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FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, Calif. – As the U.S. Army Reserve refocuses its training efforts on preparing for large-scale combat operations (LSCO), exercises like Mojave Falcon, which integrates Global Medic and Combat Support Training Exercise (CSTX), have become critical platforms for testing and refining how Army Reserve medical forces will operate in tomorrow’s complex, high-casualty battlefield. At the center of this transformation is the Medical Readiness and Training Command (MRTC), the driving force behind the design, development, and execution of realistic medical training environments that push Army Reserve medical units to their limits.
MRTC serves as the exercise designer for Global Medic 25-01 with a clear mission: stress participating units based on their commander's objectives and ensure they leave the exercise better trained and more combat-ready.
“We don’t just train functionally,” explained Brig. Gen. Chris Piland, Commanding General of MRTC, and exercise director for Global Medic 25-01. “We create an environment that challenges both the technical and tactical proficiency of our medical units, contextualizing tasks within the realities of a future battlefield.”
This mission begins months in advance. MRTC connected with unit training audiences during planning workshops to determine their goals. MRTC then designed custom scenarios and injects to evaluate units not only on their clinical skills but also on their ability to operate in combat conditions, where medical care, logistics, and soldier skills are intricately intertwined.
Piland’s four foundational tenets that shaped the operational environment MRTC built are:
Warfighter Orientation: The ultimate goal is to support and restore combat power. It’s not just about teaching how to perform medical tasks, but how to do them under fire, with limited resources, in service to the broader operational mission.
Integration with Sustainment: Army medicine never operates in isolation. MRTC emphasizes integration with sustainment units to ensure realistic execution of logistics, movement, and life support. This interdependence mirrors real battlefield conditions where medical and sustainment units must synchronize to keep the force alive and fighting.
Technical and Tactical Proficiency: From surgeons to combat medics to planners, everyone must master their technical role while operating in a tactical environment. Soldiers must be able to shoot, move, and communicate because if they can’t survive on the battlefield, they can’t deliver care.
Experimentation: While not detracting from core training, MRTC reserves space for experimentation. By inviting partners like the Medical Center of Excellence (MEDCOE), MRTC tests emerging medical practices and concepts in live training environments, paving the way for future changes to doctrine, equipment, and force structure.
Among MRTC’s organization is the Effects and Enablers (E&E) battalion, which is the engine behind the realism. With more than 210 human and canine trauma mannequins, cut suits designed for simulated surgery, and a cadre of role players and moulage specialists, the E&E team replicates the chaos of war. Their injury scenarios, heavily informed by lessons from Ukraine and modern LSCO theory, range from intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike effects to high-volume blast trauma.
Integration of Medical and Sustainment Assets
One of the most critical elements of Global Medic 25-01 is the deliberate overlap between medical and sustainment injects. The volume of expected casualties in LSCO, potentially thousands per day, means medical assets alone cannot retrieve and treat all wounded soldiers. Sustainment partners are trained and evaluated on CASEVAC (casualty evacuation) using logistics vehicles that, after delivering supplies, return with casualties to clear the battlefield.
“This is how we get after the LSCO problem set,” said Piland. “By deliberately forcing cross-functional collaboration between medical and sustainment elements, we’re helping both sides understand their roles in keeping the operational tempo moving.”
Global Medic 25-01 aims to be more than just a training event. It validates or challenges emerging ideas about field surgical care, casualty flow, and unit design, informing the next generation of doctrine and Army medical capabilities.
“The training we’re doing now will shape future medical structure, equipping, and doctrinal development,” explained Piland. “We’re not just training units to operate in today’s fight; we’re designing the fight of tomorrow.”
In partnership with the 807th TMC, MRTC’s efforts culminate in delivering combat-ready medical formations that can not only treat trauma but thrive in contested, chaotic combat environments. Global Medic is a proving ground where the future of military medicine is forged under pressure, in collaboration, and with an eye toward the battlefield realities of tomorrow.
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2025 19:40 |
| Story ID: | 501626 |
| Location: | FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Designing the Future of Battlefield Medicine: Inside Global Medic 25-01 and Mojave Falcon, by LTC Kristin Porter, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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