Navy Capt. Gail L. Hathaway, the deputy commandant of the Medical Education and Training Campus, based at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, assumed command of the newly reorganized Navy Medicine Education and Training Command from Rear Adm. Eleanor Valentin July 11 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Rear Adm. Michael H. Mittelman, deputy surgeon general of the Navy and deputy chief of U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, served as the presiding officer. Hathaway will command from the new NMETC headquarters located at Building 1001 on JBSA-FSH. Valentin will become director for implementation, Defense Health Agency, reporting to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.

The Navy Medicine Support Command, commissioned Nov. 1, 2005, was renamed NMETC during the ceremony, with the former NMSC's responsibilities re-focused primarily on Navy medicine's education and training mission.

The realignment of NMSC stems from the Navy surgeon general's vision of streamlining Navy medicine into a more effective, efficient and responsive organization that improves accountability, and command and control.

A vanguard unit of 12 military and civilian personnel will man NMETC's new headquarters location with approximately 65 personnel remaining at the Jacksonville, Fla., and Bethesda, Md., locations as planning continues on specifics for NMETC's future consolidation.

NMETC is part of the Navy Medicine enterprise, a global health care network of 63,000 Navy medical personnel around the world who provide high-quality health care to more than one million eligible beneficiaries.

Navy Medicine personnel deploy with sailors and Marines worldwide, providing critical mission support aboard ship, in the air, under the sea and on the battlefield.

Larry Coffey is a writer with the Navy Medical Education and Training Campus public affairs office at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.

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METC deputy heads Navy Medicine Education and Training Command