Col. (Ret.), Warner Dahlgren Farr
B.S.M.T., M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FasMA (SAB member)
"Rocky” Farr enlisted in the Airborne Infantry 23 April l967. He was the distinguished honor graduate of his Special Forces 18D-medic class. Assigned to the 7th SFG(A), he served as an A-Team medic and volunteered for Vietnam. In l971, he attended the Defense Language Institute (German) and joined Detachment A, Berlin Brigade, an early special mission unit. While in Europe, he had exchange postings with the German Army Fernspähkompanie 100 and the Belgian Army 1st Paracommandos. He became the Special Forces instructor at the ROTC Detachment, Northeast Louisiana University and completed his Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology degree. As a SFC, he taught the 18D course and was selected for Master Sergeant. COL Farr was accepted to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and commissioned a 2LT, MSC. As a senior, he was the distinguished honor graduate of his Army Flight Surgeons Course, becoming solo qualified in the TH-55 helicopter. He received his M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) in l983 and has completed residencies and board certifications in aerospace medicine, anatomic and clinical pathology. As part of his USAF residency in aerospace medicine, he received flight training in the T-37 and T-38 aircraft. He was a member of the question writing committee for the Aerospace Medicine board examination for five years and holds life time certifications in all his medical specialties as well as unrestricted medical licenses in Alabama and Maryland.
Dr. Farr served as Commander, Company F(ABN), 3rd BN, Academy BDE, Academy of Health Sciences; Course Director of the Special Operations Medical Sgts. Course; and on the Infantry Team, Readiness Group Ft. Sam Houston advising the 12th SFG(A). He completed his Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the University of Texas. He then served as Chief, Army Aviator Evaluation at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas. 1993-1995 he was Chief, Department of Pathology, Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, and Flight Surgeon, 50th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), 101st ABN Division (Air Assault) at Ft. Campbell, KY. COL Farr was the Division Surgeon of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Inf.) at Ft. Drum, New York until becoming Deputy Commander (Chief of the Professional Staff) of the US Army Aeromedical Center and Lyster Army Hospital, Ft. Rucker, Alabama in 1997.
He attended the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, AL, receiving a Masters in Strategic Studies degree (MSS) from the Air University with a concentration and book publication in Middle East Nuclear Weapons. He then became the Deputy Chief of Staff, Surgeon, US Army Special Operations Command; Command Surgeon, US Army Special Forces Command; and Command Surgeon, US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. He became the Command Surgeon of the US Special Operations Command in Tampa, FL in 2006. In Summer 2009 he became Command Surgeon, Special Operations Command Central, CENTCOM.
As member of the Department of Defense (DOD) Tactical Combat Casualty Care Committee he set training requirements for battlefield care. He retired after 46 years and one week on 1 May 2013. Dr. Farr currently is the Associate Clinical Professor of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and the Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the Bradenton, Florida campus of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, America’s largest medical school. He mentors and teaches OMS-1 and OMS-2 medical school students in a Problem Based Learning (PBL) environment. He is still active on the Department of Defense (DOD) Tactical Combat Casualty Care Committee and also serves as an instructor and senior mentor at the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.