The Navy has relieved the commanding officer of its solely command in South America, an announcement launched by the service introduced Friday.
Capt. Abigail Yablonsky Marter, the commander of the Naval Medical Analysis Unit South, was relieved by Capt. Franca Jones, the commander of the Naval Medical Analysis Command, “as a result of a lack of confidence in her capacity to command.”
In accordance with its web site, NAMRU South operates on the Peruvian Navy’s “flagship hospital base” in Callao, Peru, in addition to a naval clinic in Iquitos, “on the invitation of the Peruvian Navy to deal with shared well being science analysis pursuits.”
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The command additionally runs a small laboratory situated at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras.
Marter is at the least the sixth firing of a Navy commanding officer in 2024.
Navy officers have beforehand mentioned the ocean service relieved 15 commanding officers in 2023. There are at the moment round 1,600 commanding officers within the active-duty Navy throughout all communities.
The Navy’s assertion didn’t supply any extra details about why Marter was faraway from management, outdoors of the boilerplate “lack of confidence” comment.
A Navy official advised Navy.com that the reduction was “efficiency associated” and never tied to her conduct or habits — phrases the Navy usually makes use of to explain commanders being relieved for habits equivalent to drunk driving.
In accordance with a now-removed biography, Marter’s Navy profession started in 1996 as a labor and supply nurse at Naval Medical Heart San Diego. She additionally served at hospitals in Japan and Virginia. She went on to earn a grasp’s diploma in 2007 and a health care provider of philosophy diploma from the College of Virginia in 2015.
Previous to taking command of NAMRU South in July 2023, Marter was the deputy commander of the Naval Medical Analysis Command, the place she oversaw eight analysis instructions and greater than 1,300 staffers.
The biography says that she is a board-certified household nurse practitioner. Her awards embrace two Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.
The Navy’s assertion mentioned that Cmdr. Michael Prouty will stand in because the performing commanding officer till a everlasting substitute is known as. In the meantime, Marter might be quickly reassigned to Naval Medical Analysis Command.
