Medics maintain mission readiness

Photo By John Crosby | Staff Sgt. Eric Powell, platoon sergeant of medical platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-186IN, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, helps his students load a litter patient into a front line ambulance during a training exercise at the Orchard Training Area near Boise, Idaho, Aug. 14, 2008.  

UNITED STATES

08.14.2008

Story by Spc. John Crosby 

115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

By Spc. John Crosby
115 Mobile Public Affairs Dteachment

ORCHARD TRAINING AREA, Idaho - Medics of 1-186 Infantry, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oregon Army National Guard are hard at work, Aug. 14, 2008, at the Orchard Training Area near Boise, Idaho, for an upcoming deployment slated for 2009.

On a desolate landscape, the medics prepare for real world missions using front line ambulances, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and other various military vehicles to simulate medical evacuations.

"I love it," said Pfc. Mathew Keeling, a Medford native and medic in Company D, 1-186 IN. "I'm really excited. This is my first time around a hot Black Hawk."

This is Keelings second annual training since joining the Oregon Army National Guard.

"We are focused on our mission and we're operating the way we would be in Iraq," Keeling said.

Before conducting practical exercises, the medics receive several blocks of instruction from Staff Sgt. Eric Powell of Eagle Creek, Oreg., medical platoon sergeant, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-186 IN.

"I want to get the [advanced individual training] mindset out of them," said Powell. "Medics fight too. Shoot, move, communicate. I want them to be autonomous units, moving on their own, responding to any situation, and getting the casualties off the battlefield as quickly as possible."

In addition to medical training, the medics receive their fair share of tactical training as well.

"The medical training has been great," Keeling said. "We get the best of both worlds. We run around doing the infantry stuff in the field and come back and do more medical training."

As annual training at the Orchard Training Area comes close to the end, Soldiers are working to get the most out of this opportunity.

"I'm excited about having the chance to get these guys thinking like Soldiers instead of [Emergency Medical technicians]," Powell said. "I want them to be as prepared as they possibly can for their upcoming deployment."

• Date Taken: 08.14.2008
• Date Posted: 09.02.2008 01:48
• Story ID: 23102
• Location: US