Navy Medicine Sailors return home from deployment
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. — An elite, far-forward Navy Medicine surgical asset returned to U.S. soil on Oct. 17, 2026, touching down at the military air terminal at Naval Air Station Norfolk following a seven-month deployment to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility.
During their deployment, which began on March 5, 2026, Expeditionary Resuscitative Surgical System 15 (ERSS-15) established Damage Control Resuscitative and Surgical care at a far-forward base. Their presence directly supported land and maritime task forces by providing a critical life-saving capability in theater.
"We provided a surgical team in a forward position," explained Lt. Cmdr. Rachel Robeck, a physician’s assistant on the team. "Different operations can only occur because we were pre-positioned where we were. We were ready to take casualties and patients if needed."
By forward-deploying surgical assets, Navy Medicine ensures that warfighters operating in high-risk environments have immediate access to life-saving interventions within the critical "golden hour" of trauma.
"If a specialized forward surgical team is working constantly, it means our service members are taking heavy casualties," Robeck said. "Our job was to be ready."
ERSS-15 is uniquely positioned under the Naval Strategic Health Alliance for Readiness and Performance (SHARP). This clinical partnership with Penn Medicine embeds active-duty Navy trauma personnel into the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Presbyterian Level I Trauma Center in Philadelphia. The initiative ensures Navy medical personnel sustain critical combat casualty care skills notice.
"Penn Medicine definitely prepared us," said Lt. Joanne Quinit, an emergency room nurse on the team. "It’s a Level I trauma center in a large city with high acuity. We got to see how the pros handle trauma in a city setting. On the battlefield, we receive people with fresh wounds and no prior stabilization, which is very similar to what we manage in Philadelphia."
The deployment was also a testament to joint force integration. While in theater, the ERSS-15 team co-located and worked alongside an Army medical battalion, combining assets to expand their field medical footprint.
"My part was more ER-based—resuscitating and stabilizing the patient so they could go to surgery," Quinit said. "We worked alongside the Army, and together we made up a full trauma bay and a whole capability."
Specialized clinical augmentees also stepped in to round out the team. Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Sarah Eugene, a respiratory therapist assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Portsmouth, deployed alongside ERSS-15 to manage ventilators and critical respiratory assets.
"This was my first deployment, and it was a great confidence builder," Eugene said. "I graduated from respiratory school in 2021, and the anesthesiologist on the team showed me everything. I learned how to troubleshoot our equipment when the power went out, and how to 'jerry-rig' things to keep patients stable with limited resources."
Beyond their specialized clinical roles, the team members operated as a cohesive unit. "We did every single job," Eugene added. "We were the janitors, we set up meals, and we helped out in every area."
Following their gear turn-in at Norfolk, the team members will fly back to Philadelphia to reunite with family, friends, and pets. For the tight-knit team, the focus now shifts to decompression and professional reintegration.
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