Photo By Staff Sgt. Adeline Witherspoon | Sgt. Christian Fiest, 3rd Explosive Ordinance Battalion, secures the area during...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash.--Unit ministry teams assigned to 7th Infantry Division conducted medical evacuation familiarization training here, May 12, providing spiritual and medical care for casualties.
“It is essential that basic soldiering skills and medical skills can be performed by chaplains and chaplain assistants so that they know how to help in any situation,” said Pvt. Austin Brown-Layne, a medic assigned to 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment.
The Soldiers practiced sending a 9-line medical evacuation request, loading casualties into a Stryker Medical Evacuation Vehicle and field litter ambulance vehicle, and securing casualties in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
Chaplains are commissioned officers as well as ordained clergy who work together with enlisted assistants to provide moral support, religious services and counseling to service members and their families. Because chaplains are non-combative, they rely on enlisted personnel to provide tactical support such as casualty medical care and force protection in a combat environment.
“The focus of the training is on how the chaplains and chaplain assistants work with the medics to become a team,” said Chaplain (Maj.) Pinkie Fischer, the officer in charge of the event. “We have the UMTs supporting the medics, and the medics supporting the UMTs to provide the best possible care.”
Participants, such as Brown-Layne, instructed UMTs how to properly treat casualties and assisted in the training, as either instructors or role-players to give Soldiers as much hands-on experience as possible.
“It’s one thing to train in a classroom,” said Staff Sgt. Kevin Betton, a chaplain assistant and the noncommissioned officer in charge of the training. “Confidence comes from actually having performed the tasks in a field environment.”
The hands-on training helped Soldiers familiarize themselves with new equipment. For Spc. Amanda Starks, a chaplain assistant assigned to 201st Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade, it was her first time flying in a Black Hawk, and she admitted to feeling a little nervous.
“The training helped teach us how to think outside the box to do our job,” said Starks. “It made sure we know how to work as members of a team.”
According to Fischer, this teamwork ensures the unit ministry team members are prepared if they should be called upon to go to combat.
“We want chaplains and chaplain assistants to expand their casualty ministry,” said Fischer. “That way they know how to work with the medics on the ground to provide as much support as they can.”
| Date Taken: | 05.12.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2016 22:06 |
| Story ID: | 198082 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 127 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Unit Ministry Team Training Builds Teamwork, by SSG Adeline Witherspoon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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