This year on 11/11/11 we’re showing the world that sometimes the law of unintended consequences pays off. There can be some good that comes out of ten years of war; a decade of service has given 2.2 million service members the talents and leadership to accomplish anything.

To prove it, we are honoring our nation’s veterans with a special service project.

Team Rubicon and Habitat for Humanity are announcing a partnership to rebuild or repair the homes of our nation’s veterans. By doing so, we hope to honor the strength and commitment to service that so many veterans feel, but this time with tools that are constructive instead of destructive.

We’re organizing this project on the one day we all have in common…Veterans Day.

Check us out at Teamrubiconusa.org to see how you can show your support by following us in the news, volunteering your time, or donating to our cause!

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Filed under: Local Service, News, Request for Help, Veterans by William on October 24, 2011
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On Sunday, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the city of Van in Turkey; immediate death tolls are expected to rise above 1,000 as rescue workers continue to dig through the rubble.  Initial reports are that local hospitals have been overwhelmed with casualties, and small rural communities in the surrounding hills lack easy access and communication.  Over the course of the next week, weather is expected to worsen, with temperatures dipping to near freezing and rain or snow expected beginning Wednesday; this will hamper an already difficult rescue effort.

This morning Team Rubicon deployed an initial scout team to Van consisting of two former elite Air Force Special Operations Pararescuemen (PJs), Joshua Webster and Nathan Schmidt, and Team Rubicon’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Sutter. Both Webster and Schmidt have significant training in Search and Rescue operations, including Confined Space & Structural Collapse certifications.

Donate and Help the Team Get There

The team will hit the ground running in Van, immediately sending back a report to HQ and advising on whether full follow-on teams are necessary. Once established, the team will be able to assist and advise local authorities in survivor recovery efforts. If necessary, Team Rubicon is on standby to send larger medical and rescue teams.  Follow the team’s progress as it happens on the TR blog.

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Filed under: News, Turkey by Jake on October 24, 2011
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2011 October 23 10:41:21 UTC

Team Rubicon is monitoring…

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Filed under: News, Turkey by William on October 23, 2011
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scot Chisholm, CEO and Chairman of StayClassy, Joins TR’s Board of Directors

LOS ANGELES (10/18/11) – Scot Chisholm, CEO and Chairman of StayClassy, an online fundraising software company for nonprofit organizations, has joined the Board of Directors for Team Rubicon.

“We’re excited to add Scot to the Board of Directors; he is one of the premier young entrepreneurs in the United States, and we fully expect to leverage him to execute our long term vision and goals” said Jake Wood, Team Rubicon’s President.

“I am immensely pleased to join the Team Rubicon Board of Directors to assist them in rapidly expanding their mission,” said Chisholm. “Team Rubicon has a tremendous opportunity to leverage the power of technology and social media, and I’m excited to be able to utilize my past experience to contribute in these areas.“

On the streets of Port-au-Prince, in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, TR’s military veterans realized a simple truth – natural disasters present many of the same problems that confront troops in Iraq and Afghanistan: unstable populations, limited resources, horrific sights, sounds and smells. The skills cultivated on those same battlefields – emergency medicine, risk assessment and mitigation, teamwork and decisive leadership – are invaluable in disaster zones. TR has since established itself as a veteran service organization that bridges the critical time gap between catastrophe and conventional aid response.

Team Rubicon’s next proactive mission is in January 2012 when surgeon, educator and Team Rubicon veteran Dr. Glenn Geelhoed leads TR back to South Sudan to build on a medical peace initiative he brokered between two warring tribes in early 2010.

# # #

About Scot Chisholm Scot was selected by Businessweek as one of the top 5 most promising social entrepreneurs in America. In 2009, Scot was chosen as one of the top 40 young leaders under 40 years old by San Diego Metropolitan Magazine. Scot is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from the American Society of Quality, and holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, with a Mechanical Engineering concentration, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

About Team Rubicon Team Rubicon unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with medical professionals to deploy vanguard teams that bridge the gap between disaster and conventional aid response. For more about Team Rubicon visit teamrubiconusa.org

Media Inquiries
Kristin Robinson
robinson@teamrubisonusa.org

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Filed under: News, Press Release by William on October 17, 2011
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Team Rubicon Partners with Triple Aught Design

LOS ANGELES 10/13/2011 – Team Rubicon (TR) has chosen Triple Aught Design (TAD) as a choice supplier for performance apparel to use in TR’s disaster response and humanitarian missions around the world.

“TAD’s attention to detail and superior performance goes hand in hand with the small-unit focus that we’ve adapted from our military experience. We are excited about this partnership because of the clear understanding between our organizations. Few companies are tougher and more critically demanding of their gear than TAD” says TR’s Vice President William McNulty.

TAD is a well-known and trusted gear supplier to specialized military units. Many of Team Rubicon’s veterans relied upon Triple Aught Design apparel while deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Having already attended TR training events, the TAD team is intimately familiar with TR’s mission and need for dependable gear.

TAD is also working together with Team Rubicon to provide gear packages that will be utilized on TR missions. In return for sponsorship, TR will provide rigorous feedback to assist TAD to further evolve its gear.

# # #

About Team Rubicon
Team Rubicon unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with medical professionals to deploy vanguard teams that bridge the gap in disaster response. For more about Team Rubicon, visit teamrubiconusa.org

About Triple Aught Design
Triple Aught Design creates legendary apparel and equipment by blending innovation, classic design and modern technology. Down the street or into the wild, Triple Aught Design seeks to inspire your world explorations and equip you with the gear to get you there and back again. For more information about Triple Aught Design, visit tripleaughtdesign.com

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Filed under: News, Press Release by William on October 13, 2011
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Part One

Part Two

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Filed under: In The Media, Video by William on October 12, 2011
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 Below is a visual representation of Team Rubicon’s training course with Shan student medics in Loi Tai Leng, Burma. In early September, a hybrid TR team of military veterans and medical professionals visited Loi Tai Leng to teach trauma medicine to the Shan people. Learn more about the campaign of terror being waged against these ethnic minorities in TIME Magazine and the Associated Press.

