WEBVTT 00:15.940 --> 00:18.273 Good morning , General Hall . Thank you . 00:18.273 --> 00:20.273 Morning . Thank you for taking some 00:20.273 --> 00:22.870 time to talk about the international 00:22.870 --> 00:25.500 health specialist program and celebrate 00:25.500 --> 00:28.520 our 20 years of having this program is 00:28.520 --> 00:30.631 part of the Air Force Medical Service 00:30.631 --> 00:32.576 20 years . I know . I was thinking 00:32.576 --> 00:34.520 about that the other day . Wow . I 00:34.520 --> 00:36.520 can't believe it's been that long . 00:36.520 --> 00:38.687 Yeah , it's been been quite a road for 00:38.687 --> 00:40.742 the program . I'm sure you've got to 00:40.742 --> 00:42.409 see it through many different 00:42.460 --> 00:44.960 iterations through your career from the 00:44.960 --> 00:47.680 first time that we were even starting 00:47.680 --> 00:50.000 to think about international health 00:50.000 --> 00:52.222 specialists . And I don't even think we 00:52.222 --> 00:54.389 called it that then . But how could we 00:54.389 --> 00:58.150 get our medics into the bigger 00:58.160 --> 01:01.080 picture of not just delivering clinical 01:01.080 --> 01:03.490 care , but really into the military 01:03.490 --> 01:06.160 operations and the benefit and the 01:06.160 --> 01:08.327 positive things that we would bring to 01:08.327 --> 01:10.327 that ? It's somewhat of a unnatural 01:10.327 --> 01:13.410 leap for automatics to go in outside 01:13.410 --> 01:15.680 that clinical roll into this more 01:15.680 --> 01:18.410 operational role and from the service . 01:18.570 --> 01:20.681 This is a very unique thing to do for 01:20.681 --> 01:22.737 the Air Force Medical Service to put 01:22.737 --> 01:24.792 medics in this type of role . Yeah , 01:24.792 --> 01:26.903 absolutely . Because when you talk to 01:26.903 --> 01:28.681 people about what does military 01:28.681 --> 01:30.792 medicine brain . The first thing that 01:30.792 --> 01:33.014 pops into their head is access into the 01:33.014 --> 01:35.014 clinic . But the reason that we are 01:35.014 --> 01:36.840 military medics and we wear the 01:36.840 --> 01:39.440 uniforms is not just that . As a matter 01:39.440 --> 01:41.718 of fact , it's not our primary mission . 01:41.718 --> 01:43.607 You know , our primary mission is 01:43.607 --> 01:45.718 readiness . Our primary mission is to 01:45.718 --> 01:47.900 go to war and make sure that we are 01:47.900 --> 01:49.844 ensuring the health and safety and 01:49.844 --> 01:52.820 bringing our wounded warriors back 01:52.830 --> 01:55.820 safely and quickly , and then also to 01:55.830 --> 01:58.380 help our partner nations build their 01:58.380 --> 02:01.350 capability so they don't just rely on 02:01.740 --> 02:03.670 our capability . And having those 02:03.670 --> 02:07.070 partnerships is just such a key thing . 02:07.130 --> 02:09.297 Do you have any memorable interactions 02:09.297 --> 02:11.310 that you've experienced personally 02:11.320 --> 02:13.431 through the years these past 20 years 02:13.431 --> 02:15.542 of the International House specialist 02:15.542 --> 02:17.709 program ? Yeah , absolutely . So , you 02:17.709 --> 02:19.876 know , when I became the nursing court 02:19.876 --> 02:23.650 chief in 2000 and 13 , I had the 02:23.650 --> 02:26.700 opportunity to engage in what we were 02:26.700 --> 02:28.756 doing at the time , called the Asian 02:28.756 --> 02:30.980 Pacific Military Nursing Exchange . So 02:30.980 --> 02:32.924 I did that two years in a row . My 02:32.924 --> 02:35.870 first year we were in Hawaii , and so 02:35.870 --> 02:38.190 we had engagements from our different 02:38.200 --> 02:40.440 Asian partners . The Philippines , 02:40.450 --> 02:44.320 Singapore , Thailand , even China all 02:44.320 --> 02:46.810 came together in Hawaii for us to 02:46.810 --> 02:49.950 exchange military nursing lessons 02:49.950 --> 02:53.150 learned and how we did business there , 02:53.510 --> 02:55.566 and that was my first opportunity to 02:55.566 --> 02:58.130 really showcase our enlisted medics . 