JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON – (Aug. 14, 2025) – During a visit to the Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute, flight nurses from the Royal Thai Air Force received an education on the Preparatory Iraqi Nursing Course (PINC) by Dr. Darrin Frye, chief science director, Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) San Antonio.
The nurses visited medical commands within Joint Base San Antonio to enhance their nursing knowledge and skills to include advancing quality of nursing practice related to disease management.
Frye, who was deployed to Iraq in 2007 as a preventive medicine officer with a provincial reconstruction team (PCT), a civilian-military organizations designed to operate in semi-permissive environments intended to achieve political objectives, counterterrorism and promote social and economic development, created PINC.
“As part of the civil-military operations center located on the Victory Base Complex, I was tasked to help rebuild a broken healthcare system,” said Frye, of Kingman, Kan. “I quickly realized that we did not have a structure problem, we had a staffing problem.”
According to Frye, although the PCT was able to establish enough hospitals and clinics, there was not sufficient staff to support them.
“In fact, while there were enough doctors in the region, there were not nearly enough nurses,” Frye said. “There was an estimate of less than 300 registered nurses in Iraq, and by comparable statistics, they needed approximately 70,000.”
In Iraq, nursing was not considered a reputable occupation, and criminals were often assigned to be nurses as part of their punishment. With most women only receiving a sixth-grade education, even with the reopening of nursing schools, there were not enough candidates who would qualify to register.
“To partially fill that pipeline, and to empower women, I created the PINC to accept, train, and promote women who wanted to learn and better themselves and their families, said Frye. “These graduates could lead their communities, advise and care for many, and hopefully earn some money, and eventually enter formalized academic training.”
Frye said the course exposed many heroes from those courageous Iraqi students who took the course to the American nurses who volunteered their time and those who guarded, supported, cleaned, and contributed to the one of most successful and enduring programs of the entire operational campaign.
“We graduated 12 nurses from the initial class, and upon my return three years later, I learned that the course had continued,” said Frye. “Additionally, the course was modified to include Iraqi soldiers and was expanded to midwifery.”
The purpose of briefing the Thai nurses was to honor them with an inspirational story, one that demonstrates the unique and special gift nurses bring to those in need.
Frye wanted to show, through a story, that healing goes both ways, as evidenced by those nurses, from the prison, who were mentally exhausted but felt restored purpose by attending PINC.
“It was with great pride and joy that I had the opportunity to retell the story of PINC as we approach the 20th anniversary,” said Frye. “I hope to feature the current status of some of those students and teachers and how the PINC experience shaped or impacted their lives.”
After the presentation, Frye provided the Thai nurses a tour of NAMRU San Antonio facilities.
Navy Medicine Research & Development (NMR&D) contributes directly to positive working relationships with partner nation militaries, keeping the scope of Department of Defense capabilities wide, and at the ready, to address emerging threats aboard.
NAMRU San Antonio, part of NMR&D, conducts gap-driven combat casualty care, craniofacial, and directed energy research in support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health readiness and lethality while engaged in routine and expeditionary operations.
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