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Defense Health Agency J-3/5/7 visits the 1st Global Field Medical Lab
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. - The 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory, the only global expeditionary laboratory in the U.S. Army, hosted Brig. Gen. Bill O. Soliz, director of Enterprise Operations, Medical Readiness, and Training, J-3/5/7 for the Defense Health Agency, on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, Aug. 18, 2026.
The purpose of Soliz’s visit is to gain a firsthand understanding of 1st GFML’s unique expeditionary medical laboratory capabilities and how they support operational forces globally.
Soldiers from 1st GFML “Lab Dragons” deploy as a unit or in task-organized teams to perform surveillance, laboratory testing and health hazard assessments of environmental, occupational, endemic disease and CBRNE threats to support force protection and Weapons of Mass Destruction missions.
The 1st GFML is led by Col. Dennison S. Segui, commander, and Sgt. Major Nikolay O. Kirillov, the unit’s senior enlisted leader.
Segui assumed command of the Lab Dragons on Sept. 17, 2025.
Headquartered on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, the 1st GFML falls under the 44th Medical Brigade and the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command, which is home to 75% of the active-Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear units.
Activated in 1942 as the 1st Area Medical Laboratory, the 1st GMFL has served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. Soldiers from 1st GFML deployed to help contain the Ebola outbreak in Liberia in 2014 – 2015.
The 1st GFML was also the first Army unit to deploy to U.S. military installations overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want to provide the director a briefing that highlights our biological, chemical, occupational and environmental health capabilities,” said Segui.
“We want to demonstrate our current readiness and how we can integrate with DHA to support operations, medicine and force health protection.”
The DHA’s Enterprise Operations, Medical Readiness, and Training, J-3/5/7 is responsible for the day-to-day coordination, strategic planning, and education systems needed to ensure a medically ready combat force and a prepared military healthcare system.
As the 21st chief of the Army Medical Specialist Corps, Soliz has served as commanding general for the Medical Readiness Command, Pacific, and the director of the Defense Health Network Indo-Pacific, Honolulu. He has multiple deployments with both conventional and special operations.
Soliz is also the first active-duty physician assistant in the U.S. Armed Forces to achieve the rank of general.
According to Segui, hosting visits with senior leaders like Soliz represents a door-to-door approach the 1st GFML has taken to inform military decision-makers about its unique capabilities.
Their biological threat assessment section has veterinary pathologists and veterinary microbiologists who can perform animal necropsy, frozen sections, and unique tissue investigations on the ground.
This provides the lab with samples to test immediately. This differs from field hospitals’ veterinary detachments or field hospitals, which do not have these capabilities housed within the same unit. They must rely on transferring and transporting samples to other units, which is not always feasible, especially in combat environments.
The 1st GFML also has an organic health hazard assessment cell, which is made up of medical doctors and veterinarians, who develop executive summaries and memorandums for record to report identified threats up to combatant commanders. This also includes force health protection recommendations, mission-oriented protective posture requirements, and considerations for medical evacuation movements.
“Since the GFML has medical lab in our name, sometimes our capabilities are confused with other labs with lesser capabilities,” said Segui.
The 1st GFML is a theater-validation laboratory with the requisite technical instruments and scientists to perform force health epidemiology, theater-level medical surveillance, and validation of chemical, biological, and radiological threats to enable the theater commander’s decision-making.
“We consistently educate supported commanders on the key capability differences between the 1st GFML and field hospital’s veterinary detachments to ensure appropriate sourcing as a theater-validation lab in exercises/operations,” Segui said
| Date Taken: | 08.18.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.21.2026 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 572971 |
| Location: | ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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