02:58.230 --> 03:00.560 So Chief Steiner was my counterpart , 03:01.440 --> 03:04.360 and we dialogued together in the 03:04.360 --> 03:06.540 presentation that we gave to the 03:06.540 --> 03:08.429 audience , and I think that was a 03:08.429 --> 03:10.262 really good thing . A lot of our 03:10.262 --> 03:13.370 foreign partners don't have enlisted 03:13.370 --> 03:16.470 medics , but to see the relationship 03:16.480 --> 03:20.260 between myself and my enlisted chief 03:20.640 --> 03:22.810 really helped them to kind of open 03:22.810 --> 03:25.110 their eyes about Hey , maybe we could 03:25.110 --> 03:27.166 do something a little different here 03:27.166 --> 03:29.110 the second year we went to Korea . 03:29.140 --> 03:31.230 Amazing . That was an amazing 03:31.230 --> 03:34.160 opportunity . And the interactions that 03:34.160 --> 03:37.600 we had with them also learned a lot 03:37.600 --> 03:40.380 from both of us on both sides . I think 03:40.380 --> 03:43.130 that's really what we sometimes miss or 03:43.130 --> 03:45.540 don't recognize is a lot of times we're 03:45.540 --> 03:48.350 going through the same challenges , and 03:48.350 --> 03:50.580 so to be able to share the challenges 03:50.580 --> 03:52.413 that we're having in some of the 03:52.413 --> 03:55.920 solutions that we've tried to put in 03:55.920 --> 03:58.300 play to meet those challenges 03:59.700 --> 04:02.040 can be shared . The third time is I 04:02.040 --> 04:04.151 went to Europe . I went to Garmisch , 04:04.640 --> 04:07.880 another hard duty station , and we had 04:07.880 --> 04:10.460 our European African nursing exchange . 04:11.650 --> 04:13.872 Same thing there . We had a lot of good 04:13.872 --> 04:17.850 dialogue and interaction on what other 04:17.850 --> 04:19.906 countries were doing to take care of 04:19.906 --> 04:22.120 their military force , and we just 04:22.120 --> 04:24.398 shared a lot of good lessons . Learned . 04:24.398 --> 04:26.564 Hearing you talk about these different 04:26.564 --> 04:29.160 experiences with the nursing exchanges 04:29.420 --> 04:33.130 Reminds me of when I was working at 04:33.140 --> 04:35.084 some of the match com's and the co 04:35.084 --> 04:37.620 calms . How the senior enlisted who 04:37.620 --> 04:40.650 were in charge of enlisted professional 04:40.650 --> 04:43.180 development . They would look to us and 04:43.180 --> 04:45.180 they would come and they would talk 04:45.180 --> 04:47.291 about these nursing exchanges and the 04:47.291 --> 04:49.600 professional development . So sharing a 04:49.600 --> 04:52.300 lot of that , I think just brings value 04:52.300 --> 04:55.560 and benefit in your role . Now , as 04:55.560 --> 04:57.616 therefore , surgeon general , how do 04:57.616 --> 04:59.504 you view the international health 04:59.504 --> 05:01.671 specialist program providing a benefit 05:01.671 --> 05:03.727 to the Air Force Medical Service ? I 05:03.727 --> 05:06.650 think there's three benefits . One is 05:07.540 --> 05:11.200 in medical . We can get isolated behind 05:11.200 --> 05:12.980 our four walls of the military 05:12.980 --> 05:15.610 treatment facilities . Medicine is just 