Medic!

Photo By Lt. Col. Cory Angell | Spc. Brittani Hertzke, of Slatington, Pa., served as a military police officer with the Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 55th Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division. She is training to reclassify as a combat medic at the Medical Battalion Training Site on Fort Indiantown Gap as it runs its 68W10 course. Here she is treating a casualty on a lane under simulated combat conditions.  

ANNVILLE, PA, UNITED STATES

08.23.2014

Story by Maj. Cory Angell 

28th Infantry Division

ANNVILLE, Pa. - Spc. Brittani Hertzke, of Slatington, Pennsylvania, served as a military police officer with the Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 55th Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division. Today, she is training to reclassify as a combat medic as the Medical Battalion Training Site on Fort Indiantown Gap runs its 68W10 course.

“What we run here is for Solders that are already in the Army,” said Sgt. 1st Class Justin Shaffer, Medical Battalion Training Site. “This is for non-Initial Entry Training Soldiers.”

Shaffer said the course is 57 days long and is broken down into three phases, EMT, classroom and field medical skills, and then additional field craft with a large culminating exercise and practical exam.

“The national register of emergency medical technicians actually certifies each of the Soldiers as an EMT,” Shaffer said. “In the second phase, there is classroom and field medical skills that are limited to primary care and field craft, such as dealing with bleeds in the groin area. Most people remember that type of situation from the movie 'Black Hawk Down.' Other situations they learn how to handle include tourniquet skills and airways.”

“In the culminating phase, there is more field craft,” said Shaffer. "We use a four to five day field exercise where they receive an operations order and then fragmentary orders after that. We run them through different lanes and put all that they learned together in a tactical environment.”

“We teach the class three times a year,” said Capt. Brian Priest, operations officer for the Medical Battalion Training Site. “Guardsmen from 16 different states were in this class.”

Priest added that it’s a very challenging course that is physically and mentally demanding.

Hertzke graduated after the class finished its long days in the field with a road march.

“This is a good opportunity for me,” said Hertzke. “After this, I will start school at Lock Haven University and will be going for my associate’s degree in nursing. My military job will complement what I want to do in the future.”

• Date Taken: 08.23.2014
• Date Posted: 08.23.2014 13:19
• Story ID: 140220
• Location: ANNVILLE, PA, US
• Hometown: SLATINGTON, PA, US