Lamar County SWAT Team Trains at Camp Shelby

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hatten | K9 Patrolman Josh Gandy, left, applies tape to hold a chest seal in place over a simulated gunshot wound while Deputy James Murray acts the part of an injured team member during tactical combat casualty care training at CSJFTC.  

CAMP SHELBY, MS, UNITED STATES

04.09.2013

Story by Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hatten 

Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - The Lamar County Sheriff’s Department Special Response Team attended a tactical combat casualty care course hosted by the Medical Battalion Training Site at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center April 8 through 12.

“The need for this training arose last year. We were part of a SWAT call-out in Jones County during which a friend of ours was shot multiple times by a suspect,” said Greg McAlpin, Captain of Operations, “and we identified the need for having medically trained personnel within our team during our operations.”

The team sought assistance from the local medical community, but most area medical facilities are not geared toward tactical combat casualty care training for injuries such as gunshot wounds, burns and injuries resulting from explosions. Deputy James Murray looked into different training programs until one day he asked a friend about the courses available at the Medical Battalion Training Site.

“I have a friend who's in the military out here, and I had asked him about some of the medical training,” said Murray. “I went over to Afghanistan about a year ago on a contract with Dyncorp to train SWAT teams over there, and when I came back and got associated with our SWAT team here, I found out that we didn't have the tactical medic that we used to have. His schedule got too busy to make training days and call-outs, and so I approached the guys on the team and asked them if would they would be willing to go through combat medic course and have all of us certified in this type of medical field, so that each member of the team could render aid to other team members on the spot.”

After working out the details with the personnel at the MBTS, the team began training in the classroom April 8, where they received instruction on tactical combat casualty care from the 68W Healthcare Specialist Military Occupational Specialty – Transition instructors who teach the Combat Medic course at Camp Shelby.

“We did a lot of research online, looked through several first responder courses that are offered out there throughout the country and then we really looked hard at the 68W MOS-T course material that we teach, the Combat Lifesaver Course and we kind of meshed those together. We worked closely with Deputy Murray to determine how the course material we have could meet their needs,” said Sgt. 1st Class Richard Williams, 68W Healthcare Specialist MOS-T course manager. “The main concept that we were trying to instill in those guys is something that took several years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq to develop, and that's tactical combat casualty care. We wanted them to understand the concepts of care under fire, what you need to do when you're getting shot at, what injuries you want to address in that situation, and then when to shift back to tactical field care, which is once you're relatively safe, such as when you're in a room of a house and there's no bullets flying, and you have time to do more comprehensive care.”

Using the Army’s “Crawl, Walk, Run” concept, the MBTS instructors presented the SWAT team with up-to-date tactical combat casualty care techniques derived from direct experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, using PowerPoint presentations, practical exercises and hands-on training with realistic simulators. All of the course material led to the culminating training event at the end of the course, where the team was able to utilize the techniques in a realistic environment.

“The staff here are phenomenal. They are very knowledgeable and passionate about what they do. Their communication skills are excellent in relaying their medical terminology in terms that we can understand, and on top of that, being allowed to use the facilities here which are beyond anything that we could have imagined,” said McAlpin. “The training aids that have been made available to us have reinforced what we've been taught, and having the instructors watching us, offering guidance and helping us has improved our confidence tenfold. We are learning tremendous skills so that we can help one another if we become injured or incapacitated during our operations.”

After the final exercise on April 12, which featured a realistic live-fire scenario with specially-adapted weapons firing marker rounds, simulated gunshot wounds and casualty evacuation, the SWAT team members and instructors held a brief After Action Review, where they discussed the training and its application in “real life” scenarios.

“This training with the Lamar County SWAT team is a great opportunity for us as a medical battalion to give something back to the community, to help the local community be better prepared for situations that we are trained to deal with every day in the combat zone,” said Williams. “These police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect us here at home, and we want to make sure they have the best skills available so that they can bring their brothers and sisters safely back every day with them and be there to assist immediately if something happens.”

• Date Taken: 04.09.2013
• Date Posted: 05.21.2013 15:59
• Story ID: 107329
• Location: CAMP SHELBY, MS, US