PHYSICIANS ON THE FRONT LINE
INTERVIEW WITH
NAVY CAPTAIN
JAMES C. WEST, MD
GLMS HAD THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO INTERVIEW
DR. JAMES WEST WHILE HE WAS IN TOWN FOR A
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT PER THE REQUEST AND
SUGGESTION OF GLMS MEMBERS.
D
r. West currently serves as the Vice Chair of Psychiatry at
the Uniformed Services University (USU) of the Health
Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Prior to entering medicine, he
served as a submarine officer. As a psychiatrist, he served
as Operational Stress Control and Readiness (OSCAR)
psychiatrist with 1st Marine Division, including a tour in
Fallujah, Iraq in 2006 providing embedded mental health
support to Regimental Combat Team Five. Today, he leads the com-
bat and operational stress control curriculum at USU, culminating
in the annual medical field exercise, Operation Bushmaster.
Dr. West visited Louisville to attend the Southern Psychiatric As-
sociation Conference as a guest speaker on the topic of Psychiatric
Dimensions of Disaster and the Implications of Climate Change.
WHAT DREW YOU TO STUDY MEDICINE, SPECIFICALLY PSY-
CHIATRY, AFTER SEVERAL YEARS IN THE NAVY?
As a division officer in the submarine force, one of the roles is coun-
seling sailors. Sometimes this counsel involves profession things,
sometimes life events. Every so often, it went far beyond my ability
to manage it at a supervisor level. That made me want to learn more
and drew me towards medicine.
in the Marine Corps between 2001-2004. It was conceived before
the Afghanistan/Iraq Wars. Prior to that, we’d had one psychiatrist
assigned to each Marine division. Everyone else went to a hospital
or clinics to get their care.
One concern that led to the creation of OSCAR was that the
Marines weren’t getting the full benefit of mental health providers.
They were in the field while we were in the hospital. It almost felt
like two separate worlds. Navy Medicine and the Marine Corps
came up with the idea to embed providers in each unit.
While I worked in the program, my time was split about 50/50
between clinical work and spending time with units. That meant
consultation with leadership, but also seeing and understanding
what Marines do on a daily basis. For me, that was absolutely a
transformative experience. I got a real understanding of what Ma-
rines struggle with, but also what’s normal in that world.
There are things in the day-to-day activity of young men and
women who set out for combat that would seem unusual to most
non-service members.
WHAT PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATIONS WERE MOST COMMON
AMONGST THAT TEAM?
WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS
OPERATIONAL STRESS CONTROL AND READINESS (OSCAR)
PSYCHIATRIST FOR THE REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM FIVE
IN FALLUJAH, IRAQ, IN 2006? In the operational setting, we’re not quick to diagnose. These Ma-
rines may just be reacting to immediate circumstances. That being
said, there certainly were people who had been returning for their
second and possibly third combat deployment who sometimes
I consider myself a second-generation OSCAR. It was implemented (continued on page 28)
NOVEMBER 2019
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