DHA Leaders Attend Warrior Games, Discuss Agency’s Mission

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Sept. 30, 2014 – Defense Health Agency senior leaders attended the Sept. 28 opening ceremony of the 2014 Warrior Games here yesterday and discussed their organization’s overall mission.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Douglas J. Robb, the agency’s director, and Navy Command Master Chief Petty Officer Terry J. Prince, DHS’s senior enlisted advisor, joined DoD News’ Adaptive Warrior broadcast to discuss DHA’s mission.

The Defense Health Agency, based at Falls Church, Virginia, was established on October 1, 2013, Robb said.

“Our job is to provide ready medical forces and capabilities to the service surgeon generals so they can again present those forces to their combatant commanders and their service chiefs,” he said. “So we are a joint first solution enabler for our combatant forces.”

The general said it was “exciting” to attend the Warrior Games, along with his senior enlisted advisor, as many of the competitors were treated by “our young corpsmen and medics” on the battlefield.

“As you know, our advances in combat casualty care forward and our en route care has allowed these soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, our coalition forces and our civilians to come safely back home to their husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters,” Robb said.

Connection to the Warrior Games

The general also explained how DHA is connected to the Warrior Games.

“One of the things that we … bring to the fight “is the military adaptive sports program with Wounded Warrior Care and Policy,” he said. “So our folks work together, in the Defense Health Agency, along with health affairs, again, to make this program happen.”

Robb described the Warrior Games as the other “bookend,” opposite the tactical combat casualty care that injured service members receive on the battlefield.

“Within 24 hours they can be waking up at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center or they can be waking up at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and the first time they wake up … their husband or wife, their mother or father, their son or their daughter, are holding their hands,” he said. “Now that’s the way you heal. And what you see in the [Warrior Games opening ceremony] audience, there is that same family unit that’s continuing that healing process to allow these folks to be great citizens. It’s just awesome to watch these folks.”

Advances in military medical care

As DHA’s senior enlisted advisor, Prince shared his insight of how far military medical care has advanced.

“I’m proud to talk about the care,” he said. “As the former command master chief of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Care Center at Bethesda, [Maryland], I was often at the gates to meet the wounded warriors when they [came] through our hospital.

“In many cases [there were] tears flowing down the families’ faces,” Prince continued. “You just give them hugs, and you’d say, ‘Your son or daughter is going to walk out of here. In three months, nine months or one year, they will walk out of this hospital.’”

Prince said some of the families expressed skepticism after he told them some of their loved ones would leave using bionic limbs that can be controlled with their minds.

“They don’t want to believe that,” he said. “Then they see the care and the dedication of our military, our [other government agencies] and our contract people working in our medical facilities all around the world -- not just at Bethesda.

“The quality of life and the quality care go hand-in-hand,” Prince continued. “I think if you got any other wounded, ill and injured on this set they would say the same thing. [We’re] proud to serve.”

The DHA, he said, is a mix of all the services including the public health service.

“All for the betterment of that soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, [or] Coast Guardsmen on the front lines,” Prince said. “I couldn’t ask for a better job in the world.”

Prince also lauded the noncommissioned officers who work “hand-in-hand” with medical service providers in caring for patients.

“We’re the finest military service in the world because of our noncommissioned officers,” he said. “And those guys and gals do it every day and I couldn’t be prouder.