The ubiquitous Toyota Hilux at the beginning of a 10-mile overland trek.

The road was so poor that we had to hike ahead to fill trenches in advance of the truck.

Four hours of grueling sweat and mud.

Our badass Burmese driver.

A brave Shan man begins his descent in the other direction.

Entering Shan State

The hilltop is the dividing line between Burma and Thailand.

We reached the school house right as class was letting out for the day.

Young Buddhist monk.

The Loi Tai Leng Medical Clinic

A handful of the students playing cane ball.

Shan State Soldiers

A sick child is carried into the clinic on her mother's back.

Doc G leading the instructor introductions.

Balancing a moped with a prosthetic leg.

Houses line the ridge that marks the border with Thailand.

The clinic staff manager. His tattoo is representative of his life struggle.

Jason Jarvis reviews basic techniques of trauma medicine.

Shan State Soldier

Students play soccer throughout most of the weekends.

Zach recoups after a morning of lectures.

A view of our hilltop from the Buddhist Temple.

A blinded boy with his mother; a victim of misdiagnosed treatment.

Rice is made daily in large quantities to feed the students.

Students hang art in the dorms. The upper right image illustrates a tragic reality.

Doc G reviews the 3 "A's" and "C's"

These girls were both 16 years old. The youngest in the class, but already extremely well versed in medicine.

Doc G examining a young child with a birth abnormality.

US Army veteran Jason Jarvis leading the surgical training lab.

Young female students look on from the back row.

Graduation Ceremony. Fifty-one Shan State medic students

The graduating class.

Team Rubicon - Project Karen - Shan - Fiorito, Stevens, Smith, Doc G, and Jarvis

Our final evening at the Buddhist Temple celebration.

Our students and friends - an amazing experience for all.

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Filed under: Burma, News, Photos, Proactive Missions by Marc Fiorito on October 7, 2011
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Last year I attended Team Rubicon’s media presentation at the annual Special Operations Medical Association conference in Tampa, Florida. I was floored by what I heard and saw. At last, after years of “working stateside”, here was a way to get back into the field; to lend help in places that desperately need help. With my previous military experience in Southeast Asia, Thai language skills, and knowledge of the latest techniques and technologies in the arena of austere trauma medicine, I was a shoe-in team member for this year’s Project Karen-Shan.

One of the core tenets of the US military is the concept of “force multiplying”, and training Free Burma Ranger (FBR) medics and Community Health Workers (CHW) in the Karen and Shan State fits that bill perfectly. The Karen and Shan fight to survive the depredations of the Myanmar government, a military regime that is openly hostile towards them. These ethnic groups exist as a “state within a state” that is analogous to the Kurds of the Middle East. The medics and CHWs who are doing their utmost to save their patients from landmine trauma and tropical diseases have the deck stacked against them in several ways: limited education, scarce resources, triple canopy vegetation overlying steep and muddy terrain, poor transportation and communications infrastructure, and lack of medical oversight.

As Team Rubicon conducted the lessons and hands-on practicum at the remote training sites, I was impressed by the motivation and zeal that our students displayed. They asked many intelligent questions and dutifully recorded nearly every spoken word during the classes. They learned quickly, with the focus that comes from knowing that life-and-death lessons taught today may be used tomorrow. Many of the students had traveled from the far corners of their province to attend the training. As for the medical training curriculum, I focused on austere trauma care and prolonged field care, while Dr. Geelhoed imparted upon the students his formidable knowledge of Neglected Tropical Diseases, primary care, and the finer points of surgical technique.

Aside from the big-dollar infrastructure issues – roads, transportation, and communication – what the Burmese medics and CHWs desperately need is training and medical supplies. The training need is an easy fix; between myself and Dr. Geelhoed and other educators in Team Rubicon, I believe we offer an unmatched curriculum that is relevant to their circumstances. As for medical supplies, I will be petitioning the manufacturers of the following products for material donations: oral rehydration salts, elastic bandages, windlass-style tourniquets, conforming stretch gauze bandages, hemostatic agents, tranexamic acid, filtered IV tubing, and whole blood collection bags.

Giving our time and resources to these noble and brave people felt great – empowering those short on resources but long on the will to excel is what these kinds of missions are all about.

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Filed under: Burma, Personal Reflections, Veterans, Video by William on October 5, 2011
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Disaster response and humanitarian assistance is in constant refinement. What separates Team Rubicon is its ability to unite the skills and experiences of military veterans with medical professionals to deploy vanguard teams that bridge the gap between catastrophe and conventional aid response.

To help with establishing best practices in disaster response, Team Rubicon has had the pleasure of establishing a working relationship with Sustainable Technologies, Accelerated Research, Transportable Infrastructures, for Development and Emergency Support (STAR-TIDES), a research project which is “dedicated to open-source knowledge sharing to promote sustainable support to populations under severe stress post-war, post-disaster, or impoverished, in foreign or domestic context, for short-term or long-term (multi-year) operations.”

The STAR-TIDES team has a wealth of academic and field experience and is specifically focused on streamlining communications and operations between civil, military, NGO, and IO organizations operating in these environments. Team Rubicon is excited about being able to avail itself to the STAR-TIDES project.

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Filed under: Conferences, News, Photos by teamrubicon on October 4, 2011
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Filed under: In The Media, Veterans, Video by William on October 2, 2011
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