Decisions to save or not save must not be avoided by saving all your files. No matter how firmly you believe that disposing of a file today will mean that someone will need it tomorrow, a decision must be made. If you are in doubt about disposal of certain records, avoid taking it upon yourself either to retain or dispose of them; consult with your superiors to decide what course of action to take. The current version of the Disposal of Navy and Marine Corps Records Manual, SECNAVINST 5212.5, discusses the retention period of official files and explains whether they should be destroyed or forwarded to a Federal Records Center for further retention.

ELECTRONIC RECORDS
An electronic record is any information that is recorded in a digital form that only a computer can process. In practice, there is no difference between managing electronic and paper records. The Navy Correspondence Manual is an excellent guide to use for handling electronic records.

TICKLER FILES
As we discussed earlier in this chapter, the Medical Department is required to submit a number of reports. These required reports are listed in OPNAVNOTE 5214 (which is published annually) and in NAVMED P-117, chapter 23. To ensure that these reports are submitted in a timely manner, a system has been developed to readily identify what report is due and when it is due. This system is known as the tickler system. The manner in which a tickler file is made up may vary with each command. Use a computer to save time since there are many approved programs available to create tickler files. Or, you may use 5" x 8" cards with separators marked with the month (i.e., January through December), with the tickler card filed in the month in which the report is due. The tickler file may also be used as a reminder of action required on incoming correspondence, or interim reports on a project with a future completion date. Aboard ship, the tickler file is also required for personnel requiring immunizations, physical examinations, or program evaluation. To ensure that departments submit all reports when due, it is advisable to have a tickler system alerting them in sufficient time before the actual due date. This may be accomplished as follows:

Put out a monthly listing of reports due.

Provide each department with a copy of the appropriate tickler card.

To be effective, the tickler file requires daily attention and updating.

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT SUPPORT TO THE FLEET MARINE FORCE (FMF) AND FLEET HOSPITALS

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Recognize the medical organization of the Fleet Marine Force and Fleet hospitals.

To understand the complexity of medical support to FMF and Fleet hospitals, you must first be familiar with its overall organization. We will first discuss the FMF. Medical and dental personnel are not members of the U.S. Marine Corps. They are detailed from the Navy and assigned to the FMF, which is a balanced force of combined air and ground troops trained, organized, and equipped primarily for offensive deployment. The FMF consists of a headquarters, force troops, a force service support group (FSSG), one or more Marine divisions, brigades, and aircraft wings. Each of these units is assigned a specific number of medical support personnel, providing an interrelated network of medical support.

FMF MEDICAL SUPPORT
In general, Medical Department personnel serving with FMF may be divided into two groups:

Combat personnel, who provide medical and initial first aid to prepare the casualty for further evacuation, and

Support personnel, who provide surgical and medical aid to those who need early definitive care and cannot be further evacuated.
Medical personnel are an integral part of the combat unit to which they are assigned; they train with their units and live with and accompany them at all times.

All of the units comprising an FMF have Medical Department personnel organic to them. However, the majority of medical support comes from the medical battalion of Force Service Support Group (FSSG). The FSSG is a composite grouping of functional units. These functional units provide combat service support beyond the organic capability of all elements of FMF.

The medical battalion provides combat medical support required for independently deployed battalion landing teams, regimental landing teams, Marine expeditionary units, or Marine expeditionary brigades. The primary mission of the medical battalion is to provide

casualty collection,
emergency treatment,
temporary hospitalization,
specialized surgery, and
evacuation.
In addition, medical battalions must plan, supervise, and coordinate timely preventive measures for controlling disease.

The basic organization of a typical medical battalion is shown in figure 14-1. Afurther breakdown of the organization can be found in chapter 3 of the Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 4-11.1.