On July 31, the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) wished “Fair Winds and Following Seas” to a giant in Navy public health and preventive medicine.
For nearly 50 years, retired Hospital Corpsman Master Chief Petty Officer Jackie Brown has provided Sailors and Marines with public health expertise ranging from career development, industrial hygiene/occupational medicine, entomology, operational medicine, deployment health/readiness, and Equal Opportunity programs.
During his time on active duty, Brown was appointed to serve as the Navy’s senior enlisted preventive medicine representative for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery preventive medicine team during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and played a vital role developing doctrine for the Navy's Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit (FDPMU). He also served as Navy Medicine's enlisted technical leader for preventive medicine technicians.
Since reporting to NMCPHC, formerly known as the Navy Environmental Health Center (NEHC), in 1993, and retiring from active duty in October 1998 as NEHC’s Command Master Chief, Brown has remained an important fixture at NMCPHC. In his role as NMCPHC’s Plans Operations and Medical Intelligence (POMI) officer, Brown spends the majority of his time in liaison with counterparts at the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Navy Medicine East, and NMCPHC’s field activities, providing preventive medicine assets in support of operational missions and exercises.
Over the past 24 years, Brown has served in a variety of roles that support Navy Medicine's public mission including Assistant FDPMU Program Manager, Personnel Recovery Management Systems Unit Manager, and Command Individual Augmentee Coordinator.
A native of Beaufort, South Carolina, Brown began his Navy career 1968. He served nearly 14 of his 30 active duty years with Marine Corps units.
According to retired Navy Capt. Dr. Gary Breeden, who served as NMCPHC’s executive officer from 1994 to 1997, and who’s known Brown for 34 years, he set precedents for the Navy preventive medicine technician (PMT) community. “He was the first PMT to become a master chief petty officer, and then the first PMT to become a command master chief,” said Breeden.
As a leader with considerable Navy experience, Brown understands people. “He has always had a calming, commanding, presence making him ideal to absorb the concerns and complaints from the junior enlisted and civilian staff wherever he was assigned,” added Breeden.
Brown’s value to the Navy’s public health mission isn’t lost on Capt. Todd Wagner, NMCPHC commanding officer. “Jackie has been an invaluable asset to this command and to the naval service for the past 47 Years,” said Wagner. “He has brought a very expansive and unique expertise to our command as both our former command master chief and now as a career civil servant in our Expeditionary Platforms Department.”
Ms. Amy Dulka, an NMCPHC special assistant who’s held various command leadership positions for many years expressed similar sentiments. “I first met Jackie Brown when he arrived as the Command Master Chief in 1993. The day he walked into my office, I remember thinking, what an impressive presence, he exudes self-confidence and respect,” said Dulka. “Jackie has had an impressive military and civil service career.”
In addition to providing public health subject matter expertise to key Navy and Marine Corps stakeholders, Brown has also been NMCPHC’s Command Managed Equal Opportunity (CMEO) coordinator for more than 10 years.
“To me, his legacy is his ability to respect all, treat all fairly, disagree honestly, explore options candidly, and find common ground for a resolution. He will be truly missed,” added Dulka.
“Though no one is considered irreplaceable, Jackie is pretty close to it and will most certainly leave huge shoes to fill in our organization,” said Wagner. “We would like to thank him for all of his years of service as both an active duty Sailor and a Navy civilian, and wish him all the best in the next chapter of his life."
| Date Taken: | 08.02.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.02.2017 15:20 |
| Story ID: | 243451 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 373 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Navy Public Health “Giant” Retires After Nearly 50 Years of Dedicated Service, by Hugh Cox, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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