Tactical Combat Casualty Care Capstone Prepares Corpsmen to Provide Care on Battlefield

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul Wu | 180112-N-NR803-119 PORTSMOUTH, Va. (Jan. 12, 2018) The instructors of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) closely evaluate a TCCC participant during the final capstone event. TCCC participants were graded and timed on how well they executed the procedures they learned during the three-day course leading up to the capstone. TCCC is a course required by the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for all corpsmen that helps prepare them to respond to the injuries in theater and on the battlefield. (U.S. Navy photo by Sonar Technician 2nd Class Paul Wu)  

PORTSMOUTH, VA, UNITED STATES

01.12.2018

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul Wu 

Naval Medical Center - Portsmouth

Four corpsmen lined up against the exterior of Bldg. 277 at St. Julien’s Creek Annex Jan. 12, physically exerted from the physical training session they just completed. The morning fog surrounding the facility was intermixed with the ocean of black smoke pouring out of the building. These corpsmen were the first of four groups who were prepared to enter the building to treat simulated battlefield injuries and put their Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course training to test.
The capstone event occurred after a comprehensive three-day course facilitated by Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s Healthcare Simulation Center and TCCC instructors. The course, required by the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, helps corpsmen and other Sailors prepare to respond to the injuries seen in theater and on the battlefield.
“This course is about getting information out to Sailors to set them up for success whenever they get to the ‘green side,’” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Patrick Gravel, TCCC assistant program director and three-time combat veteran, referring to Sailors being attached to Navy expeditionary units, Marine Corps units or Army detachments. “This type of training would even be beneficial for injuries on board ships to help Sailors organize their thoughts in a stressful situation and articulate what they’re doing in patient care.”
The course is required for all corpsmen in paygrades E-1 to E-9 and is regularly held with new classes occurring every week. However, trainees shouldn’t expect the course to be a simple check in the box. If participants do not complete the final evolution within standards, they’ll be required to return to repeat the course at a later time.
In the days leading up to the capstone, participants received field medical training encompassing a wide range of tools to address wounds involving massive hemorrhaging, airway, respiratory, circulation, hypothermic and secondary issues to name a few. Participants also spent time learning techniques on how to physically move patients to safety in battlefield situations.
On the morning of the capstone, students sat in the complex’s waiting room, flipping through and reading notes they’d taken during the previous days, silently reciting acronyms and bits of knowledge to put to memory in preparation of the capstone. Others were seen constantly checking and rechecking their medical first aid packs, tightening and reinforcing their kits around their upper right legs.
While students readied themselves before the event, TCCC instructors were on the opposite side of the complex, staging robotic mannequins that simulated wounded patients on the battlefield. The robotic mannequins were provided by the Healthcare Simulation Center staff who work in conjunction with the TCCC instructors to improve the readiness of the corpsmen.
The capstone evolution began when Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Aaron Hernandez, TCCC instructor and three-time overseas combat veteran, shouted into the waiting room “First group.”
Hernandez led the participants into a grass field, wet from the morning rain, to undergo a physical training (PT) session to simulate the physical fatigue corpsmen down range normally face before encountering a firefight and giving patient care.
Following the PT session, participants lined up single file with one hand on the shoulder of the corpsman in front of them, staring into the smoke-filled building and complete darkness prepared by instructors. Sounds of instructors shouting, “Save my friend doc! Save my friend! Don’t let my friend go doc!” or “Hurry up doc! Hurry, we got to get out of here now!” along with rapid ammunition sound effects were heard even before they entered the building. Participants were expected to triage, treat and navigate their simulated patients to a safe zone while operating in a continuous field of chaos created by the instructors.
“We’re getting students used to ignoring the outside distractions and focusing in on what they need to do to save lives,” Hernandez said. “We’re telling them to rush and to hurry, but in reality, we’re looking for them to calm down and trust themselves to execute what they were trained to do.”
Although the environment was created to be chaotic, instructors ensured that the safety of participants and staff were monitored closely.
“It’s an eye opener,” said Hospitalman Irene Laurel, TCCC participant. “It definitely gets you out of your element, but these are skills that every corpsmen should know.”
The course does not teach weapons tactics or movements, but participants were required to complete the evolution carrying a rubber M4 carbine rifle while wearing a flat jacket vest, a field med pack and a helmet to simulate the feel and weight of equipment carried by corpsmen in the field. Trainees were told to maintain situational awareness to account for all their gear in the midst of the chaos, otherwise they would soon find it missing and in the possession of the instructor staff.
“We want to train like we fight, but they’re just certain elements of the battlefield, like live gunfire, that can’t be perfectly simulated so we have to incorporate other stressors, like shouting or having them work under the darkness to recreate some of the pressure they’ll face down range,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Byron Stanley, TCCC program manager and four-time overseas combat veteran.
Concluding the capstone, instructors circled around the room and asked participants to share what they learned during the course. Instructors revealed why they stressed treating specific wounds.
“I always stress gunshot wounds from the side because my buddy and mentor died from that wound and was the last corpsman to be killed in Afghanistan,” Gravel said.
Instructors shared that in spite of the quality of training the participants received during TCCC, there is nothing that can replicate the emotional aspects of what participants will experience when treating a friend down range.
“Having to work on your friends, or your Marines, guys you’ve trained with — especially knowing their family, wives and kids – there’s just nothing from that aspect we can replicate for them.” Gravel said.
Instructors said however, if participants follow the broad algorithm they were taught, they will be successful on the battlefield.
“For all the instructors here, this training means a lot to us, whether one of us (instructor staff) has lost a buddy in combat, or we had a life lost out in the field,” Stanley said. “Everything we do here has a purpose. Our heart is in helping everyone build the foundations to save lives on the battlefield.”

• Date Taken: 01.12.2018
• Date Posted: 02.02.2018 15:18
• Story ID: 264504
• Location: PORTSMOUTH, VA, US