U.S. Navy Combined Aid Station Maintains Readiness Abroad

Photo By Cpl. Garrett White | U.S. Navy medical providers with Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command prepare to transport a casualty during a readiness exercise, May 23, 2015 in an undisclosed location in the Central Command Area of Operations. Working out of the Combined Aid Station, medical providers with the Ground Combat Element, Air Combat Element, and Command Element of the SPMAGTF regularly conduct these drills to ensure they can promptly and properly respond to a real emergency situation should one arise.  

(UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)

05.23.2015

Story by Lance Cpl. Garrett White 

Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade

UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - Rivalry between the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy has been a time-honored tradition since the branches were first founded. Good–natured jokes and ribbing are a common occurrence between sailors and Marines. However, if there is a single sailor a Marine will pull their verbal punches for, it’s their corpsman.

With no medical services organic to the Marine Corps, Navy corpsmen and medical officers are often some of the most beloved members of a Marine unit.

The Combined Aid Station (CAS), operated by sailors of Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response – Central Command, provides medical services all over the Central Command Area of Operations.

The CAS includes medical providers from the Air Combat Element, Ground Combat Element, and Command Element.

“We provide emergency medical service Role One capabilities,” said Navy Lt. Joseph Happel, of Rockport, Massachusetts, a flight surgeon with the ACE. Role One is a NATO term describing the level of care available at a regimental-sized unit, or in an expeditionary environment.

“This includes basic emergency medical technician services and stabilization for any of the sick and injured here on base.”

The CAS has a shock trauma section which can provide advanced cardiac monitoring and respiratory management, Happel added. In addition to that, they operate two ambulances and have basic laboratory and X-ray capabilities.
On a routine day, the corpsman and doctors of the CAS will treat the bumps and bruises, coughs and sniffles that may come from everyday life.

Most of the injuries treated there are sports medicine-related such as sore muscles or strained tendons, explained Happel. Others can include conditions that come about from the misuse of supplements or simply from acclimatizing to the heat.

“The Marines here are in a new environment, often with a different daily routine,” said Happel. “We have been able to catch some conditions that would have been life threatening had they not been identified and addressed.”

Navy Seaman Skyler Obert, of Reno, Nevada, a hospital corpsman with the SPMAGTF’s Air Combat Element explained that in an area that can easily exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit before breakfast, heat-related injuries are a real concern.

“Over the next few months we expect an increase in heat-related injuries,” said Obert. “Heat stroke is nearly always fatal if left untreated. The faster we can get them treated, the better chances they have.”

While having a facility prepared to receive patients is important, not all medical issues leave the patient with the ability to walk into the clinic on their own.

“In order to stay prepared for emergencies we have a mass casualty training program that we co-ordinate with our Air Force counterparts here to maintain our readiness,” said Obert.

Teams are set up to respond to emergencies, Obert explained. There are always personnel in the clinic—even after hours—and runners designated to fetch officers and corpsmen who are out of the facility to muster any personnel that may be required to handle the situation.

During one such exercise, an airman playing the role of a casualty collapsed in front of the camp military exchange. When the CAS got the call they immediately went to work. While one group left in the ambulance to recover the casualty, the second began to prepare the shock trauma section to receive the patient.

Once received, the medical officers and corpsmen went to work diagnosing the patient, hooking him up to various medical equipment and asking questions to ascertain his condition. Once the patient was stabilized and notional treatment administered, they determined he needed further treatment at a better equipped facility and the patient was transported out.

In addition to these exercises the personnel of the CAS regularly train in the proper use of the equipment or methods of treatment they may need to use to care for a patient, Obert said.

“The beauty of our job field is we are a ‘jack of all trades,’” said Obert. “Guys from the GCE could work with the wing, just as I could go over to the ground side and work effectively. The thing about medicine is a lot of it is just repetition. The more you bang it into your head the better you will be.”

Happel explained exercises like these are always surprises to the medical personnel since emergencies can happen any time. Every member of the CAS needs to be ready to respond to immediate medical needs.

“It’s a twenty-four seven operation,” said Happel. “The clinic is staffed at all hours of the day and we are able to facilitate a rapid response anywhere on the base and can provide around-the-clock care.”

Corpsman and medical officers with the SPMAGTF Combined Aid Station came prepared, ready and willing to keep their Marines and sailors fit for duty, and they continue to hone their skills, even while deployed.

• Date Taken: 05.23.2015
• Date Posted: 05.25.2015 03:50
• Story ID: 164441
• Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)
• Hometown: RENO, NV, US
• Hometown: ROCKPORT, MA, US