05:15.610 --> 05:17.980 not providing clinical care . It's not 05:17.980 --> 05:20.300 just seeing a patient , it's bigger 05:20.300 --> 05:22.310 than that . And these international 05:22.310 --> 05:25.680 health specialists going out into other 05:25.680 --> 05:29.110 countries and working side by side , 05:29.110 --> 05:31.110 not only with other countries . But 05:31.110 --> 05:33.110 even our joint partners , Navy Army 05:33.610 --> 05:36.790 opens up their eyes to really the whole 05:37.240 --> 05:40.230 benefit that military medicine brings 05:40.490 --> 05:44.350 to the entire D O D mission . 05:44.360 --> 05:47.700 And so it helps them see how military 05:47.700 --> 05:49.920 medicine really has an impact into the 05:49.920 --> 05:53.070 mission at large , not just the medical 05:53.070 --> 05:55.580 mission . The other thing is it helps 05:55.580 --> 05:58.050 them build their skills with their own 05:58.440 --> 06:02.290 deployment . Taskings So critical care 06:02.360 --> 06:04.710 nurses on the C cat team , ground 06:04.710 --> 06:07.760 surgical docks or nurses . They go out 06:07.760 --> 06:10.740 and teach that capability to other 06:10.740 --> 06:12.910 nations so that they have it , so it 06:12.910 --> 06:14.966 makes them a master of their trade . 06:14.966 --> 06:17.021 And then the third thing is with the 06:17.021 --> 06:19.132 NDS and one of their priorities being 06:19.132 --> 06:21.560 building partnerships . This is one way 06:21.560 --> 06:23.727 that we do this . This is one way that 06:23.727 --> 06:25.838 the medical community can build those 06:25.838 --> 06:28.004 partnerships . We're not there just to 06:28.004 --> 06:30.227 teach people how to load a patient on a 06:30.227 --> 06:32.282 plane or a helicopter . We're really 06:32.282 --> 06:35.550 building that relationship to 06:36.240 --> 06:40.040 help deter conflict . Or 06:40.080 --> 06:43.160 if conflict does happen , it's more 06:43.160 --> 06:45.800 than just us . So I think that's one of 06:45.800 --> 06:47.356 the biggest values that are 06:47.356 --> 06:49.633 international health specialists bring . 06:49.633 --> 06:52.370 It also opens up the eyes of our line 06:52.370 --> 06:55.360 leaders of what Air Force medicine does . 06:56.040 --> 06:58.570 And again , it's not just access , it's 06:58.570 --> 07:01.580 more than that . It's about the skills 07:01.580 --> 07:04.200 that we bring to enable their mission 07:04.200 --> 07:06.160 to be more successful as faras 07:06.170 --> 07:08.490 readiness . We talk about individual 07:08.490 --> 07:11.280 skills and unit type skills , but from 07:11.280 --> 07:13.900 a systems level , one of the important 07:13.900 --> 07:15.844 things within the national defense 07:15.844 --> 07:18.600 strategy is interoperability with our 07:18.600 --> 07:20.878 partners , from your perspective , man , 07:20.878 --> 07:23.210 some of your thoughts on how we can 07:23.210 --> 07:25.377 work with our international partners . 07:25.740 --> 07:27.907 When you bring in international health 07:27.907 --> 07:29.629 specialists who really have an 07:29.629 --> 07:32.230 understanding of how military medicine 07:32.230 --> 07:35.490 works , they can bring that to the 07:35.660 --> 07:38.090 strategic planning levels . We've 07:38.090 --> 07:40.312 worked with our Australian partners for 07:40.312 --> 07:44.050 a long time on being able to medically 07:44.050 --> 07:47.180 air evac patients on their plane and 07:47.180 --> 07:49.740 our plane using each other's equipment . 