JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Feb. 5, 2025) - The Army Nurse Corps held its annual Senior Leader Forum at Joint Base San Antonio on Jan. 28-31, 2025. Senior nurse executives from across Army Medicine gathered to discuss, collaborate, and educate key nursing leaders in support of the Army Medicine Strategy. Some of the topics addressed were healthcare operations, Army manpower requirements, and next year’s 125th Anniversary of the Nurse Corps.
Lt. Gen. Mary K. Izaguirre, U.S. Army Surgeon General and Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command, delivered the keynote address. She talked about four key areas including warfighting, delivering combat ready formations, continuous transformation, and strengthening the profession.
Izaguirre described how Army Medicine has realigned major units to more efficiently support the warfighter.
“In the area of warfighting, we have enhanced our ability to deliver combat medic care through our alignment. So, 1st Medical Brigade now reports directly to III Corps, and 62nd Medical Brigade now reports directly to I Corps. That happened through a concerted effort,” said Izaguirre.
Army Medicine has learned many lessons from the war in Ukraine and is continuously transforming to adapt to the ever-changing battlefield of the future.
“We've learned from Ukraine how their medical capabilities have gone underground, literally, where they have hospitals that are existing in these huge underground culverts in order to be survivable. The other end of that is being mobile, so field hospitals that used to be several acres and take multiple days to set up, are working hard to get the division mobile [and] medical into less than half an acre, with hours to set up,” said Izaguirre.
She described how the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command is working to reduce medical units’ electronic signature on the battlefield. “They are working these areas, whether it is that concept of hiding our signature or creating so much noise that you can't see our signature in the fray. Hiding a needle in the haystack, so to speak,” she said.
The Surgeon General described how a spirit of “continuous transformation” really paid off during Hurricane Helene in 2024. “In real time this past fall, there were significant storms in the southeast--Fort Moore rallied, and the Martin team got patients rescheduled to virtual appointments,” she said. “Almost 700 appointments that were able to continue care while the providers, the staff, support staff and the patients were able to stay in their homes safely. So, seeing how we're leveraging that capability is very heartening.”
The U.S. Army Nurse Corps was established by an act of Congress in 1901 and will celebrate its 125th anniversary next year. Izaguirre talked about the proud history of the Nurse Corps and how it’s important to continue to build on that foundation.
“I am excited to honor the legacy [of the Nurse Corps] and celebrate each of those organizations. Knowing about our history can make us even more determined to continue to build on that legacy of excellence,” said Izaguirre.
She encouraged the leaders in the room to try new things and described the type of culture that would lead to success for Army Medicine. “[A culture] that will help us to see our greatest potential and greatest capability to enhance Army lethality is a culture of innovation, where leaders feel free to innovate. They know that if what they are doing [is] moral, ethical, legal and consistent with our mission that they [will] be able to break a plate every once in a while, because if you don't innovate boldly, you will be very safe. When you innovate boldly, sometimes things don't go as planned,” she said.
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