The 20th Preventive Medicine Unit

Posted on 01/27/2018

The following video was put together from Super 8 film I shot during my tour in Vietnam with the 20th Preventive Medicine Unit, 44th Medical Brigade, and occasioned by the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive there.

I do wish I had shot more film, but Super 8 film and  its processing were expensive, and a single reel contained just a little over three minutes of film.

U.S. AIR FORCE BOMBS IT’S OWN BASE

Posted on 01/27/2018

The 50th anniversary of the 1968 Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War is upon us.

I was stationed at Bien Hoa when the base was overrun by enemy troops.  Air Force history was set that day when two U.S. F100 fighter jets dive bombed their own airbase to end the battle.  The following link is to a video put together from Super 8 film I shot on that harrowing morning.

IN MEMORIUM

Posted on 01/15/2018 Updated on 01/16/2018

by Terry McCarl

I am an honorary member of this group.  I was the Division Sanitarian for the 1^st Cavalry Division in Vietnam from 11/68-11/69.  I was never in the 20^th PMU (although once I tried to transfer into it), but were and am a major “fan” of it.  The support that I received from the 20^th was incredible!

I have two sets of “brothers” from the Vietnam War days on social media: the 15^th Medical BN of the 1^st Cavalry Division-the unit with which I served; and the 20^th PMU which is my “ preventive medicine brothers.”  My 15^th Med brothers are a great group, but they don’t know (and don’t want to know) anything about preventive medicine.  Good-natured nicknames like “ S**t Burner “ and “Privy Sniffer” abound.  And, I did from time-to-time write a unit or two up on an inspection for “failing to incinerate human waste to an innocuous ash.”

BG (then LTC) Guthrie L. Turner Jr., the 1^st Cavalry Division Surgeon /15^th Med BN CO (06/68-06/69) and my boss for the first half of my tour was a truly outstanding commander, who was a strong advocate of preventive medicine.  He passed away January 9, 2014.  He was the first African- American Medical Corps Officer to become a general officer in history.

His last military assignment was the CO of Madigan Army Medical Center near Olympia, WA.  A building on the Madigan campus, the Preventive Medicine Clinical Services Building, will. in a ceremony on 02/02/18, be renamed “The General Guthrie Turner Preventive Medicine Clinical Services Building.”  I will not be able to attend it, but attached is a tribute that I have written that will be read at the ceremony. I thought, as former PM guys that you might be interested in reading it. It presents some thoughts that I have on preventive medicine.

If anyone happens to live in that area and would be interested in attending the ceremony, you would be welcome. I believe that the Surgeon General or an assistant will be the keynote speaker. If interested, please let me know, and I will get the information to you. Just comment below, or if you prefer, my email is historian@15thmedbnassociation.org.

We are here today to honor the memory of BG Guthrie L. Turner Jr. in the renaming of the Preventive Medicine Clinical Services Building at Madigan Army Medical Center.

It was my great pleasure and privilege to serve as a staff officer to BG Turner when he was the 15^th Medical Battalion Commander and the 1^st Cavalry Division Surgeon from June 1968-June 1969 in Vietnam.

There are many things that I could say about BG Turner. He was the consummate commander-admired and respected by all with whom he served. He was courageous, dedicated, inspiring, compassionate, and charismatic. He also had a marvelous sense of humor. and the ability to motivate others by gentle suggestion rather than harsh demanding.

But today, I want to talk about how it is so incredibly fitting that a preventive medicine building will bear his name.

On December 5, 1968, I reported to Headquarters and Support Company of the 15^th Medical BN, 1^st Cavalry Division at Phuoc Vinh, South Vietnam. I was approached by (then) LTC Turner, who extended his hand to me and welcomed me to the unit. I was filling a newly-created position in the unit- Division Sanitarian. I was a Lieutenant in the Army Medical Service Corps, 23 years of age, and had been in Vietnam all of two weeks. My job was to assist the Division Preventive Medicine Officer, a CPT, Medical Corps, in matters such as water supply, food service sanitation, waste disposal, insect and rodent control, and malaria control. In other words, the mission was to keep soldiers throughout the 1^st Cavalry Division in good health.

That afternoon in December of 1968, LTC Turner and I discussed at length the needs of the Division in that regard. He said (as best I can remember), “ The results of most of our medical endeavors can be measured and quantified. We know how many wounded soldiers we have transported to treatment. We know how many patients we have treated for various wounds and diseases. Preventive medicine is somewhat unique. The accomplishments of preventive medicine cannot be measured or quantified as such.

“For example, if you perform a mess hall inspection and observe that there has been some improper handling of food such as inadequate refrigeration or contamination, and as a result, you recommend that the food be thrown out and it is, your actions may have prevented an outbreak of food poisoning that could have caused an entire company to become deathly ill and even caused some to die. Or, on the other hand, perhaps nothing bad at all would have happened. No one will ever know for certain. Generally, many outside your field will say that you are just overly cautious, that nothing bad would have happened, and “preventive medicine specialist” translates to “annoying, nit-picking inspector”. This can cause you great frustration!”

As we parted, he said, “Above all, Lieutenant, do not become discouraged. What good you do in preventive medicine cannot be measured or quantified, but know that what you do is important and will make it possible for more soldiers to return home to their families than if your work had not been done.”

I served under him for the first half of my one-year tour in Vietnam. He was always supportive of my efforts, as he was of the efforts of everyone in his command. He was an advocate for all regardless of their job.

He was many things to many people throughout his career: commander, physician, aviator, humanitarian, husband and father, to name just a few. I am guessing that he was probably not thought about by many as an advocate of preventive medicine, but indeed he was! That is why it is so appropriate that this building be named “The Brigadier General Guthrie Turner Preventive Medicine Clinical Services Building.”