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Centurions challenge Army and Navy Reserve medical units

  • Published
  • By Maj. Sean Casey
  • 78th Training Division
FORT A.P. HILL, Va. --  The 1st Medical Training Brigade aims to fulfill the "prepare" portion of the U.S. Army Reserve's "plan, prepare, provide" model. This model is designed for maintaining operational readiness of medical units during operations such as the current one, "Arctic Lightning Medic," taking place on Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, Jan. 10 to Jan. 30. The brigade's mission is to plan training scenarios based on current information and assess the performance of medical units.

The purpose "Arctic Lightning Medic" is to integrate into a concurrent operational exercise to test the full spectrum of medical care on the battlefield. This allows soldiers conducting training operations in the field to administer buddy aid, conduct casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) to unit medics, and for the casualty to eventually be medically evacuated (MEDEVAC) to higher levels of care. This integration of medical exercises into operational exercises taps into the complexities of battlefield medical assessment, treatment and transportation to be trained on by military medical service members.

Exercise designers from 1st Med. Tng. Bde. tie together many units who administer medical aid and transportation of casualties, and have them coordinate with an established combat support hospital into one exercise, said Col. Tom Motel, deputy exercise director, 1st Med. Tng. Bde.

Not only do unit medics and ground and air MEDEVAC units get training, but the surgeons, critical care nurses and doctors, pharmacy technicians and hospital administrators of the 75th Combat Support Hospital receive training by being a part of the overall exercise. It's important to know the U.S. Army Reserve provides 100 percent of the Total Force's medical groups and two-thirds of Army hospitals and medical brigades.

Today's scenario involves evacuating a host-nation patient from the battlefield and stabilizing the patient at the combat support hospital. Once the patient is stabilized, they're then transported to a simulated host-nation hospital. The scenario incorporates medical treatment and transportation units from the active duty Army, Army and Navy Reserve medical personnel, and also Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, which acted as the simulated host-nation facility.

Standardization is crucial to developing such an exercise and ensuring a successful training experience for the units on ground. "Every medical service member deserves a chance to look at and train on the most common injuries seen on the battlefield," said Col. Dave Thompson, exercise director, 1st Med. Tng. Bde. "That requires us to standardize the training lanes, synchronize with the OC/T academy, be experts on doctrine, and study lessons learned."

Like other training facilitators in the U.S. Army, 1st Med. Tng. Bde. personnel attend a observe coach / trainer (OC/T) academy to teach them how to best assess and guide units as they're challenged by the scenarios. "The academy reinforces 'guidance, guidance, guidance'," said Maj. Raymond Picklesimer, an Army critical care nurse and 1st Med. Tng. Bde. OC/T. "I review field and technical manuals, and spin up on the latest patient care and MEDEVAC doctrine before coming to an exercise."

U.S. Navy Reserve personnel from the Expeditionary Medical Facility Bethesda integrated into 75th Combat Support Hospital's operations. Inter-service operations of medical personnel are common during real-world deployments, and "Arctic Lightning Medic" afforded units the rare opportunity to train together.

"Many of us do similar jobs in the civilian world and this exercise gives us experience working in a field environment, which makes it more challenging," said Cmdr. Patrick Gregory, a doctor with the Expeditionary Medical Facility Bethesda. "Having OC/T's doing after action reviews is something I've never had in a training event."

The Human Worn Partial Task Surgical Simulator, commonly referred to as the "Cut Suit," is introduced into many of the scenarios 1st Medical Training Brigade plans. The anatomic "Cut Suit" is worn by a live simulated casualty and provides realistic look, feel and smell of the human body. Yes, smell. 1st Medical Training Brigade soldiers specializing in moulage, the term used for application of mock injuries for training purposes, provide realism to the units training during "Arctic Lightning Medic."

The medical exercise falls under the 78th Training Division's Warrior Exercise (WAREX) 78-15-01 "Arctic Lightning." The exercise has approximately 4,000 service members, mainly from the U.S. Army Reserve, training on four military installations; Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia., Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and Joint Readiness Training Center, Louisiana.

"Arctic Lightning" incorporates numerous aviation and special operations units from the active duty Army. Exercise planners sought to provide Army components the opportunity to train together per the 2012 Total Force Policy, along with offering inter-service training to enhance interoperability of the service branches.