NEMSCOM changes Name and Fleets up, NOSTRA to be disestablished

Photo By Julius Evans | U.S. Navy Surgeon General Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham signed a memorandum authorizing the realignment of Navy Medicine logistics commands. On May 13, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations published the notice authorizing the Organizational Change Request renaming Navy Expeditionary Medical Support Command to Naval Medical Readiness Logistics Command (NMRLC). It also elevated NMRLC to an Echelon IV command.  

WILLIAMSBURG, VA, UNITED STATES

05.13.2022

Story by Julius Evans 

Naval Medical Readiness Logistics Command, Williamsburg, VA

The Chief of Naval Operation office published the notice authorizing an Organizational Change Request (OCR), which realigned Navy Medicine logistics commands and disestablished Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity, Yorktown, VA, on May 13.

This realignment swapped organizational echelon places of Naval Medical Logistics Command, Fort Detrick, MD, (NMLC) with Navy Expeditionary Medical Support Command, Williamsburg, VA, (NEMSCOM). NMLC was the immediate superior in command over NEMSCOM. With the signed OCR, NMLC became a subordinate detachment and an Echelon V activity.

NEMSCOM, headed by CAPT Robert C. Morrison, MSC, USN, now fleeted up to become an Echelon IV, and was renamed Naval Medical Readiness Logistics Command (NMRLC) Cheatham Annex, Williamsburg, VA. Detachments at Fort Detrick, MD, and Kaiserslautern, Germany, are now direct reports to NMRLC. Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity was disestablished and became a new reporting directorate of NMRLC.

NMRLC Williamsburg has traditionally been responsible for building and maintaining rapidly deployable medical systems to support contingency operations, humanitarian assistance, and real-world events and exercises around the globe. Its role is ever expanding. Nevertheless, mobile hospitals have existed as far back as World War I, when pre-existing buildings of opportunity were used.

The Navy Mobile Hospitals, today’s Expeditionary Medical Facilities, owe its innovation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Navy Surgeon General Ross T. McIntire, who devised the concept based on their experiences in World War I. Prior to World War II, they adopted the idea of a mobile hospital to treat wounded Sailors and Marines. As a result of diligent research and planning, their efforts established the first Mobile Base Hospital on Sept. 9, 1940. The hospital embarked on a Navy transport and was set up in Guantanamo, Cuba, where its establishment proved a criterion for future hospitals.

Conversely, Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity has had a long and successful history of supporting warfighters globally dating back to World War II. The Navy Appropriation Act of 1942 established the ophthalmic program and authorized funds to issue prescription eyewear to Navy and Marine Corps personnel serving abroad.

Naval Medical Readiness Logistics Command Detachment, Fort Detrick, MD, has also had a long existence, starting in 1850 as the Naval Medicine Supply Depot, Brooklyn, NY. It has provided Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) and operational customers with medical logistics support in the form of medical equipment, supplies and healthcare service acquisition strategies; clinical engineering technical support for medical equipment; deployable platform allowance configurations; medical logistics business processes and health care information technology system solutions. Remaining functions of NMRLC Detachment Fort Detrick include operational fleet support and oversight of automated medical logistics business systems. Future potential roles may include purchasing and ordering via Naval Supply Systems Command delegated authority. While it has withstood major changes throughout its history, the detachment has routinely been recognized as Navy Medicine’s premier medical logistics support activity.

Naval Medical Readiness Logistics Command Detachment, Kaiserslautern, Germany supports U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center – Europe, (USAMMCE) as the Theater Lead Agent for Medical Materiel. It provides life cycle management of Class VIII medical material; clinical and bio-medical engineering of medical equipment; clinical advisory and consultation; optical fabrication; assemblage of sets, kits and outfits; reconstitution of major and minor medical assemblages, and supply chain training of logisticians in theater.

The NMRLC Detachment Team leads USAMMCE’s Customer Support Division and specializes in providing its customers with medical logistics support and training across the full spectrum of military operations to EUCOM, CENTCOM, AFRICOM and SOCEUR to include all areas in 5th and 6th Fleets.

The new and dynamic NMRLC organizational structure effectively integrates the extensive capabilities of four organizations with rich histories and proven track records supporting the Navy Medicine enterprise. The combined capabilities embodied within this new organization will ensure global warfighting forces are healthy and medically ready to achieve their assigned missions.

• Date Taken: 05.13.2022
• Date Posted: 05.18.2022 15:26
• Story ID: 421002
• Location: WILLIAMSBURG, VA, US