SG 1-Year Legacy Message: A Year of Progress, A Future of Promise
Shipmates,
A year ago today, on March 27, 2023, I assumed the helm of the Navy Medicine Enterprise. It has been a whirlwind year filled with both challenges and triumphs. Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished together, but even more excited about the future of Navy Medicine.
We have made significant strides in each of our four Lines of Effort:
(1) Delivering Expeditionary Medicine (EXMED) capabilities
(2) Increasing Deployability
(3) Providing Quality Healthcare across the Naval Force
(4) Recruiting/Retaining Navy Medicine Shipmates
We have aligned our people to EXMED billets and formally stood up and deployed our two-person Patient Movement En-route Care System (ERCS) and our Expeditionary Resuscitative Surgical System (ERSS). We are also on track to send our first Expeditionary Medical Unit (EMU) to begin training and testing aboard EPF Flight II – USNS CODY. More EXMEDS are on their way with Secretary of the Navy naming our new Expeditionary Medical Ships: USNS BETHESDA and USNS BALBOA.
We have increased warfighter deployability by implementing conditions based LIMDU for the 175 top medical issues. This has streamlined care and reduced the number of non-deployable Sailors waiting to return to duty.
We continue our drive to deliver quality healthcare across the Naval forces, requiring all Chief Medical Officers and Operational Surgeons to complete Navy Medicine’s Quality Service Leadership Academy (QSLA). This course will soon be mandatory for all milestone billets.
We continue to instill a “Get Real, Get Better” culture by encouraging people to self-assess, self-correct, and improve the organization. Leadership’s job is to help remove barriers to success. We must be transparent up and down the chain of command and “embrace the red” so we can work together to solve problems and increase our warfighting advantage.
We published our first Navy Medicine Campaign Plan to achieve our strategic objectives of delivering agile, trained, and certified medical units for the Fleet, Fleet Marine Force, and the Joint Force. This five-year roadmap outlines our path forward to win the future fight and aligns to Navy’s Priorities of Warfighting, Warfighters and building our Foundation.
Our course is clear – and it will take the entire Navy Medicine team (blue side, green side, and our Active-Duty, Reserve, and Civilian shipmates) – to get us there. Still, your dedication and expertise will drive our success as we execute our mission.
Finally, and most importantly, as I reflect on being the “acting” and then our official SG this past year, I want to thank you for your tireless commitment to the health and well-being of our Sailors, Marines, and their families.
You are valued and you are making a difference!
Together, we will continue pushing toward our North Star, ensuring that Navy Medicine remains a beacon of light and hope for generations to come! See you in the Fleet!
SG #40, Corpsman Up!
RADM Darin K. Via
Medical Corps, United States Navy
Navy Surgeon General
Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
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