Photo By Joseph Siemandel | Spc. Raymond Alonso, a combat medic specialist with Charlie Company, 181st Brigade...... read more read more
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Spc. Raymond Alonso, a combat medic specialist with Charlie Company, 181st Brigade Support Battalion, added his name to the short list of individuals who have earned the Expert Field Medical Badge on their first attempt – and became the first member of his unit to accomplish this feat in more than a decade.
“Of the three expert badges, including the Expert Infantry and Expert Soldier, the Expert Field Medical Badge has a notoriously low pass rate. It is physically, mentally and technically demanding,” said Capt. Jim Kovell, commander for Charlie Company, 181st Brigade Support Battalion. “For comparison the Expert Field Medical Badge has only a 29 percent pass rate. Compare that to the 50 percent pass rate of Ranger School, it shows how difficult it is to earn.”
Alonso joined approximately 150 other Army medics who completed the week-long test on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. from Oct 11 to 15, 2022. The evaluation consisted of a written test which assesses the institutional knowledge of the candidates. Candidates who pass the written portion advance to a Physical Fitness Assessment. Candidates that pass the physical assessment will move on to the Land Navigation portion of the test, where candidates demonstrate their individual proficiency in navigating from one point to another, while dismounted, without the aid of electronic navigation devices. Candidates must correctly annotate and punch at least three out of four points in under three hours to receive a GO for both day and night land navigation.
“The land navigation course on JBLM is difficult because there are no distinct markers, you basically just have to shoot your azimuth and trust your pace count,” said Alonso.
After passing the land navigation portion, candidates move on to the three testing lanes with a varying number of tested skills per lane. These lanes test the practical ability and attention to detail of candidates while performing evacuation, Tactical Combat Casualty Care and warrior skills tasks. In order to receive a "GO" and continue, candidates must pass nine out of 10 evacuation tasks, all Tactical Combat Casualty Care critical tasks, 10 out of 12 Tactical Combat Casualty Care non-critical tasks, and nine out of 10 warrior skills tasks. Candidates that pass this portion will then move to a 12-mile road march that has to be completed within three hours, completely crossing the finish line carrying their individual field equipment. Within five minutes after a candidate crosses the finish line, the final event begins. The final event is to clear, disassemble, assemble, and perform a functions check on an M4 or M16 rifle in five minutes or less. This final event is a critical task.
“It is a hard badge to earn, but crossing that finish line after the final event, knowing I had done it was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders,” said Alonso. “It felt so good, I was on cloud 9.”
The Expert Field Medical Badge is the most sought after peacetime award an Army Medic can achieve and is recognized at excellence among Army medical professionals.
“As we were doing the final award ceremony, I found out I was the only National Guard member to earn the badge. So many soldiers kept coming up to me asking about the National Guard and were amazed,” said Alonso.
Kovell says he isn’t surprised that it was Alonso that earned this prestigious award.
“If you ask any of his battle buddies or NCOs, there was no doubt he was going to crush it in the test,” said Kovell. “He is a smart and dedicated medic and one of our rising stars in the field.”
While Alonso gets praised, he fully admits it was a team effort to accomplish the feat.
“I had 10 National Guard soldiers join me in a two-week train up before the testing. We shared best practices and knowledge that helped me,” said Alonso. “When I got back to drill that next day, everyone was asking me questions and congratulating me and I just wanted to share as much as I could about the testing.”
Alonso is set to return to the University of Washington next year where he plans to join the Army Reserve Officer Training Corp., earn his commission and apply for medical school.
| Date Taken: | 10.21.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 10.21.2022 16:39 |
| Story ID: | 431825 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 493 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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