07:49.750 --> 07:51.940 I can take my air medical evacuation 07:51.950 --> 07:54.920 equipment onto an Australian plane and 07:54.920 --> 07:57.150 still be okay , Thio Transport patients 07:57.160 --> 07:59.327 and they could do the same for us , so 07:59.327 --> 08:01.240 that just increases capacity and 08:01.240 --> 08:04.190 capability . If ever we need to get 08:04.190 --> 08:06.910 into that domain , I was able to go to 08:06.910 --> 08:09.590 Mobility Guardian , the largest AMC 08:09.590 --> 08:12.610 exercise and international . A lot of 08:12.610 --> 08:15.570 foreign partners Australia , Singapore , 08:15.570 --> 08:19.090 Thailand and for our medics there and 08:19.090 --> 08:21.300 our air medical evacuation medics . 08:21.420 --> 08:24.930 They were side by side training and 08:24.930 --> 08:27.330 learning on how to do air medical 08:27.330 --> 08:29.840 evacuation . And in this particular 08:29.840 --> 08:33.730 exercise , we actually use the C five , 08:33.810 --> 08:36.032 which we have never done before for air 08:36.032 --> 08:38.250 transport . Given what we think we 08:38.250 --> 08:40.250 might be faced with in the future , 08:40.330 --> 08:42.490 we're looking at all of our platforms 08:42.730 --> 08:44.760 to figure out what would be a good 08:44.760 --> 08:46.538 platform to use for air medical 08:46.538 --> 08:49.020 evacuation . So they did an exercise on 08:49.020 --> 08:52.150 loading this C five with patients , and 08:52.160 --> 08:55.780 there were Singaporeans and Australians 08:55.780 --> 08:59.120 and us side by side loading 08:59.120 --> 09:02.050 patients caring for patients 09:02.840 --> 09:05.090 during this whole exercise . And it was 09:05.100 --> 09:07.970 quite fabulous to see . It sounds like 09:07.970 --> 09:11.040 a great opportunity for piers or near 09:11.040 --> 09:13.240 peers to really work together and 09:13.250 --> 09:15.417 through some of the differences in the 09:15.417 --> 09:17.083 systems and to overcome those 09:17.083 --> 09:19.660 differences . Absolutely . The value 09:19.660 --> 09:21.327 that the international health 09:21.327 --> 09:23.549 specialists bring Thio not only the Air 09:23.549 --> 09:26.460 Force but to our co calms is being able 09:26.460 --> 09:29.790 thio , provide improve 09:29.790 --> 09:32.090 partnership , capacity and capability 09:32.840 --> 09:36.480 so that we can maybe iron out our 09:36.480 --> 09:38.702 differences before we get to conflict . 09:40.040 --> 09:42.400 And so I think That's one way that it 09:42.400 --> 09:45.630 brings value to the Air Force and two d 09:45.630 --> 09:47.710 o . D at large with the Secretary of 09:47.710 --> 09:50.840 defenses strategy of attracting new 09:50.840 --> 09:53.080 partners , solidifying our new 09:53.080 --> 09:55.136 partnership and then working towards 09:55.136 --> 09:57.358 building interoperability , we have our 09:57.358 --> 09:59.191 international health specialists 09:59.191 --> 10:01.358 working toe help achieve some of those 10:01.358 --> 10:03.136 aspects of the national defense 10:03.136 --> 10:05.469 strategy that have been laid out . Yeah , 10:05.469 --> 10:07.524 absolutely . You know , we have good 10:07.524 --> 10:09.636 working relationships with our common 10:09.636 --> 10:11.858 partners right now , but there's others 10:11.858 --> 10:13.858 we'd like to engage with . So , for 10:13.858 --> 10:16.480 example , Laos . We've been in there in 10:16.480 --> 10:19.790 the country for quite some time . Very 10:19.800 --> 10:23.060 pragmatic relationship . So pow Mia , 10:24.440 --> 10:28.040 bringing our Americans home . But we 10:28.040 --> 10:30.318 were able to get some of our medics in . 