Photo By Sgt. Mark Cloutier | Pvt. Caleb Doctor (right), and Sgt. Juan Cortazar, medics for the 547th Area Support...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - As a medical response element for the Department of Defense’s Joint Task Force – Civil Support, the 56th Multifunctional Medical Battalion held the Warrior Response II exercise, here, Nov. 27-30.
The culmination exercise was a mock response to a would-be call from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, requesting medical support to civil authorities.
In the event of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack within the borders of the United States, the 56th MMB could be called on to save lives, prevent further injury, and to provide the temporary critical support which enables a community to recover from disaster.
Training of this nature is vital to the unit’s preparedness.
According to the 56th MMB commander, Lt. Col. Kimberlee Aiello, the purpose of the training was to execute a battalion level operation while maintaining mission command at the battalion headquarters.
“This sort of training helps the command to anticipate and identify medical capability shortfalls, thereby increasing overall resource readiness in the event of an actual emergency,” she said.
In the scenario, soldiers got an opportunity to train at full speed as they honed their skills in the face of operational change-ups and curveballs.
To begin with, the order to move out only came the day before – a well-used training tactic, intended to keep everyone on his toes and ready to go in a moment’s notice. Members of the 56th MMB had known of the impending training event but were kept in the dark as to when the call would come.
Among the battalion’s many participants, was the majority of the 547th Area Support Medical Company, whose initial objective was to conduct wellness checks in a replicated town.
“It was quite a change-up,” said Pvt. Caleb Doctor, combat medic, 547th ASMC. “We were told there would be a few casualties around a blast area, but when we first arrived we didn’t see any injured people - until we entered the three-story building – and then there were way more bodies than we were prepared to handle. They were strewn all over, from the first floor to the third.”
For the exercise, Doctor was tasked to help casualties from the building and into awaiting ambulances for evacuation to a higher level of care. He said that his main focus was to bring help to the casualties without adding to their injuries.
As with battle, the rhythm of the exercise changed when the medics found more injured people than they could handle. As a result, the mission switched from a wellness check of the town, to a mass casualty situation – this meant they would need to air-evacuate many of them. They called for assistance from other assets.
That assistance came in the form of Capt. Michael Boos and his CH-47 Chinook helicopter crew from B Company, 1/214th General Support Aviation Battalion. They would prove invaluable to the evacuation of 50 or so casualties and to the overall success of the mission.
“I think it went well,” said Sgt. Laramie Struble, combat medic with the 547th ASMC. “At first, there was a difference in opinion of what our mission was, but that was because of the intentional operations changes being made to confuse us. We were given a few tough challenges to see how well we responded. I think we adjusted fire all right.”
Both soldiers and leaders alike echoed sentiments of a successful event.
“A very important aspect of this culmination exercise was to see how well we could respond to having our immediate resources overwhelmed,” said Capt. Johnny Sanders, 56th MMB director of Warrior Response II training. “I think the soldiers all rose to the challenge.”
Having been given a mass casualty scenario, soldiers of the 56th MMB adapted, improvised and overcame. By picking up the proverbial ball and running with it, they were able to acquire the resources vital to overcoming the challenge.
| Date Taken: | 12.03.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2012 20:25 |
| Story ID: | 98892 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 56th MMB tests resources in Warrior Response II finale, by SGT Mark Cloutier, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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