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Mexico, New York Native provides medical care while searching for MIA Service Members
By Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Public Affairs
March 2, 2020
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Dotter, an independent duty corpsmen, was recently attached to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recovery team in Boualapha District, Khammouan province, Laos. Dotter, currently stationed at Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago, Illinois was selected to be the primary medic for the DPAA team providing medical support to team members, and local nationals hired to assist the team on an excavation site in search of an unaccounted for service member from the Vietnam War.
Dotter said he appreciates the purpose of the DPAA mission to find the MIA service members, but he particularly enjoyed treating the local nationals for cases such as rashes, fevers, body aches, and headaches.
“A big part of our job while we’re out here doing this DPAA mission is to take care of the locals that assist us on the dig site,” said Dotter. “The most rewarding part of my job is to provide medical care because it may be the only treatment they receive for a very long time. These things aren’t usually what people would take a trip to the hospital for, but in a geographical environment where medical care isn’t close, they are overjoyed to receive treatment.”
DPAA teams operate in austere environments around the Indo-Pacific region including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, and in Europe. Additional requirements for team members on the site consist of building shelters, tents, and digging and screening at the excavation site. When Dotter isn’t busy providing medical care, he takes part in the excavation and screening process on the dig site
“Although I’m out here in a medical capacity, I still spend the majority of the time digging, screening, or helping out with construction on the dig site,” he said.
The mission of DPAA is to provide the fullest possible accounting of U.S. personnel from past conflicts to their families and the nation. DPAA is responsible for implementing the Secretary of Defense's program to account for the more than 81,000 Americans who remain unaccounted from the World War II era through the Gulf Wars.
News media looking for more information about DPAA or HM1 Dotter, visit www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or email Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman at Kenneth.l.hoffman6.mil@mail.mil.
| Date Taken: | 03.02.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2020 14:39 |
| Story ID: | 364409 |
| Location: | MEXICO, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 60 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Mexico, New York Native provides medical care while searching for MIA Service Members, by SGT Mitchell Ryan, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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