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CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - While the military cannot always predict when an attack will happen, leaders within the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team, Mississippi Army National Guard, can ensure their Soldiers are ready to respond if an attack does occur.
Medical personnel with Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 2d Battalion, 198th Armored Regiment practiced their skills at reacting to a mass casualty simulation during the unit’s Exportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) exercise at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Mississippi, July 25, 2020.
XCTC is a brigade-level field training exercise that provides Soldiers combat training center experiences that enhance unit combat readiness.
The mass casualty exercise is an opportunity to test junior and veteran medics’ ability to perform well under stressful circumstances.
“It’s going to keep everyone’s skills sharp,” said acting Platoon Sergeant Sgt. Johnny Johnson. “We have a lot of newer medics in our ranks that we need to make sure that they are not going to freeze in any kind of stressful situation.”
During the exercise, medics face numerous casualties with varying degrees of injury that require assessment and treatment as quickly as possible.
According to Johnson, medics use the term “I.D.M.E.” that ranks their patients’ emergency status as Immediate, Delayed, Minimal, and Expectant which helps the unit prioritize casualties based on severity of injury.
Artillery simulation rounds and role players provide a realistic combat environment for the medics to work.
“It was pretty chaotic for the most part,” said 2-198th Medical Officer 2nd Lt. Akayla Powell. “I think that they held themselves together pretty well to get the care that everyone needed.”
Once the exercise was complete, Observer/Controllers from the First Army Division conducted an After Action Review to assess the unit’s strengths and weaknesses during the event.
Powell said exercises like this highlight the unit’s proficiency and also areas of opportunity for the unit to grow so they are prepared to face real-life scenarios.
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2020 10:44 |
| Story ID: | 374617 |
| Location: | CAMP SHELBY, MS, US |
| Hometown: | MEMPHIS, TN, US |
| Hometown: | PELHAM, AL, US |
| Hometown: | SOUTHHAVEN, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Mississippi’s Cottonmouth Battalion React to Mass Casualty Exercise, by 2LT Jarvis Mace, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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