battalion aid station (BAS) until you have observed for a few months. This will give you the opportunity to learn why things are done in a particular way. Then, if you still are unhappy with something, work with your chief and leading petty officer (LPO) to come up with a new plan.
- Carefully review the equipment custody records (ECR) for the BAS. This is the list of the equipment you will be responsible for. Don’t sign for anything that you have not inspected.
- Be familiar with the BAS embarkation plan. This is the blueprint that will tell you how to get your Authorized Minimal Medical Allowance List (AMMAL) and prepare for your battalion to go to war. The week that you get a warning order to go to Korea is not when you should think about this for the first time.
The BAS (Battalion Aid Station)
- Your chief or HM1/LPO will tell you not to worry and just let them handle everything. It is great for them to run the BAS but remember that you are in charge and are responsible for the way that they run your BAS. You must tactfully make sure that everything really is OK.
- Check your budget and your supply system. This is your chance to make sure you will have the correct supplies to practice medicine in the manner you desire.
- Set standards for the medical care that your corpsmen will be giving. Remember that you are responsible for their actions in regards to medical care. Be sure that you are comfortable with the kinds of procedures they are doing and the medication that they are dispensing from their aid bags.
- An hour spent training your corpsmen will save you at least 2 hours of time.
- Don’t accept doing something because the last battalion surgeon did it that way. You are in charge now.
- Quality assurance is monitored. Read BUMEDINST 6010.13.
- Predeployment. Regardless of where you might be going, the Marines have probably been there before. Look for after-action reports, lessons learned, historical references, and ask the other battalion surgeons, the assistant diving surgeon, or the marine expeditionary force (MEF) medical planner or preventive medicine officer (PMO) who have already deployed. Be active in the battalion planning sessions. You will be expected to have information on medical and dental readiness as well as medical intelligence on the areas to which you may be deploying. Use the division or MEF preventive medicine office to get information on medical threats and resources in the area of operation. Make sure that you and your corpsmen have all of your personal gear as well as your medical gear. Think things over in your head and plan for the worst making sure you have the equipment that you need.
- Deployment. Safety is always a concern! Your corpsmen should be with their Marines to learn field skills (you teach them medical skills). Do you have a disaster plan and evacuation plan for the area in which you are operating? Always remember that your CO’s first priority is the successful completion of the mission. Your job is to help the CO by ensuring that the maximum number of healthy Marines are able to participate in the mission.
- Post-deployment. Recognize hard work with awards. Initiate them and follow them up. Do not assume that somebody else will complete the award for you. Submit after action reports to the S-3 (operations). Keep copies for yourself so that you will be able to help the next person.
- Safety first! A marine’s training is often inherently dangerous but every effort should be made to ensure a minimum of injuries. Trust your instincts on safety. If it looks unsafe, it probably is. Think fire safety and carbon monoxide poisoning if heaters are in use. Vehicle accidents cause the majority of serious injuries in the field and on deployment. Be prepared for a medical response to a vehicular accident and aggressively enforce vehicle safety. Remember that you have a lot of clout in the battalion, so don’t be afraid to use it if something is unsafe.
- Talk with the other staff members to get a good picture of what is going on during a particular field exercise. This will allow you to better tailor your medical plan to the needs of the exercise.
- Spend time in the command center to learn how the Marines work.
- Learn how to read maps and operate the radios. This may be important in an emergency. Pay attention to the tactical environment (i.e. light and noise discipline). It may seem like a game to somebody from the hospital but it is very real to a Marine unit and you are now part of a Marine unit.
- Always be ready to do on-the-spot training for both corpsmen and marines as there will always be available down time.
You are the officer in charge (OIC) of the battalion medical department. This goes beyond just being a doctor. You are ultimately responsible for everything that your people do, or fail to do.
- Train your personnel and yourself.
- Keep the CO and the XO informed.
- You work for your CO first, the Navy/USMC second, and yourself last.
- Give orders not so that they can be understood, but so that they cannot be misunderstood (speak to the level of your audience without technical jargon).
- Set high standards for your personnel and equipment. Supervise! Only that which is checked will be done to your standard.
- You can delegate authority, not responsibility.
- Absolute accountability of all personnel is mandatory. Know where your corpsmen are at all times (BAS, TAD, leave, field duty, etc.).
- The comfort, feeding, and shelter of your personnel will be taken care of before you make these arrangements for yourself.
Prepared by LCDR S. Scott Sherman, MC, USN, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University, and LT Martin Sorensen IV, MC, USN, Head and Neck Surgery, NNMC, Bethesda. Revised by LT Kevan Mann, MC, USNR, Battalion Surgeon, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, Camp Pendleton, CA (1999).