CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Naval Reserve Expeditionary Medical Facility (NR-EMF) Bethesda completed their operational readiness evaluation (ORE) at Naval Expeditionary Medical Training Institute (NEMTI) on June 19-21.

NR-EMF Bethesda is comprised of Reservists from around the country that came together to complete training which includes equipment familiarization, integrated medical/patient throughput training, scenario/mission, and emergency (fire, security, etc.) training.

The ORE directly supports the Surgeon General's guidance that "Navy Medicine will optimize to project medical power in support of Naval Superiority."

"The members who come here prepare for exercising our mission, which is theater hospitalization," said Capt. Lisa Gittleman, commanding officer of NR-EMF Bethesda. "The members who come here get the chance to really learn how to build the tents, unload the equipment from the conex box, and put all the equipment and supplies into the hospital themselves. They then can arrange their units the way they want. When we're here they have a few days to work within their departments and their functional teams and learn their roles through on-the-job training and scenarios. For a lot of folks, this may be their first annual training with my command, and for some folks, it's their first annual training ever as reservists. So, it gives them a chance to train in person after two plus years of COVID."

Various specialty subject matter experts (SME) from Navy Medicine including NEMTI instructors, and Naval Medical Forces Support Command (NMFSC) staff worked hand in hand to train and evaluate NR EMF Bethesda's understanding and execution of patient throughput capability, standard operating procedures, as well as communication practices and coordination across functional areas. NR- EMF Bethesda completed and met all training criteria and objectives to be considered "Ready for Mobilization."

“The Operational Readiness Exercise (ORE) is the culmination of extensive specialized training in expeditionary medicine,” said Lt. Biagio Mezzasalma, logistics department head assigned to NMFSC. “This operational medical care is what allows our warfighters to receive comprehensive medical care on the battlefield. This exercise evaluates the core clinical and procedural aspects of role 3 field medicine, ensuring all medical personnel are efficient and proficient in their respective competencies.”

The lessons learned from this evaluation will identify strengths, shortfalls and gaps to improve future training and prepare units for expeditionary worldwide deployments.

"They've (NEMTI) given us some ideas of how we can train going forward and make our training more realistic," said Gittleman. "Any feedback that we get from this is something that we can apply when we're doing the planning process for our future exercises, whether they be short-term like a weekend drill field exercise versus a whole two-week AT (annual training) exercise.”