SAIO official visits medical training, looks at mission prior to move

  • Published
  • By John Ingle
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Moving one medical training course wasn't too difficult for retired Army Col. Clarence "CEM" Maxwell when he helped move the Army's biomedical technician training following the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure recommendations. 

Now, a decade later, Dr. Maxwell - who possesses a doctorate in architecture - is challenged with moving several medical training skill sets to a single location at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. The move was recommended by the 2005 commission and confirmed by Congress 45 days later. 

"Under BRAC 2005, all of the enlisted medical training will consolidate to Fort Sam Houston," Dr. Maxwell, the deputy director for the San Antonio Integration Office and former dean of the Army Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston, said. "This will be multiple courses from multiple locations" coming together. 

He said the Air Force will move enlisted training from the 882nd Training Group at Sheppard, as well as a small contingent of training from the Washington, D.C., area to their new location by 2011. The Navy will move training operations from Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., as well as San Diego. The Army's medical training is already based at Fort Sam Houston. 

According to the BRAC recommendations, the move would co-locate the services' basic and specialized medical training to one site, with a possibility of transforming into a joint-training environment. 

"This will result in reduced infrastructure and excess system capacity, while capitalizing on the synergy of the co-location similar training conducted by each of the three services," the commission said in the report. "In addition, the development of a joint training center will result in standardized training for medical enlisted specialties, enhancing interoperability and joint deployability." 

A timeline is in place to provide new infrastructure at the San Antonio-based installation to support additional personnel, students and equipment. 

Dr. Maxwell said the goal is to make the transitions without creating a delay in providing medical personnel to the various services. 

"We have to ensure we don't interrupt the supply of people into the force," he said. 

The more likely scenario, the doctor said, would be the relocation of medical specialties that are currently set in a joint training environment first, such as the 882nd TRG's dental and biomedical equipment repair technician courses. Encompassed in that move would be instructors, support personnel and equipment. 

The commission's recommendation wasn't to combine courses, rather it was to co-locate medical training, Dr. Maxwell said. However, he said the services are already looking at how they could match up similar training courses into one. 

"The real goal is so we can identify the interchangeable aspects," he said. He said this would provide a good understanding of how similar the skill sets are among similar career fields. 

Another aspect Dr. Maxwell will work is the transformation of two major medical facilities in San Antonio - Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB and Brooks Army Medical Facility at Fort Sam Houston. He said all inpatient care at Wilford Hall will move to the Army base. 

According to the commission, "This recommendation reduces excess capacity within the San Antonio Multi-Service Market while maintaining the level of care for the beneficiaries, enhancing opportunities for provider currency and maintaining surge capacity. By making use of the design capacity inherent in Brooks Army Medical Center, the entire inpatient care produced at WHMC can be relocated into this facility." 

Dr. Maxwell estimated the total cost of meeting the BRAC commissions' recommendations of consolidating enlisted medical training and the proposed changes within the two medical centers would be about $1 billion. Although that number is somewhat staggering, the payoff and return on investment, according to the commission, would benefit the taxpayers in the long run. 

The commission reported that the Department of Defense would save about $129 million annually for 10 years following implementation of the recommendations.