JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The nature of warfare is always changing. The battlefields that Soldiers face today are much different and more dangerous than the ones of yesterday. Just as new technologies in lethality are constantly evolving, how the Army provides medical care for our Soldiers must also evolve.
That was the driving theme and purpose of this year’s Medical Warfighting Symposium, co-hosted by the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command from March 10-12, 2026.
Leaders from all corners of the Army medical enterprise, along with joint and industry partners, and stakeholders gathered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, with one goal in mind – to create a unified approach to enhance medical readiness and capability by directly supporting the Army’s strategic objective and ensure optimal medical support for our warfighters. Capability Program Executive (CPE) Ground is one of the many partners collaborating to make that happen.
"We’re here to ensure that we stay in sync with CPE Ground and the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Ground and the Army medical community,” said Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Procter, the senior enlisted advisor for Project Manager Maneuver Medical Systems. “Our job is to make sure that medical is moving at the speed of maneuver.”
For three days, leaders from CPE Ground and PM MMS along with other leaders from the Army medical community, gathered with one goal in mind – collaboration. Programs across the Army shared their current capabilities with the senior leaders in attendance and provided updates on what they were doing to modernize and update those programs.
“[Maneuver Medical Systems] is a key partner for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and the Medical Center of Excellence to drive medical modernization,” said Maj. Gen. Paula Lodi, USAMRD commanding general, who highlighted just how important MMS’s efforts are to the Army.
Many of the symposium seminars stressed the importance of the lessons Army Medicine previously learned. One seminar focused exclusively on the major lessons America learned in medical care during World War II, comparing how the loss of that knowledge during the Korean War led to more preventable casualties.
At the other end of the spectrum during a medical and operational insights seminar, a provider with months of experience treating Ukrainian soldiers and civilians highlighted the brutal realities of a modern warzone. The rise of unmanned drones, for example, is creating an entirely new kind of battlefield that demands care innovations in everything from medical treatment to the logistics network in caring for and evacuating Soldiers away from harm.
Equally important to the symposium seminars were the meaningful dialogues that took place among attendees, offering words of advice toward future medical readiness. These discussions conducted with the intent to improve the Army’s medical capabilities and provide America’s Soldiers with the best possible care.
Chartered in 2024, Maneuver Medical Systems, formerly known as Soldier Medical Devices, is the Army’s premiere program developing and delivering deployable medical capabilities for America’s Soldiers.
Already, MMS is advancing medical acquisition project management, as well as providing technical expertise up, down, and across the Army medical acquisition domain.
And with the Army’s recent reorganization, MMS is better positioned than ever to support the Army’s entire medical apparatus across multiple Portfolio Acquisition Executives.
“MMS doesn’t just do devices,” said Lt. Col. Natalie Collins, director of medical systems at the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology office. “As we grow our understanding of medical gaps on the future battlefield, many of which that we’ve talked about at this event, there’s huge potential for PM MMS to deliver solutions beyond individual medical devices.”
One example of this expansion is the Operational Medicine Informational Systems-Army program. Established in 2024, OMIS-A is modernizing the Army’s operational health information technology software apps that will provide Army physicians, nurses, medical specialists and combat medics with a tactical medical documentation capability at all levels of care.
For example, imagine a Soldier who is wounded on the front lines is treated by a combat medic before being transferred to a safer area. Products developed in conjunction with OMIS-A will ensure that any medical treatment given to that Soldier will be captured and recorded, so any future caregivers know exactly what care the Soldier received. OMIS-A's solutions will also ensure commanders in the field can make real-time decisions informed by key medical data.
“We’re integrating with partners from across the Army and the Department of War,” said Col. Mara Kreishman-Deitrick, MMS project manager. “When we deliver for our warfighters, we’re ensuring that we’re giving their formations the medical equipment they need when they need it, and that the equipment is fully integrated with the rest of the Army’s capabilities. We want formations to adopt relevant medical capabilities that enable the fight.”
Ultimately, everyone attending this year’s symposium had the same goal in mind: How can we as Army medicine better coordinate and support the joint force to provide the best possible care to America’s Soldiers.
As Lodi emphasized in concluding the symposium, “Senior leaders are looking to modernize the Army, and that includes keeping Soldiers alive.”