Today we have Dr. Frank Butler, a retired Navy Undersea Medical Officer and an ophthalmologist who served as a Navy SEAL platoon commander prior to attending medical school.
Just a few weeks after our interview, President Joe Biden awarded Frank a Presidential Citizens Medal during a White House ceremony. The medal is one of the highest honors a civilian can receive and recognized Frank’s many contributions to civilian and military trauma care.
Frank is credited with founding Tactical Combat Causality Care, also known as TC Three, which has transformed battlefield medical care and saved thousands of lives. TCCC is now used throughout the U.S. military and much of the world. In today’s interview, we talk to Frank about his recent book, “Tell Them Yourself: It’s Not Your Day to Die,” which describes the challenges and improvements TCCC has experienced over the past three decades.
Frank spent most of his 26-year career in Navy Medicine supporting the Special Operations community. He served a five-year stint as a Diving Medical Research officer at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Fla., where he helped develop many of the diving techniques and procedures used by Navy SEALs today.
Show notes:
[00:03:31] Dawn opens the interview asking Frank what it was like growing up in Savannah, Ga., in the 50s and 60s.
[00:04:40] Dawn asks Frank about his father, who was an industrial engineer, and who became director of urban housing in Savannah during a time when the city was developing public housing.
[00:05:47] Ken asks Frank if it’s true that most of his family went into the medical field.
[00:06:33] Ken asks Frank about his experience attending a Navy SEALs demonstration during his sophomore year of college.
[00:08:09] Dawn asks Frank about his experience going through Navy SEAL training, particularly the Basic Underwater Demolition SEALs School.
[00:09:29] Dawn asks if it’s true that five people in Frank’s family have become Navy SEALs.
[00:10:08] Ken explains that after Frank left the SEALs in 1975, he had to figure out what to do next with his life. Frank talks about what led to his decision to go to medical school.
[00:11:14] Ken asks Frank how he ended up at Jacksonville Naval Hospital to do an internship in family medicine.
[00:11:46] Dawn explains that after Frank’s internship, he was assigned to the Navy Experimental Dive Unit. She asks him to talk about this experience.
[00:12:25] Frank talks about some of the projects he worked on during this period.
[00:14:43] Ken asks Frank how he decided on ophthalmology as his surgical specialization.
[00:15:47] Dawn asks Frank what his experience as a resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital was like.
[00:16:52] Dawn explains that after Frank completed his residency, he was assigned to Pensacola Naval Hospital. Dawn asks Frank how he ended up becoming the biomedical research director for the Navy SEALs.
[00:18:48] Ken mentions that Frank worked on several important projects as research director for the SEALs, including battlefield trauma care, a tactical athlete program, improved treatment of decompression sickness, and the Navy SEAL nutrition guide. Ken begins by asking Frank to talk about his work on the tactical athlete program.
[00:20:33] Dawn explains that another one of Frank’s projects as research director for the SEALs was the design of the Navy special warfare decompression computer. Dawn asks Frank to explain what a decompression computer does for a diver.
[00:21:35] Dawn asks Frank to elaborate on the process of designing this decompression computer and the algorithm as well as the process of getting it approved for the Navy.
[00:23:31] Ken asks Frank to talk about a program he worked on to promote refractive surgery. While this program was initially designed to improve combat vision for SEALs, the program has expanded to all active-duty service members, including aviators.