Photo By Maj. Christian Venhuizen | A U.S. Army flight medic administers medical care to Brig. Gen. Todd Traver, deputy...... read more read more
Brig. Gen. Todd Traver sat on a chair with fractures on his left arm and right leg, while a pastry chef tended to a massive gash on his head.
In an hour, he would find himself in a ravine, being tended to by an Army flight medic, and hoisted into a medical evacuation helicopter for a flight to the nearest Forward Resuscitative Surgical Detachment.
At the FRSD, a medical facility that can provide life saving care when a larger hospital is too far away, the helicopter lands and the main part of the scenario unfolds. Will they save him…will his wounds lead to something worse?
Traver is the deputy commanding general of the 807th Theater Medical Command that the FRSD falls under. His wounds are extensive simulations, akin to Hollywood-style special effects, applied by specially trained soldiers from across the Army Reserve’s Medical Readiness and Training Command. The event is Global Medic, a part of the broader Mojave Falcon exercise, and an opportunity for Army Reserve medical units to hone their skills and processes in a field environment.
“There is no better way to evaluate our healthcare system than being injected as a patient,” he said. “Inject” is the term used to describe the driving force of the scenario, prompting the action.
THE PASTRY CHEF
“I had a young E-4 (rank of specialist), Hernandez was her name, first time doing this…absolutely phenomenal,” said the general. “My wound looked so incredibly realistic. I’m super proud of her and I’m going to swing back and make sure I give her a (challenge) coin.”
Spc. Deyana Hernandez is an animal care specialist for the Army Reserve who owns her own pastry business as a pastry chef in Los Angeles. It’s her artistic skills as a pastry chef that are paying off in the MRTC’s Effects and Enabler shop.
“So pastry is like very detailed work, which helps me be very detailed in the moulaging for the military,” she said. “Moulage” is a French term that became synonymous with the art of creating simulated injuries and wounds.
Those soldiers, who go by the callsign “Hollywood,” are specially trained in special effects makeup and have access to a number of different tools and mannequins, some of which replicate injured dogs and humans with exceptional realism.
Hernandez, in her first year working moulage, uses gelatin to create wounds…a product she often uses in her kitchen. “I’m very familiar with gelatin and how it works,” she said. “It’s actually very sticky. It builds kind of nice. You can actually add stuff into it as well. The cotton balls that I added, you know when you cut into tissue, the tissue is all open and chunky.”
She mixed her gelatin with cotton balls and coloring as she built the bloody, fleshy, even chunky wound on Traver’s head.
Of course, this was after the general’s uniform was swapped out for clothing no longer in use by the Army, decorated with charcoal and fake blood, while sleeves adorned with open fractures fed by simulated blood were placed on an arm and a leg.
THE SCENARIO
Since Traver became a role player, he was assigned a handler to ensure his safety. Dressed with wounds of her own, the handler became the culprit…his driver who lost control of the vehicle that tossed him down a ravine.
Enter Maj. Emily Giusti, nurse, special effects technician and observer, coach/trainer with the MRTC. Her role in the scenario, driver of the ill-fated truck and subsequent burn victim.
“He was unrestrained and thrown from the vehicle and rolled down a ravine,” said Giusti. “The vehicle then caught fire, so I had airway injuries to my neck, but I was able to get out of the vehicle, run down and provide buddy aid to the general. His leg had a bleed and I stopped his bleed.”
She said the scenario was based on discussions with Traver.
His location and wounds required an Army helicopter, a medical evacuation or MEDEVAC, that lowered the equivalent of an Army emergency medical technician down to check on his wounds.
“I gotcha. I’m going to take good care of you ok,” said the medic to the general, who, in his roleplayer character, muttered in return about the Chicago Bears football team as he groaned in pain.
After the scenario was completed, Traver praised the medic and flight crew. “The flight medic was incredible,” Traver said. “As you know, I was down in a ravine. There was no way to extract me except to hoist me up.”
Traver worked with MRTC staff to determine the scenario. This particular scenario would also test the FRSD, timed to test them after they moved locations, catching them when they weren’t at their full capabilities.
THE MEDICAL PROVIDER
The general was snugly secured and hoisted into the hovering helicopter. Once on board, the medic provided more aid during the few minutes flight to the FRSD.
Litter teams ran out to greet the helicopter and carry the patient from the heat of the day into air conditioned tents. Physicians and other medical providers began their care, some recognizing Traver, others oblivious as they focused on treating his wounds.
Lt. Col. William Goodhue, with the 396th Field Hospital, was among those that didn’t realize who he had under his care.
“It did not at all, it did not register,” he said. “I think, had I recognized him, I think things would have shifted, that’s human nature for sure.” Goodhue was among those that rushed to the litter and carried it into the tent to begin treatment.
Outside the tent huddled a handful of soldiers who recognized the patient. The discussion was swift as they made their way back to their duties.
Traver, a former nurse himself, said he saw a lot of positives from his vantage point as the patient. “Obviously I was trying to stay in role, but listening to the conversation, the orders that were being given, how things were being relayed and the care being given, it was spot on….I’m just super proud of these guys. This entire exercise is the best that I’ve been involved in, in my 39 years in the military.”
As to his wounds, once his evacuation to a larger treatment facility was delayed, the FRSD proceeded to continue treating his wounds and began operating.
All a part of the MRTC’s scenario.
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.08.2025 12:45 |
| Story ID: | 499948 |
| Location: | FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 311 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, General receives head wound from pastry chef, medical training ensues, by MAJ Christian Venhuizen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
