Military medicine keeping it real with make-up and mannequins

FORT GORDON, GA, UNITED STATES

06.19.2007

Courtesy Story

214th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Fort Gordon, Ga.— Over 150 key players in this year's Golden Medic field exercise wait to spring into action when the mass casualty medical exercise kicks off in a few days. They rest quietly—very quietly— in their Fort Gordon, Ga., quarters, tightly packed into basic, no-frills Army housing. When a young soldier inflicts a gaping head wound on one of their colleagues, no-one flinches. Maybe their unshakable resolve comes from years of working alongside America's hardened fighters. Maybe their blank, glassy stares tell the story of soldiers who have seen too much...or maybe it's just their cold, plastic hearts.

Actually, each of these statements is true. Soldiers, Airmen and military contractors will spend hundreds of hours creating realistic wounds on the mannequins and live role-players that add an extra dose of realism to Golden Medic, the Army's premier medical training exercise. They will painstakingly simulate a variety of battlefield injuries ranging from sprained ankles, to protruding broken bones and amputated limbs. The military personnel who help create these complex training aids get the added bonus of receiving top-notch training from some of the best medical moulage artists in the business.

According to Sgt. Maj. Kathy Phillips of the 3rd Medical Command, Golden Medic 2007 is the first time that military personnel will have a hands-on role in creating the realistic wounds that will cover close to 500 mannequins and live role players slated to receive medical treatment during the three-day exercise. Phillips, who is charged with managing operations and insertion of role players—live and plastic—into the scenario, says that the one-and-one-half hour make-up application process requires serious skills. Though the U.S. military offers a myriad of occupational specialties, fake wound application is not one of them.

That's where Regional Training Site-Medical (RTS-Med) instructors and technicians come into play. RTS-Med, a privately owned organization, provides medical training assistance to U.S. Army Reserve units and other military medical personnel. Thirty-three Army and Air Force Reservists participating in Golden Medic received special training in the application of life-like, mock injuries, which are created using a special technique called moulage. Using gelatin, oil paint, clay, latex and strange odds and ends like Styrofoam cups and plastic wrap, this team will create incredibly realistic casualties that will test the skills of over 3,500 medical and supporting service members participating in the exercise.

Sgt. Shaunte Covington, food service non-commissioned officer in charge for the 336th Medical Detachment, says that learning moulage techniques has rekindled her interest in studying art. While seamlessly blending a nasty grenade wound on a mannequin's stomach, Covington says that this experience has opened her eyes to another way that she can put her artistic talent to work in the future. "I've always loved getting my hands dirty," the former art major said.

Moulage can definitely be messy work, but you wouldn't know it by the looks of Currant "CJ" Jones, an RTS-Med instructor who takes a great deal of pride in his work. His crisp, clean appearance and job dedication are not surprising, since he is a retired U.S. Army sergeant major. Under his watchful eye, apprentice Army and Air Force moulage artists darken and dapple third-degree burns and craft perfectly-sized bullet exit wounds that will be used to challenge Golden Medic participants.

To anyone who wonders why he's still on the job after 31 years of military service, Mr. Jones has a snappy reply: "The only reason I'm still working is because I care about the Soldiers."

Air Force Master Sgt. Allen Ligon, a medical technician from the 445th Air Medical Staging Transition Squadron, puts his medical expertise to work in the moulage preparation area by comparing moulage treatments on each mannequin to pre-determined injury descriptions laid out in Golden Medic's complex scenario.
Thus far, the Wright-Patterson Air Force based Airman's experience embodies one of the exercises' primary objectives.

"All of this training and learning lets us know what this would be like in a real-world scenario," he says. "This is my first Golden Medic and I'm learning a lot by dealing with the Army. Hopefully I can teach them some things as well."

• Date Taken: 06.19.2007
• Date Posted: 06.19.2007 10:33
• Story ID: 10900
• Location: FORT GORDON, GA, US