JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – The Naval Medical Forces Development Command is mission driven and most importantly people powered! Today, we highlight Hospital Corpsman Chief Petty Officer Bernardo Figueroa, leading chief petty officer for the command’s Future Operations initiatives, and manager for the Navy Medical Modeling and Simulation Training and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) programs.

Figueroa answered a few questions about his career and further describe how he supports our mission.

▶ Describe why you joined the Navy:
▷ I come from a Marine Corps family. My dad and two older brothers are Marines. After high school, I worked at various jobs for a couple of years but wanted to become a firefighter and get out of the area I grew up in. Initially, I planned to join the Marine Corps, but when I learned they didn’t have a medical field and that it was the Navy that supported the Marines with medical forces I joined the Navy.

▶ Why did you pick your career field?
▷ I’ve always wanted to help people, so I spoke to my cousin, who was a Navy recruiter at the time and had served as a Corpsman alongside Marines in Afghanistan. Talking with him made it clear that becoming a Corpsman would allow me to both serve in the medical field and follow my family’s footsteps in the Marine Corps.

▶ What do you love about your job and what keeps you motivated?
▷ The U.S. Navy operates the greatest machines on earth—ships, subs, aircraft and weapon systems—but at the core are the men and women who operate them in the most demanding environments on earth. As Corpsmen, we focus on their health and wellbeing, ensuring they can continue take the fight to the enemy, wherever they are. Because Corpsmen serve across so many platforms, including with the Marine Corps, the work is diverse, challenging and rewarding. Knowing Sailors and Marines depend on us every day is what keeps me motivated.

▶ How do you and your team support the Force Development, Force Generation of the Navy’s medical forces?
▷ The Operations Directorate coordinates Operational Readiness Evaluations for Expeditionary Medical systems as part of their readiness and in direct support of Force Generation. As the TCCC program manager I worked closely with the program’s director to establish TCCC training across Navy Medicine Training and Readiness facilities in support of the program’s training requirements for Navy Surface, Subsurface and Reserve Forces, as well as at formal training centers at the Navy Medicine Training Support Command, the Surface Warfare Medical Institute and the Naval Undersea Medical Institute - directly supporting Fleet readiness and Force Development initiatives.

▶ Describe how you and your team implement the Get Real Get Better mindset to improve processes and better support the Navy:
▷ Our team leverages Improvement Science specialists to track, evaluate and report our processes, ensuring transparency and accountability across the enterprise. This approach reinforces the Get Real, Get Better mindset: being honest about areas for improvement, aligning actions with values and focusing on what matters most. By fostering collaboration, transparency and continuous learning, we create an environment where our teams grow stronger together while better supporting the Fleet.

Thank you Hospital Corpsman Chief Petty Officer Figueroa for your dedication to the Navy Medicine Enterprise. You are what makes NMFDC "People Powered!"