Subscribe
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. – After seven weeks across four countries, U.S. Air Forces Southern (AFSOUTH) concluded its 2025 Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team (LAMAT) mission on April 11, bolstering regional partnerships and advancing medical readiness for future challenges.
From Saint Lucia to Guyana, U.S. medical teams treated over 6,500 patients, performed nearly 2,400 procedures and repaired 91 pieces of medical equipment in collaboration with host nation providers in clinics, hospitals and field environments.
“LAMAT reminds our Airmen why they serve,” said Col. Brian Gavitt, AFSOUTH command surgeon. “Across all four countries, I spoke with more than 200 medics and the recurring theme was ‘this is why I joined the military.’ It reconnects them with the core mission – helping people, building partnerships and serving a cause greater than themselves.”
With more than 240 participating medical professionals, sourced from Air Force Reserve units currently in deployment windows, The mission emphasized operational readiness through real-world experience in austere, resource limited environments.
“Most of our reservist officers work in the medical field on the civilian side, but many of our enlisted medics don’t,” Gavitt explained. “Missions like this give them critical clinical exposure they don’t get anywhere else.”
Airmen completed nearly 15,000 medical readiness tasks, including surgeries, IV insertions and airway management – key requirements for deployment certification.
“It’s a massive amount of readiness activity,” Gavitt said. “They leave this mission green and ready to deploy – not just as individuals, but as cohesive teams.”
Beyond readiness, the mission prepared personnel for conditions resembling those in conflict zones or natural disaster responses.
“If we sent our medics to a place like Baltimore’s Shock Trauma, they’d get valuable exposure in a high volume, advanced healthcare system, but that's not what we face downrange,” Gavitt said. “LAMAT teaches us to provide top-tier care when resources are limited, and evacuation isn't immediately possible.”
Medical teams also encountered tropical diseases uncommon in the U.S., such as dengue fever — a growing threat in parts of the southern United States.
“Quickly recognizing and diagnosing those diseases directly supports force health protection,” Gavitt said. “That enables commanders to make decisions that protect the force and maintain mission momentum.”
Collaboration was fundamental to LAMAT. Missions began with requests from each country’s Ministries of Health, setting priorities in coordination with U.S embassies. U.S. military medical teams embedded within local hospitals and clinics, working alongside host nation providers to address national needs while supporting sustainable and innovative solutions.
“We’re not coming in to set up tents and compete with local systems,” Gavitt said. “We work by, with, and through the host nation to help strengthen their internal capabilities. For instance, if a country had a backlog of vascular surgery cases, we didn’t just show up and perform them. We work side-by-side with their surgeons to help build local capacity.”
The mission received high-level recognition. Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali both delivered keynote remarks at closing ceremonies.
Drew hailed LAMAT a “tremendous accomplishment” for the Federation, describing the impact as both “vast and deeply personal.” Drew praised the cross-border collaboration, emphasizing that, “this mission is not an act of charity, it is a symbol of solidarity. It reflects our shared understanding that the health of one nation strengthens the resilience of our entire region.”
President Ali also emphasized the mission's significance, stating, "The defense partnership between Guyana and the United States is strong and evolving. LAMAT is not merely a medical outreach but part of our wider effort to deepen ties, share knowledge and enhance mutual understanding... It touches the lives of ordinary Guyanese...bringing not only healing but hope."
President Ali further elaborated on the long-term impact of LAMAT, saying, "What makes this mission even more meaningful is that it goes beyond immediate medical assistance. It represents the embodiment of a robust and growing partnership, one that spans not only traditional security cooperation but extends into humanitarian, social and developmental spheres. The knowledge shared, the skills imparted, and the collaborative efforts undertaken during LAMAT will have a lasting impact on Guyana's healthcare system and its people. LAMAT promotes relationships that are not just tactical or transactional but transformational."
A previous LAMAT mission to Guyana in 2023, trained local technicians on biomedical equipment repair. This year, U.S. teams found the same staff had established their own biomedical program, using those skills and systems taught from the original mission.
“That directly impacts a country's ability to care for its people,” Gavitt said. “If your ventilators don't work, it's a serious problem. Our partnerships helped change that.”
As the mission concludes, AFSOUTH leaders are already thinking about the future. The goal is to move toward more focused, continuous engagement—not necessarily with a year-round presence, but with sustained, strategic collaboration.
“Guyana, for instance, has asked how we can help them meet the healthcare demands of their growing population,” the Surgeon General said. “My hope is that when a provider in the our AOR faces a critical case and picks up the phone, the number they call starts with +1.”
| Date Taken: | 04.11.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2025 15:29 |
| Story ID: | 495786 |
| Location: | ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, AFSOUTH wraps up LAMAT 2025, strengthens partnerships, sharpens readiness, by Andrea Jenkins, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
