Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian Sloan | 151023-N-CS616-378 SAN DIEGO (Oct. 23, 2015) 151023-N-CS616-378 VALPARAISO, Chile...... read more read more
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By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brian Sloan
USS George Washington Public Affairs
VALPARAISO, Chile – Hospital Corpsmen aboard aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) coordinated with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Platoon 3-1-1 and Chilean Special Forces (CSF) for a tactical combat casualty care (TCCC) and subject matter exchange, Oct. 22-23.
TCCC training, a component of UNITAS 2015, simulates a hostile environment where members perform frontline first aid while neutralizing enemy threats.
“During this exchange EOD shows their proficiency in a minefield scenario and how to best care for the victim of a mine strike,” said Lt. Brad Penley, an EOD officer assigned to Carrier Strike Group Nine. “The two days benefit the medical capabilities of the teams.”
The ability to treat for combat related trauma and quickly move a victim to the nearest hospital is essential to the mission readiness of EOD and CSF.
“This is the training that will save a person’s life in the field,” said Hospital Corpsman Kyle O’Brien. “Both EOD and CSF are very fast-paced teams that are often in dangerous situations so it’s essential that each member is prepared for the worst case scenario.”
An effective aspect of the training was the ability of EOD and CSF to share knowledge according to O’Brien.
“Despite trauma medicine having a lot of universal principles, each team has a handful of techniques and strategies that they do differently from one another,” said O’Brien. “We were able to pool each other’s knowledge and diversify our skillsets.”
Furthermore, the training exercises help strengthen the bonds between the U.S. and Chilean forces.
“I was amazed by the interactions the teams had with each other,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Mark Lunde. “A lot of bonding happens with the rapid exchange of information. We all made several new friends, and I feel like I’m a much more capable corpsman as a result.”
Additionally, the language barrier between EOD and CSF created a unique challenge for the teams that was circumvented.
“Luckily, I’m fluent in Spanish,” said EOD 3rd Class Juan Ramirez. “It was very satisfying to bridge that gap which allowed us to learn from each other. We both have very dangerous jobs and we never know when we’ll have to apply our knowledge.”
UNITAS 2015, the U.S. Navy's longest running annual multinational maritime exercise, is part of the Southern Seas deployment planned by U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet. This 56th iteration of UNITAS is conducted in two phases: UNITAS PACIFIC, hosted by Chile, Oct. 13-24, 2015 and UNITAS Atlantic, hosted by Brazil scheduled for November.
| Date Taken: | 10.29.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2015 15:40 |
| Story ID: | 180353 |
| Location: | VALPARAISO, CL |
| Web Views: | 243 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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