Army Reserve Medics Assist Navy with Mass Casualty Exercise

Photo By Staff Sgt. Carolyn Hawkins | CAMP PARKS, Calif. - A group of Navy medical specialists gathers around Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Tha Lim, from the Expeditionary Medical Facility (EMF) Camp Pendleton Detachment I out of Sacramento, to simulate X-raying him during a mass casualty training exercise June 19, 2016. Army Reserve medics mentored the Navy medics in a combat support hospital tent.  

CAMP PARKS, CA, UNITED STATES

06.19.2016

Story by Staff Sgt. Carolyn Hawkins 

318th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

CAMP PARKS, Calif. – The Army Reserve conducted joint mass casualty training June 19, 2016, with Navy hospital corpsmen as part of their annual training. The 391st Medical Logistics Company, an Army Reserve unit from Hays, Kansas, provided medical supplies, while the 7305th Medical Training Support Battalion (MTSB) provided mentoring to the Navy medical specialists from Camp Pendleton Detachment I.
A group of nine Navy medical specialists role-played as casualties in a scenario based fictional explosion at a church. The other group of Navy medical specialists triaged them during the exercise as ambulance personnel and drove them to the field hospital tent. Army Reserve Capt. Alihigai T. Brownfield from the 7305th MTSB, out of Sacramento, supervised and mentored the Navy medical specialists as they trained and went through their procedures for each patient. Brownfield said, overall they did a good job working together as a team.
“So far, they’ve been doing very well,” said Brownfield. “A lot of them have experience in Kuwait, Afghanistan, or Iraq, and have worked with the Army before.”
There were a few challenges as far as the different standard operating procedures and rank structures between the two military services, however.
“You have the Army way, then you have the Navy way,” Brownfield said. “It’s two different types of languages you have to speak.” Brownfield said their unit has been cross-training with other branches of service, such as the Air Force and Navy, every year.
“As an Army Reserve Soldier, one of the things we get out of exercises like this, at least for our annual training, is we get to work with the other branches a little bit more than you normally would throughout
the year,” said Brownfield.
Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Caitlin Summer Ann Miles from Camp Pendleton Det. I, out of Sacramento, was one of the nine casualty role-players in the exercise. Her injury was a pencil impaling her cheek and a bruised arm simulated by moulage. Moulage is the art of using theatrical-style makeup and other props to make realistic-looking injuries for training purposes. Each of the role-players had different injuries.
“Working with the Army Reserve has been very interesting, very eye-opening to how things work differently,” said Miles. She explained that setting up the hospital tents and berthing tents was a new experience for her, and the different terms the Army and Navy use could sometimes lead to miscommunications. Her team arrived early on June 8, 2016, working hard all day, every day to set it up.
“We’d wake up when the sun went up, then we’d go to bed when the sun went down, or later, putting up those tents,” said Miles.
She said as a role-player during the mass casualty exercise, she learned a lot from going through the whole process.
“We heard the doctors and nurses talk over us, so we also learned the medical aspect and the administration aspect,” said Miles. “It’s been really interesting to learn all of these different things I didn’t know about or my shipmates didn’t know about either.”
A lot of logistical planning went into supplying this exercise. Sgt. 1st Class Richard L. Doctor from the 391st Medical Logistics Company (MLC) said they have more than 1,500 line items they track using a Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support Customer Assistance Module.
“We have a little over half a million dollars of merchandise we’re in charge of that we distribute,” said Doctor. “We keep track of that through paperwork, computers, and we have a DCAM system.”
The DCAM is an automated information system enabling the management of inventory, ordering of supplies, tracking and maintenance of medical equipment.
Doctor said this mass casualty training exercise has been important because it has brought together both the Army Reserve and Navy so they can figure out what works, what doesn’t work and be able to adjust.
“I think it will benefit the Army Reserve and Navy because it gives the opportunity for both of them to work together and see how their systems work,” said Doctor.

• Date Taken: 06.19.2016
• Date Posted: 07.10.2016 14:36
• Story ID: 202363
• Location: CAMP PARKS, CA, US
• Hometown: CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US
• Hometown: HAYS, KS, US
• Hometown: RUSSELL, KS, US
• Hometown: SACRAMENTO, CA, US
• Hometown: SONORA, CA, US
• Hometown: STOCKTON, CA, US