Photo By Sgt. Eric Provost | U.S. Army soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Boar, treat...... read more read more
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By U.S. Army Sgt. Eric Provost
Task Force Patriot PAO
NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Army Combat Medics are trained to provide care under fire. Sometimes they treat patients in the dark, and sometimes they have to provide treatment with one of Mozart’s piano concertos flooding the room.
Or, if you’re training at Forward Operating Base Torkham’s aid station, you might have to deal with all three elements at the same time.
“We try to bring in every angle, operate under Murphy’s law,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Bogoyevac, aid station noncommisioned officer in charge, 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Boar, “We typically train worst-case scenario so that when it really happens our guys are prepared for it.”
For this particular week’s worst-case scenario, lights in the aid station were off, Bogoyevac had a firefight he recorded from his last deployment playing on loop, a Mozart concerto blared in the background, and the simulated casualty waited to be assessed and treated by the group of medical trainees.
The soldiers who were training entered the aid station not knowing what to expect, but entered the room and went to work immediately.
On the surface, some of the things the soldiers faced training at the Torkham aid station might seem random but Bogoyevac says there’s a reason behind all of it.
“For this exercise we trained as if our generators went down and we had low light. We wanted to make sure everybody in the room knew where the extra head lamps were, to grab them, and be able to work in those conditions. We also gave the casualty injuries you would actually see from indirect fire,” said Bogoyevac, a Moorpark, CA., native.
The audio from the firefight added an additional level of stress to the training and Mozart was brought in for extra noise and to add as a distractor.
The medics said going through the training taught them a lot.
“Medicine is a perishable skill and it’s good to keep going over everything. There’s a lot to learn too,” said Pfc. James Crouch, a 2nd Battalion combat medic from Merced, CA., “but we do this more to train up the other guys.”
The other guys, in this case, being Cleveland, GA., native and forward observer Spc. Jacob Adams and Spc. William Marsh a mortarman and Olathe, KS., native, who aided Crouch in treating that week’s casualty.
Many soldiers at Torkham are training as secondary medics.
“I’ve gone through the Army’s Combat Lifesaver course a couple times but this is much more in depth. Sgt. Bogoyevac has been really good about teaching us a lot of the stuff he’s learned over the last few years,” said Marsh.
The maintenance team on FOB Torkham is also the designated trauma team in the event of an attack on the base.
“If the base gets attacked we want the infantry guys protecting their battle positions but a lot of the other guys we want with us, so we’re trying to train them to the combat medic level, just trying to get them as much medical knowledge as possible,” said Bogoyevac.
Most soldiers don’t typically spend a lot of time around their local aid station unless they have to. With that in mind, Bogoyevac implemented another idea to inspire the Task Force Boar soldiers at Torkham to come around more often, the Riddle of the Day board.
Soldiers can test themselves with a new puzzle each day and keep track of how many they and other challengers on Torkham have solved.
“We’ve been getting a lot more foot traffic in the aid station, especially with the riddles getting better and better,” said Bogoyevac. “It’s really good. A lot of guys are coming in and getting to know us better, and we’re getting to know them.”
The Riddle board also has daily Army knowledge facts to increase soldier knowledge. It also features a reference section detailing a different medication each day to keep with the theme of medical training.
The aid station created a stop-smoking program complete with a public wall of who has quit and how long they’ve lived tobacco-free at Torkham. This was done to motivate and train the men of Torkham’s 2nd Battalion element, as well as the medics.
Bogoyevac says he believes the steps he and his aid station have taken to educate and develop the soldiers have paid noticeable dividends and greatly enhanced their capabilities at FOB Torkham.
| Date Taken: | 08.21.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 08.30.2013 06:32 |
| Story ID: | 112903 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE TORKHAM, AF |
| Hometown: | CLEVELAND, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | MERCED, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | OLATHE, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 387 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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