VILSECK, Germany - Scalpel Medics from C Troop, Regimental Support Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment donned their helmets and protective vests, and set up their medical tent April 9 -15, 2018 to conduct a validation exercise in the Grafenwoehr Training Area.
Army medical personnel are required to provide health care services in diverse locations and environments. The combat medics and medical providers of C Troop manage a role two treatment facility which includes basic and emergency primary care with laboratory and radiographic capabilities.
During this validation exercise, the Troops were also tested on their ability to provide prolonged medical care usually conducted at a role three facility such as a combat support hospital.
“Without a doubt, with this level of training, we’re going to be able to tell our Soldiers that regardless of the type of threat that we actually come across, our medics and are providers are going to be ready to take care of them regardless of the adversarial environment that we’re in and we are training for that environment on a daily basis,” said Maj. Daniel Weinstein, regimental surgeon.
Weinstein and observer controllers observed the medical personnel on how well they conducted triage, immediate patient care, prolonged patient care and evacuation.
They applied their knowledge in several scenarios. To make the training as realistic as possible, role players with moulage on to simulate real wounds acted like casualties from a battlefield. They moved around, yelled out in pain and interacted with the medics.
“It’s a lot more hands on with moulage so we are getting a lot more realistic feel for treating casualties,” said Spc. Andrew Hansen, a combat medic with C Troop for two years. “It helps us in identifying wounds and having to actually look for them instead of (being told) what’s wrong with the patient. It makes us use our brains and see the wounds ourselves and learn how to treat them.”
Sgt. Shane Wallace, who has been a combat medic with C Troop for three months, is an assistant on one of the patient ‘beds’ during the simulations. He helps evaluate the casualty by identifying wounds and injuries, providing proper treatment and recording findings. He said he learns a lot from his supervisors who have combat deployment experience. They give tough scenarios that ensure his confidence is high.
“If you are doing too good, they will throw a curve ball at you. That is kind of a coaching method,” he said. “If they are not giving you things that you are going to struggle with (during training) they’re not going to put you in a position to succeed.”
Usually, once the casualties are treated and stabilized, the evacuation team takes over and transports them to a role three medical facility. This training exercise, however, C Troop combat medics and medical providers had to continue monitoring the patients in a holding area.
Weinstein said the U.S. military is looking at other parts of the world like Africa where medical facilities need to be set up for prolonged field care because of the size of the continent and because of the logistics that are involved in moving patients.
“They have to hold patients for a lot longer and as we take a look at the threat environment that we are in (here in Europe) and the potential for this environment to become contested especially with restricted airspace possibilities,” he added. “We are coming to realize that we may need to actually hold patients longer as well and with that we’re trying to enhance the skills of the line medics and the providers so that they can go ahead and do the things that are typically not done at that level.”
After a week of challenging scenarios and extensive after action reviews that evaluated the performance of the Soldiers on what they did and how they can improve, Scalpel Medics are more prepared to take on a medical mission.
“Our Troops here are working their hardest to ensure that they’re up to date with all the medical knowledge and clinical practice guidelines that are out there for prolonged field care and for tactical combat casualty care,” Weinstein concluded. “Without a doubt they’re putting their efforts in so that they can insure that Troops on the battlefield will survive their injuries and be able to come back home to their families.”