Warrant officer serves as lead planner for mass casualty events at Saber Strike 18

Courtesy Photo | Providers at the Role 2 walk through the role players medical needs, and if the patient requires further care.  

KAISERSLAUTERN, GERMANY

09.13.2018

Courtesy Story

21st Theater Sustainment Command

A senior warrant officer from 30th Medical Brigade led the planning efforts for three different mass casualty training events in support of U.S. Army Europe’s premier training event.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Daniel West, 30th Medical Brigade food safety officer, was the officer-in-charge of three separate mass casualty events for the brigade during Saber Strike 18, June 2018. 30th Medical Brigade exercised the entire patient treatment and evacuation system, from the point of injury to definitive care, using three major mass casualty exercises tied to real life scheduled high-risk events during the training.

“This event enabled me to refine my skillset for the military decision-making process,” West said. “I made multiple formal presentations for general officer-level audiences which forced me to answer tough questions about the brigade’s Health Service Support plan and how to integrate our allies."

The exercise allowed 30th Medical Brigade to test point-of-injury care; ground evacuation with ambulance exchange points; intermediate care and patient holding; hospitalization; and strategic evacuation using a C-130 aircraft from a forward airfield in Poland to Ramstein Air Base for treatment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

The mass casualty events required months of planning, coordination, and synchronization with attached units from the U.S. Army Reserve, National Guard, U.S. Air Force, United Kingdom, and Polish military who facilitated the events. Planning a training event of this magnitude required a focus on joint multinational Health Service Support, understanding the operating environment, and developing a way to truly test the medical continuum of care without compromising the real-world medical coverage.

Dedicated role players from Regional Health Command-Europe were used at the point of injury and evacuated to LRMC for definitive care. The training event allowed for observers, coaches and trainers to provide constructive feedback to the brigade for multiple mission essential tasks. The event also fostered multi-national relationships and interoperability, and integrated the Air Force Evacuation Liaison Team at the 212 Combat Support Hospital for real and notional strategic evacuation procedures.

“I was glad to have a strong team supporting me throughout the process and am a stronger asset for our brigade through it,” West said. “I would encourage all Veterinary Corps officers to be willing to step outside their comfort zones in order to learn about Health Service Support and use it as a podium to promote Veterinary Services.”

• Date Taken: 09.13.2018
• Date Posted: 09.13.2018 08:48
• Story ID: 292567
• Location: KAISERSLAUTERN, DE