Lethal Warrior Opens the Gates to Global Medic

Photo By Sgt. Sarah Martens | U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Heather Pierce applies camouflage on July 12,2018 at Fort Hunter Liggett, California. Four members of each team were graded on their camouflage as part of the Lethal Warrior training which took place during the initial phase of the Global Medic exercise.  

FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, CA, UNITED STATES

07.12.2018

Story by Spc. Sarah Martens 

Exercise News Day

FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, Calif. – As the sun rises over the California desert, Army Reserve Soldiers of the 396th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) have already begun their task - Lethal Warrior.

This test, which acts as training gate to get to the main exercise, moves Soldiers from individual warrior tasks, up to collective tasks and then finally into the main medical exercise, Global Medic.

Soldiers from the 396th CSH, largely out of Washington state, make up a portion of the joint and multinational medical and support staff conducting the Global Medic exercise at Fort Hunter Liggett throughout the month of July.

The first phase of this year’s annual training, dubbed Lethal Warrior, is intended to test and improve the basic skills participants need as Soldiers. The events include warrior tasks and drills, such as map reading, reacting to indirect fire, tactical movement, and first aid.

Specifically, on the Schoonover training site, Soldiers from the 396th CSH have spent the Lethal Warrior phase sharpening their warrior skills. The two days of rotating through classes culminated in a hands-on test July 12.

“It’s going to be beneficial because these are lifesaving skills that I think every Soldier should know,” said U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Christopher Scott, a nurse with the 396th CSH. “Especially with our unit being in its deployment cycle, if we do get called up to go, we have our 30 days, 60 days,notice. These skills are definitely going to be something that we need to know in case we need to use them.”

Spc. Whitney Morrow, also with the 396th CSH, agreed, adding that having the opportunity to practice what they learned in a field environment was beneficial.

“It is important to be proficient in these warrior drills even if they aren’t things this unit uses often,” she said.

Ensuring individual readiness through the Lethal Warrior tasks is the first step in the crawl-walk-run plan the command has created for Global Medic. It is intended to refresh the Soldier’s skills from individual to collective tasks.

“Planning, preparation, practice and performance - the team put it together and had the planning of it done, prepared all the equipment, prepared the lanes, prepared the sites that we are now going to do,” said Col. Michael Alvis, commander of the 396th CSH, while out in the field assessing the lanes. “They’re out here doing the movement together as teams for battle drills; and then, after that practice goes on, they’re in their lanes and they’re doing their performance evaluations.”

Following the crawl and walk phases of training, the unit will set up their combat support hospital and operate real-world based scenarios for the duration of the Global Medic exercise. The hospital will have 44 beds and will be built adjacent to the training site on Schoonover once Global Medic kicks off in the coming days.

“Coming out here gives us a chance as a whole hospital to get together and to really see how things work, see how we mesh, because it’s super important,” said Scott. “You don’t want to deploy and then not be cohesive going into a deployment.”

Scott said, although many members of his unit perform similar jobs both in the Army Reserve and in their daily lives, they do not often get a chance to work together in a hospital environment. This opportunity prepares the unit to work together to face whatever comes their way.

“We’re just going to be one of many medical units that will be ready and willing to go whenever we’re needed to go, wherever we’re needed to go,” added Scott.

• Date Taken: 07.12.2018
• Date Posted: 07.15.2018 13:54
• Story ID: 284292
• Location: FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, CA, US
• Hometown: FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, CA, US