Ohio engineers building skill sets with casualty evacuation training

Photo By Sgt. Andrew Kuhn | Pfc. Shawn Shope, a carpenter with the 1194th Engineer Company, pulls security while other Soldiers of his team shield their casualty from the rotor wash of an Ohio Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook during the unit's casualty evacuation training June 19 at Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center, in Grayling, Mich. Shope, an Oakhill, Ohio native, and his team respond to real-life scenarios as part of their annual training requirements for the Ohio Army National Guard. (Ohio Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Andrew Kuhn/Released)  

GRAYLING, MI, UNITED STATES

06.22.2018

Story by Sgt. Andrew Kuhn 

196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP GRAYLING JOINT MANEUVER TRAINING CENTER, Mich.— Unconscious, laying in the sand with a gunshot wound through the chest and a dwindling pulse. Hundreds of miles away from his hometown in Wilmington, Ohio, the life of Spc. Matthew Sell, an interior electrician with the 1194th Engineer Company depends on the cohesiveness and quick thinking of his team. With only three days of Combat Lifesaver training, Spc. Diantre Pressley, a plumber with the 1194th and Newark, Ohio native, rushes to aid his fallen comrade while the others post security, provide suppressive fire, and prepare to radio in a nine-line medical evacuation report.

"At first I was nervous," Pressley said. "Then it just kicked in, and I started to go through the steps of what I learned and what I needed to do."

With time working against them, Pressley and the team peeled off Sell's vest, exposing the wound to the midmorning sun to gain a better visual of the situation at hand. The team continued to communicate their situation to the non-commissioned officer in charge, Spc. Adam Reeder, a Wheelersburg, Ohio native, for the evacuation report, while Pressley began to execute the necessary lifesaving measures in order to take control of the spiraling situation.

"I slapped a chest seal on him, and there was an exit wound, so I put one on his back too," Pressley said. "It's my job to make sure he's good until he gets to the proper medical care."

Without his vest on and having an injured chest, the soldiers struggled to gain a proper grip on Sell's limp body, but used their ability to adapt and overcome to hoist him above their shoulders into the bed of their Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV).

"We just changed our technique," Pressley said. "There are certain carries you can do without the vest, so we had to switch to that to get there fast enough and efficiently."

As the truck tires stirred up dust down the rugged trail to the proposed landing zone (LZ), Pressley continued to reevaluate Sell's condition and administer care and support while Reeder radioed out the nine-line report from the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) just ahead.

"We wrote down the nine-line as they were taking care of our casualty, and, as soon as we were leaving for the LZ, I called it up," Reeder said.

Hitting the entrance to the open field, the truck halted just as the tailgate dropped, pouring out the team with Sell still in critical condition. As the group pulled a 360-degree security around the LZ, others maneuvered Sell to a safe location near the wood line as they awaited the arrival of a CH-47 Chinook.

"I just made sure everybody was in the right places," Reeder said. "First establishing our security lines, and then there were some situations where things had changed so we had to quickly reevaluate, reassess and get everybody on the right page."

After several anxious minutes, the bird's chopping blades finally broke into ear shot. Spc. Ryan Reneker, a Newcomerstown, Ohio native, painted the sky from the middle of the field with his fluorescent yellow safety belt, hoping to be seen by the pilots as they erupted over the tree line. With a roaring pass, the Ohio Army National Guard aircraft looped around and began its decent. The force of the rotor wash, like a tornado, suffocated the air with debris as shards of sand hit exposed skin.

"I really wasn't sure what to expect," Reeder said. "I think some of the new guys didn't expect the sand to come in as quickly and as hard as it did."

Once the dust settled, Pressley and Spc. Anthony Romeo, a Lancaster, Ohio native, collected Sell's body and rushed toward the waiting helicopter with support from the rest of their team. The silhouette of the helicopter's crew chief greeted them as they crossed the exposed grounds, breaking the threshold into the back of the vessel.

"My squad relies on me to take care of them if anything would happen," said Pressley. "My training allowed me to properly evaluate him, take care of him and take him to safety."

For nearly 15 minutes they pushed through the skies, soaring several hundred feet over the training facilities of the Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center. As the Chinook touched back down, the adrenaline-fueled soldiers flooded from the rear, and—for one last time—they held a secure position until its departure.

"When I landed my blood was rushing," Pressley said. "It was good to go fast and really apply our training to something fast-paced like that."

Pleased with their run, the team eagerly mounted the LMTV and returned to celebrate their success and share the news with the other two teams back at the start of the training lane.

"After running through it, I was highly pleased," Reeder said. "The guys did an outstanding job, and I think everybody really enjoyed the whole real-life scenario aspect of it."

The training was a two-fold opportunity that first provided the Soldiers a new situation to work together to accomplish using skills from their normal military careers, said Andrews. It also provided the junior enlisted an opportunity to step up into a leadership role and handle a realistic situation.

The life-like scenario may only ever be just that, a scenario, but the soldiers of the 1194th took the casualty evacuation training as a serious opportunity to transfer their engineering skill sets to another application that could one day save the life of a brother or sister in arms, if the situation should ever arise.

"I really appreciated the willingness and motivation of the younger soldiers," said Capt. Bryan Andrews, commander of the 1194th. "We are engineers by trade, so we fix things; we push things; we build things; we tear things down…but in this scenario they elevated their rank and operated at a higher grade, and that is what I wanted to see."

To see more about Ohio Army National Guard Soldiers conducting real life scenarios during their annual training at Camp Grayling, visit ong.ohio.gov, or follow us on Facebook @TheOhioNationalGuard and @196thMPAD or on Twitter @OHNationalGuard.

• Date Taken: 06.22.2018
• Date Posted: 06.22.2018 18:35
• Story ID: 281951
• Location: GRAYLING, MI, US
• Hometown: GRAYLING, MI, US