A decorated Navy medical officer has been removed from command of a key military health facility in California, a little more than a year after assuming the post, with the service citing only a “loss of confidence” in his leadership.
Capt. Mathew Loe was relieved Aug. 7 as commanding officer of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Lemoore by Rear Adm. Kevin Brown, who leads Naval Medical Forces Pacific, the Navy announced.
Navy officials said the leadership change will not disrupt operations at the command, which oversees Naval Health Clinic Lemoore at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California’s Central Valley.
“The relief of the CO does not impact the command’s operational readiness,” the Navy said.
Capt. Robin Bennett, the command’s executive officer, is now serving as interim commanding officer. Loe, meanwhile, has been temporarily reassigned to Naval Medical Forces Pacific in San Diego, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The Lemoore-based command supports more than 32,000 active-duty service members, retirees, relatives and civilian beneficiaries tied to shore-based and operational units, Military Times reported.
Beyond routine medical care delivered through Naval Health Clinic Lemoore, the command plays a central role in training and preparing Navy medical personnel for operational deployments.
Loe took charge in 2025, bringing with him an extensive background in both military service and medicine.
The Texas native earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1995 and a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston in 2001, according to his Navy biography cited by Military Times.
He later earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Texas Tech University Health Science Center in 2012.
Loe worked as a civilian nurse before joining the Navy and deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, where he served as a training team leader overseeing forward operating base departments supporting more than 3,000 Afghan Army personnel and 400 NATO troops, according to the Military Times.
Before taking command at Lemoore, he served as officer-in-charge of the Branch Health Clinic at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.
His decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
Loe was also named the Association of the United States Navy’s Bea Ratner Nurse Corps Junior Officer of the Year in 2009.
The Navy has so far provided no further details about what led to the officer’s sudden removal.