10:30.318 --> 10:32.040 There are international health 10:32.040 --> 10:34.180 specialists to do some training that 10:34.190 --> 10:36.412 opened the door up for us to be able to 10:36.412 --> 10:39.740 do a bilateral higher level engagement 10:39.740 --> 10:42.940 with them , which our medics crack that 10:42.940 --> 10:45.740 ice . And I like to say they crack that 10:45.740 --> 10:48.770 ice to allow um , or bilateral 10:48.770 --> 10:52.420 engagement mil to mil to go on and 10:52.420 --> 10:54.420 getting in there , I think , helped 10:55.140 --> 10:57.590 within the Department of State and the 10:57.590 --> 11:00.630 co calms goal of working to achieve a 11:00.630 --> 11:02.830 defense out of shape ? Absolutely . 11:02.840 --> 11:05.490 Absolutely . General , how do you think 11:05.490 --> 11:07.490 the international health specialist 11:07.490 --> 11:09.490 program can continue to mature ? So 11:09.490 --> 11:13.250 right now I'm planning my medic of 11:13.250 --> 11:17.070 2030 . What do my medics need 11:17.070 --> 11:19.126 tohave . What skills do they need to 11:19.126 --> 11:21.370 have to be able to be successful and 11:21.370 --> 11:24.310 operate in 2030 ? Because you gotta 11:24.310 --> 11:27.760 start building that now . And so I 11:27.760 --> 11:29.482 think that the skills that the 11:29.482 --> 11:31.649 international health specialists bring 11:32.640 --> 11:36.000 gives a more rounded capability to our 11:36.000 --> 11:38.410 medic . So is there a baseline train 11:38.410 --> 11:40.354 that we should be giving toe ? All 11:40.354 --> 11:43.100 medics like BLS ? Right ? So all of our 11:43.100 --> 11:45.211 medics probably oughta have some kind 11:45.211 --> 11:48.720 of intro to international relations 11:48.730 --> 11:51.980 because we often go to other countries 11:51.990 --> 11:55.050 to deliver our capability . So in that 11:55.050 --> 11:58.930 medic of 2030 not only do I need to 11:58.930 --> 12:01.110 have every medic , not just clinical 12:01.110 --> 12:03.640 medics , but every medic know how to 12:03.640 --> 12:06.260 take care of a patient to some level , 12:06.640 --> 12:08.584 I believe that I also need to have 12:08.584 --> 12:10.260 every medic know how to do 12:10.740 --> 12:13.960 international health engagements , even 12:13.960 --> 12:16.550 at a basic level , because when they're 12:16.550 --> 12:19.420 side by side with a partner , that's 12:19.430 --> 12:21.790 international health engagement . So 12:21.800 --> 12:24.760 giving them the skills to be able to do 12:24.760 --> 12:27.260 that and do that . Well , I think is a 12:27.260 --> 12:29.371 positive thing . Absolutely . Because 12:29.371 --> 12:32.420 every medic and every airman , as one 12:32.420 --> 12:34.364 of our former chiefs of staff said 12:34.440 --> 12:36.551 should be able to be an international 12:36.551 --> 12:38.662 right ? Absolutely . Well , thank you 12:38.662 --> 12:40.884 very much , ma'am . Appreciate the time 12:40.884 --> 12:42.940 that you spent sharing your thoughts 12:42.940 --> 12:44.662 about the International health 12:44.662 --> 12:46.773 specialist program over these past 20 12:46.773 --> 12:48.773 years . It's been a really honor to 12:48.773 --> 12:51.051 have this time to talk with you . Yeah . 12:51.051 --> 12:53.051 Thank you , Colonel Palmer . I just 12:53.051 --> 12:55.273 have to thank you to really , truly for 12:55.273 --> 12:57.760 your dedication and for your continued 12:58.040 --> 13:00.340 challenge to keep it moving forward . 13:00.500 --> 13:02.611 So thank you very much . It's been an 13:02.611 --> 13:03.560 honor to serve , man .