173rd Airborne Brigade Searches for Best Medic Among Their Ranks

Photo By Spc. Ryan Lucas | A U.S. Army medic paratrooper assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade tends to a notional casualty during a Best Medic Competition on Caserma Del Din, Italy, June 4-5, 2020. The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army's Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States Europe, Africa and Central Command areas of responsibility. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Lucas)  

ITALY

06.08.2020

Story by Spc. Ryan Lucas 

173rd Airborne Brigade

Vicenza, ITALY — 12 U.S. Army medic paratroopers assigned to various battalions within the 173rd Airborne Brigade participated in a brigade level Best Medic Competition over the course of two days on Caserma Ederle and Del Din, Vicenza, Italy, June 5, 2020.

The competition, which has been facilitated by the 173rd Brigade Support Battalion, is designed to build and maintain proficiency in tactical combat casualty care and related medic skill sets. The competition allows the brigade to select two primary and two alternate two-medic teams to represent the brigade at the Army Best Medic Competition taking place later this year.

“This is a competition where the medics from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, who have the Expert Field Medical Badge or the Combat Medical Badge, can compete for a chance to go to Fort Sam Houston, Texas to compete in the overall Army Best Medic Competition,” said Capt. Raymond Miller, a medical operations officer assigned to the 173rd BSB.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army's Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States Europe, Africa and Central Command areas of responsibility. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance.

“We’ve been assessed with a number of physical events such as the Army Combat Fitness Test, the Army Physical Fitness Test, litter carries, and tactical sled drags, as well as more soldier oriented tasks like clearing rooms. On top of that, of course, we were assessed on medical tasks and medical lanes,” said Spc. Brooks Carroll, a combat medic specialist in the 173rd BSB.

The medical tasks that the paratroopers have been tested on consist of “treating casualties with an emphasis on prolonged field care and mass casualty situations,” said Miller.

“The role of the medic is very broad,” said Carroll. “It goes from working in clinics, to providing assistance to [medical] providers, to battlefield trauma.” Because of this, he said, the “competition has put a strong emphasis on being able to perform at a high level, to have good medical interventions while being physically exhausted.”

“Out of the two day competition there’s a lot of rigorous tasks that they have to complete,” said Miller. “On the second day, towards the end, they have to do an unknown distance ruck march while also conducting prolonged field care on a notional casualty.”

While the two day competition is physically and mentally demanding, Miller does not believe that a single medic paratrooper will drop out.

“I think the medics in the 173rd are by far some of the best medics that I’ve seen in the Army. I think whoever we send as our first team to compete in the Army Best Medic Competition has a great chance of taking home first place,” said Miller.

• Date Taken: 06.08.2020
• Date Posted: 06.09.2020 09:38
• Story ID: 371662
• Location: IT