In Memoriam: Dr. Warner “Rocky” Farr
Uniformed Services University, Special Operations Forces, and Military Medicine Lose a Legend
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| U.S. Army Col. Warner "Rocky" Farr, Command Surgeon, U.S. Special Operations Command, speaks as Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, Air Force Special Operations Command commander, looks on during Col. Charles Dahl Farr's room dedication ceremony, at Hurlburt Field Fla., Aug 16, 2010. The room was dedicated in Col Charles "Dahl" Farr's name, Colonel Farr fought in the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II and was one of the first to mount machine guns in the back of cargo planes to create gunships. (DoD Photo by U.S. Air Force Airman Caitlin O'Neil-McKeown/Released) |
November 27, 2024 by Sharon Holland
Warner D. “Rocky” Farr, M.D., MPH, MSS, a trailblazer in Army Special Forces and Special Operations Medicine, passed away on November 20, 2024, under hospice care in Tampa, Florida. A soldier, physician, educator, and innovator, Farr devoted nearly five decades to serving his country, leaving an indelible legacy in military medicine and Special Operations.
Born in Arkansas, Farr grew up as the son of a career Air Force officer, moving frequently across postings. In 1967, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the Army as a paratrooper, graduating as the distinguished honor graduate of his Special Forces medic class. Assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), he deployed to Vietnam, serving as a combat medic and reconnaissance team member with the Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observation Group, Command and Control South. He notably worked alongside SGM Billy Waugh during operations in Cambodia, an experience chronicled in the book Chasing the Jackal.
Following his service in Vietnam, Farr joined Detachment A in West Berlin in 1971, operating behind the Iron Curtain as an exchange non-commissioned officer with the German Bundeswehr’s Long Range Recon Company 100, where he became fluent in German. He later served as a Special Forces instructor at Northeast Louisiana University. As a sergeant first class, he taught in the Special Forces Medical Course, earning a promotion to master sergeant.
After years of distinguished enlisted service, Farr was selected for commissioning and attended the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), earning his M.D. in 1983. While attending USU, he served as the medical platoon leader for the 11th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He was also the distinguished honor graduate of his Army Flight Surgeon Course, and solo qualified in the TH-55 helicopter.
Farr’s medical career began with training in anatomic and clinical pathology at Brooke Army Medical Center, where he became board certified. He served as Clinical Pathology Service chief and chief of a Pathology department at a 200-bed Army hospital. His forensic expertise led to his appointment as an Associate Medical Examiner for the Office of the Federal Medical Examiner for Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Fort Drum, New York. Driven by a passion for aerospace pathology and aircraft accident investigation, he completed the Residency in Aerospace Medicine at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, earning board certification. He completed his Master of Public Health degree at the University of Texas, and later attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, receiving a Master’s degree in strategic studies.
Over the course of his remarkable career, Farr held a wide array of leadership roles, including division surgeon for the 10th Mountain Division, deputy commander of the Aeromedical Center at Fort Rucker, and chief of the Professional Staff at Lyster Army Hospital. He attended Air War College and later served as deputy chief of staff and surgeon for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), surgeon for the Special Forces Command, and surgeon for the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command.
Following 9/11, Farr deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 as command surgeon for USASOC, where he played a pivotal role in revolutionizing battlefield medicine. His innovations included the development of lifesaving medical kits containing tools like tourniquets, hemostatic dressings, and chest-decompression needles, which became standard equipment for combat troops.
In 2016, Farr was inducted into the Special Forces Regimental Honors Hall of Fame of the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Special Operations Center of Excellence. In May 2024, he was selected as an inaugural inductee into the Special Operations Forces Medical Hall of Honor, recognizing his transformative contributions to Special Operations medicine.
Farr was a passionate educator, teaching in the Army’s Flight Surgeons Course, the Special Forces Medical Course, and the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Medicine Residency. As an associate professor, he also taught flight physiology and vision at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and served as an associate clinical professor at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Florida, following his military retirement on May 1, 2013.
Farr’s service took him to Vietnam, Cambodia, Berlin, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. He was a member of the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care, a Fellow of the College of American Pathology and the Aerospace Medical Association, and a member of the Special Operations Medical Association, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, the Society of U.S. Army Flight Surgeons, and the American Society of Aerospace Medicine Specialists.
His military awards include the Combat Medical Badge with Star, Expert Infantryman Badge, Army Master Flight Surgeon Wings, Master Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Scuba Badge, Special Forces Tab, Defense Superior Service Medal with oak-leaf cluster, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star for Valor with oak-leaf cluster, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Army MSM with five oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with 2 device, Joint Service and Army Commendation Medals, Good Conduct Medal with clasp and 4 loops, Presidential, Valorous, Meritorious and Joint Unit Citations, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm and the U.S. Air Force Operational Excellence Unit Citation.
A prolific author, Farr wrote or edited several books, including The Death of the Golden Hour and the Return of the Future Guerrilla Hospital, American Guerrilla Warfare Medical Doctrine—The First Manuals: Lessons Learned, Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook, and The Third Temple's Holy of Holies: Israel’s Nuclear Partisans.
Throughout his extraordinary career, Farr exemplified a lifetime of service, innovation, and dedication to military medicine. His trailblazing efforts in Special Operations and battlefield care leave an enduring legacy, and he is remembered as a mentor, patriot, and pioneer whose contributions will benefit generations to come.
“From our first days at USU in 1979, and then throughout his illustrious military SOF career, Rocky was viewed as an experienced, battle-tested provider. I’m not exaggerating to say his USU classmates looked up to him as a role model for the kind of doctor we would like to eventually become. I followed his career, viewing his operational medicine successes with pride that I knew him personally. I had the great fortune of following him as the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Surgeon, when he moved up to become the USSOCOM Surgeon,” said Dr. Joseph Caravalho, Jr., CEO and President of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine and a member of the USU class of 1982. “I consider it an honor and privilege to have known Rocky as a medical school classmate, and then to serve in Military Medicine alongside him. He exemplified USU’s goal of training outstanding medical leaders who will then serve with great impact throughout their respective DoD careers. May God rest his soul. De Oppreso Liber!”
Farr will be buried at the National Cemetery at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
