From the medical perspective, what do you see as the biggest challenge facing Naval Special Warfare Command warriors?
In the broad sense, Navy SEALs and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen are a very small band of very determined warriors standing against a large threat that is always changing. We need to be more forward thinking and adaptable than our opponents. Specific medical issues that concern me most are support for NSW families and combat casualty care. NSW has a robust, on-going effort to provide support to the families of its deployed operators, but we are always looking for ways to help families during those long deployments. Regarding combat casualty care, currently large numbers of conventional medical forces in Iraq support SOF with a robust forward surgical resuscitation capability. With the future size of that conventional force uncertain, and the fact that SOF often operate independently far from the support of large conventional forces, we must be prepared to provide that critical capability regardless of where our forces deploy. U.S. Special Operations Command is working with it
