Joint Medical Augmentation Unit (JMAU): The Tier One Unit’s SECRET Surgical Team
The five tier one units of the United States Military partake in some of the most intense, dangerous, and secretive missions imaginable. They are often placed deep behind enemy lines, where the level of threat and danger can become critical at any moment. Because of this, the Tier One units require extreme medical supervision at all times. Someone must be ready to intervene with life-saving medical procedures in the event things go south. And they often do.
That’s where one of the most badass special operations medical teams known to man comes into play. The Joint Medical Augmentation Unit, which serves as JSOC’s elite surgical team, is at the tip of the spear in the world of special operations and trauma medicine, so much so that its personnel have saved countless lives time and time again.
With that said, what exactly does the Joint Medical Augmentation Unit do? How exactly does it take care of the Tier One operators? And why is this unit shrouded in secrecy? We’re going to answer all of those questions for you and much more in this blog post.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT (JMAU): WHAT IS JMAU?
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT (JMAU): THE ROLE OF JMAU
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT (JMAU): HOW DO THEY OPERATE?
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT (JMAU): OTHER ROLES
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT (JMAU): THE TRAINING
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT (JMAU): HOW TO BECOME ONE
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT (JMAU): CONCLUSION
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT: WHAT IS JMAU?
The Tier One units of the U.S. military are the tip of the spear when it comes to special operations. Despite their high level of secrecy, capabilities, and training, it is not uncommon for these units to suffer high casualty rates and to require extensive medical care for their wounded due to the high-risk nature of their missions. The level of danger they face on a daily basis is unmatched by any other profession.
Because of the high potential for life-threatening injuries that can occur at a moment’s notice, JSOC needs a highly trained, professional, and capable special operations medical unit on standby in their area of operations in case things go south.
Imagine a group of highly trained doctors, surgeons, physician assistants, and various other medical professionals, all with years and years of medical and special operations experience, teamed up to provide some of the most intense types of emergency care possible in the modern world of medicine. That would be the Joint Medical Augmentation Unit, or JMAU for short.
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT: THE ROLE OF JMAU
What makes the Joint Medical Augmentation Unit so special is its ability to perform difficult, state-of-the-art medical procedures all while being deployed deep behind enemy lines. When you picture a civilian surgical team, they are in a safe, controlled hospital room with all the necessary gadgets, lights, and anything else essential to conducting a procedure. Even then, the procedures they perform are extremely difficult and require the utmost precision. JMAU, on the other hand, takes things to a whole other level and conducts these extremely difficult medical procedures in a variety of unsafe and risky environments. They are the true definition of doing more with less.
The Joint Medical Augmentation Unit isn’t afforded the same luxuries that are available to a stateside surgical team. It’s not like there’s a Level 1 Trauma Center on wheels that they bring along with them on the highly covert missions JSOC partakes in. Instead, JMAU transports what is essentially a mobile operating room wherever they go. They’re able to assemble and disassemble this operating room in a short amount of time, offering them the flexibility and adaptability to always be around the team of operators they’re downrange with. Part of the challenge for JMAU with the mobile operating rooms is that they must be discreet with how and where they set up, as they cannot leave a footprint. They wouldn’t be effective at supporting the Tier One units if they were setting up a giant tent with a big red cross that pretty much says, “Hey! We’re over here!” to the enemy.
Oftentimes, the Joint Medical Augmentation Unit sets up its equipment in obscure locations that aren’t exactly designed to host an operating room. But this is no problem for JMAU because they’re trained to thrive in these types of environments.
Time is a critical factor in combat casualties, so ensuring JMAU has the best resources and skills possible can save a lot of lives.
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT: HOW DO THEY OPERATE?
There are a variety of ways that JMAU can treat a casualty. To help paint a better picture for you as to how they go about doing it, we’ll give you an example of how it may look. For you doctors, EMTs, and medical professionals out there, don’t fret; this is going to be a simple explanation.
Let’s say a team of Delta Force operators winds up getting into a sticky situation, and one of them receives a life-threatening injury. There’s going to be a special operations medic on that team who will be able to step in and intervene to stabilize them and keep them alive until they reach the next echelon of care. Since they’re Delta Force operators on a highly covert mission, it’s not like they’re just going to be able to call 911 and wait for an ambulance to transport them to the nearest hospital; most likely, no one knows they’re even there. Instead, the casualty would be transported by whatever means the team has to some forward operating OR that the JMAU has stood up.
From here, the team would hand off the casualty to JMAU, who would take control and begin the necessary treatments. While the medical professionals at JMAU can deal with anything from immediate field stabilization to emergency IV fluid resuscitations and arterial stoppages, that stuff is usually left to the medics, who are boots on the ground with the team. Sparing you from all the medical jargon, JMAU’s real bread and butter consists of life-saving surgeries, medical recovery, and expert prolonged field care. We’re not doctors here at General Discharge, but it’s safe to say that it’s probably easier to state what JMAU can’t do.
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT: OTHER ROLES
Outside of that, JMAU also provides or coordinates integrated theater-level medical support such as medical planning, strategic medical evacuation, medical logistics, blood support, and veterinary operations. But it’s important to keep in mind that their medical expertise doesn’t just apply to keeping the good guys alive. If a high-value target that needs to be captured alive gets injured on a raid, you can bet your ass that JMAU will use all of its medical capabilities to keep that enemy alive so JSOC can receive any intel they might have.
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT: THE TRAINING
But being the best medical professional in the world can only take you so far in military medicine. While members of JMAU might know a lot about medicine, they also know a lot about what it means to be an operator. Most of JMAU’s personnel were former special operations members and can excel in their work despite the demands of the job. And even for the few who don’t have prior special operations experience, they still receive the requisite training to ensure they’re up to speed with the operating environment they will be placed in. This is what really sets JMAU personnel apart from the rest of the military medical communities, because most doctors, surgeons, PAs, and nurses in the military never really receive any high-speed combat training at all because their main purpose is to save lives, not take them.
Even though that still holds true to JMAU’s overall mission, the teams are downranged with the Tier One operators, and because of how important the missions they support are, they have to be able to fight and/or defend themselves from the enemy if push comes to shove. Although there isn’t a published list of training opportunities for JMAU members, you can imagine that many of them can get freefall training, lots of marksmanship and shooting experience, and anything else JSOC deems necessary for them to get.
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT: HOW TO BECOME ONE
Needless to say, it takes a highly qualified medical professional to be a part of JMAU. Because of the communities they take care of, they don’t just let anyone onto the team. Being good at medicine is just one of the many things JMAU is looking for, so much so that even doctors, surgeons, and critical care nurses with years of medical experience have been turned down to work for this unit.
JMAU typically seeks individuals who have years of special operations experience before or after the individual joins the medical profession. Each member is screened for their medical competency, personality, and how well they will fit in the JSOC environment. Once a member gets in, so long as they do their job well, they can generally stay in the unit as long as they please. Throughout their time at JMAU, they will be constantly training and refining their medical capabilities, receiving world-class training in state-of-the-art hospitals and medical treatment facilities.
JOINT MEDICAL AUGMENTATION UNIT: CONCLUSION
The Joint Medical Augmentation Unit serves as the five Tier One units’ team of doctors and medical professionals. But do you even know what the five Tier One units are or what they do? Luckily for you, we’ve done a blog post that details exactly that.
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