Photo By Sgt. Maj. Michael Noggle | CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait- It started off with 82 contestants, and finished with six. No,...... read more read more
Spc. Michael R. Noggle
CFLCC PAO/11th PAD
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait- It started off with 82 contestants, and finished with six. No, it's not this year's American Idol competition, but it had participants leaving exhausted and disappointed.
Soldiers in the combat medical field around Kuwait traveled here to test for the Expert Field Medical Badge March 27 through April 1.
"This is the first EFMB competition done in Kuwait," said Lt. Col. John Farr, EFMB course director. "It's a chance for all medics to come out to the field to practice and get trained not only on the medical skills, but skills of soldiering as well."
The course standards meet all the requirements of competitions conducted in a non-deployed environment. In addition, it was the first time in the competition that Soldiers were required to go through the testing in interceptor body armor.
"Being a medic in the field is not an easy task," he said. "We put Soldiers under stress during training so they'll know how to perform when they're doing the real thing up north."
According to Farr, the success rate of the written exam is 50 percent, while the historical pass rate of the EFMB competition is 18 percent.
Aside from a written exam and the tasks of combat medics, each participant was tested on performing function checks for the M-16 rifle and M-9 pistol, day and night land navigation, responding to a chemical attack, reacting under fire to treat a patient and then calling in a medical evacuation.
"You train as best you can in the most realistic situations and put stressors on the candidates," Farr said. "They'll get down to performing real life and they'll do a better job."
"I'm not used to getting all that hands-on combat training," said Spc. Nathan Anguita, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment field medic.
He added that not only did the course tune up his book smarts but the physical conditioning pushed medics to their limits.
Of the original 82 Soldiers who began the event, only 22 made it through the written exam on the first day.
"Mentally, it was very difficult," said 1st Lt. Leanne Masserini, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Medical Brigade. "I had to study a lot."
Those who survived the exam were just getting started. Over the next five days, the book knowledge was put into action out in the field; a failure to complete a test meant an early trip back to the tents.
"There were a lot of little details you could screw up," Anguita said. "The pressure is on memorizing the correct proceduresâ?¦ It's actually been more physically challenging than I thought it would be."
"Each night I think of what I am doing the next day and what I need to accomplish," Masserini said. "Take it one day at a time or one mistake will get you."
Anguita and Masserini said the litter obstacle course put the most strain on them.
Four-man teams were required to carry a 180-pound patient more than 750 meters through diverse terrain features while encountering enemy fire.
"There are a lot of physical aspects that go into the event," Farr said. "Going through the obstacle course in the desert with an IBA is physically challenging."
On the fifth day, those remaining in the fight completed a 12-mile road march as the final test. As the six Soldiers crossed the finish line, they were met by the cadre and staff who put them through the challenge.
"If the competition wasn't like this, they wouldn't call it the EMFB," Anguita said. "We had to take the punches as they cameâ?¦ This is the hardest thing I've done, both mentally and physically."
| Date Taken: | 04.03.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 04.03.2006 10:00 |
| Story ID: | 5930 |
| Location: | CAMP BUEHRING, KW |
| Web Views: | 132 |
| Downloads: | 28 |
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