Commander's Blog

Recently, I had the great privilege of presenting our USAMMDA team to our new USAMRMC commanding general, Maj. Gen. Barbara R. Holcomb. Despite the typical "butterflies" associated with a CG visit, I actually welcome every opportunity to brag about our team and the great work we do here. Needless to say, we presented ourselves extremely well to the CG, and I was pleased with the very positive response I received from her after the visit. The most enlightening point of the day, however, was her candid take on the mission of USAMRMC and USAMMDA as well. She admitted to not knowing much about our command and its mission before coming here, and she said that this was true of five previous USAMRMC commanders she consulted after she learned of her assignment to Fort Detrick. Not surprisingly, this seems to be the case throughout the DOD and elsewhere, and it touches upon one of the main initiatives in our draft Strategic Plan for USAMMDA.

In a recent email I sent out to our USAMMDA team, I outlined a four-point plan that will help us maintain our mission focus and track our progress toward a desired end state. While the first three initiatives deal with strengthening our workforce, the product development lifecycle, and regulatory management strategies, respectively, the fourth initiative may be the one that is most critical for us going forward: driving the message that USAMMDA is the premier developer of military medical solutions worldwide. We do outstanding work each day in helping to strengthen and support our Warfighters, but we need to make sure that more organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, realize and understand what we do. When it comes to getting our name out there, we have to push our message down every avenue we can. At conferences, in publications, through social media – even in everyday, public settings – we all must communicate our value externally, because we know how well we do our jobs, to inform the masses that the work of USAMMDA is the work that saves lives every day. We have increased the number of blogs and articles regarding USAMMDA activities, and this effort will continue as we increase communications using all appropriate venues. We all must work together to help spread the word of our great organization and our tremendous mission in support of our Warfighters.

But when I refer to the draft Strategic Plan that we'll be rolling out this fall, keep in mind that the changes we'll be making are "evolutionary" and not "revolutionary." Our team is working hard to ensure that the plan is well organized and deliberate, so we don't disrupt the daily workflow of our team. And while we look to make these improvements in our methodology, we need to know we have the support of our higher headquarters, and most importantly, our commanding general. Based on her recent visit to USAMMDA, I certainly believe we do have her support. The CG said that one of her primary goals is to spread the word of our USAMMDA work within the command, outside of the command and then into the public. She made it very clear that USAMRMC Headquarters will help make sure that we have what we need to do our jobs properly, and we must let her know what we need, when we need it. And I was quick to say that our USAMMDA team is not shy about doing this – so let's make sure we take up the CG on her offer!

During our briefing to Maj. Gen. Holcomb, we provided an overview of USAMMDA's most current SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, and I believe this helped to convey a message that our organization is very strong and that we understand what we must do to improve. We have a very skilled workforce, and we spend time and energy developing our people to perform within a highly diverse portfolio. We maintain "different colors" of funding, and we think very critically when allocating these funds, as we understand our responsibility to the American taxpayers. As for some opportunities, I am hoping to improve processes to enhance our workflow capabilities, and I am sure we can improve collaboration with our stakeholders. I really would like to involve them much more in our future efforts – I truly visualize a positive outcome if we can do this.

Every organization has its challenges, and we are not without weaknesses at USAMMDA. However, I believe these are very controllable, and I know that if we work together we can overcome them in time. Among these, I believe our greatest weakness is that we are viewed as an obstacle by the Joint Program Committees and our science and technology laboratories, in both the product development and regulatory areas. We have to show these groups that we can work together effectively to create solutions for our Warfighters -- without question, we simply have to collaborate productively as there is no other option. And although I realize this can be difficult when dealing with our constraints of space and workforce exhaustion, we have to find creative ways to surmount these hurdles on a daily basis.

As for threats, we have plenty, with more always popping up. But we need to look towards quick resolution of these hazards so we can continue to move forward in our mission. Yes, there is the evolving regulatory landscape, and yes, we are continually dealing with a lack of workforce empowerment, but we can't let these things stop us in our tracks. We work in a complex environment that is only getting more complex with each passing day, but this isn't going to change any time soon, so we must change to meet the challenges. Unfortunately, we are in the midst of a "perfect storm," but we need to clamp down and work together to keep the ship on course, regardless of the tack.

Unity remains a key concept as we move forward over the next fiscal year, not only within the command but amongst ourselves as well. If we continue to stand together, sharing one vision of accomplishing the USAMMDA mission for our Warfighters, we will remain successful and continue to save lives -- every day, every month and every year.

This remains the crux of it all.

Hooah!

LTC David Johnston