Photo By Sgt. Marcus Floyd | Soldiers with the 115th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st...... read more read more
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HOHENFELS, Germany - After receiving fire from opposing forces, Soldiers with the 115th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division rushed with stretchers to assist their fallen comrades Nov. 3 in Hohenfels, Germany, during Combined Resolve III.
With no time to spare, the injured Soldiers were brought to the aid station on Forward Operating Base West, a base of operations on the west side of the Hohenfels Training Area.
Upon arriving at the station, Soldiers with the medical company of the 115th BSB moved quickly and efficiently to save the injured.
“They call it the golden hour,” said Pfc. Phylemon Taylor, a medic with the 115th BSB. “Those minutes can mean life or death for the patient.”
As part of the exercise, Soldiers were given casualty cards that listed their injuries so the medics with the 115th BSB could practice their skills.
“The [mass-casualty exercise] went really well yesterday, everyone including non-medical personnel performed really well,” said Taylor. “It gives people a relatively safe environment to make mistakes and learn from them.”
During the mass-casualty exercise, the 115th BSB treated and diagnosed nine casualties, three of which were killed in action.
Unlike many of the other Soldiers participating in Combined Resolve III, the medics have to balance their mission in the exercise with their mission to provide actual health care for Soldiers.
However, Taylor, who’s been in the military for a year, takes every opportunity to improve his skills.
“I’ve heard it said, ‘Train as you fight; fight as you train,’ and I try to react the same way,” said Taylor.
Taylor said the opportunity to train while also working with real-world patients is invaluable.
Balancing both the real-world and the exercise isn’t without its challenges. Coming to Germany presents problems not common to Fort Hood, Texas.
“Being in an unfamiliar environment ... and adjusting to a different climate brings along with it different types of injuries,” said Capt. Joanna Sanford, a physician’s assistant with the 115th BSB. “We wouldn’t ordinarily see cold weather injuries.”
Along with the challenges of the cold, the medics face other obstacles.
Part of Combined Resolve III involves Soldiers working with U.S. and NATO allies.
“There is a language barrier, but some of them do speak English,” said Sanford. “Fortunately our Romanian casualty did speak English and he could communicate his injuries. If not, we do have someone who’d be able to interpret, but they’ve been excellent to work with.”
Furthermore, due to medical needs back at Fort Hood, only a small portion of the 115th BSB came to Germany.
With a complete medical company, the 115th BSB would have a brigade surgeon, three physician assistants and a full compliment of medics.
“Normally, we’d have 15 medics on the ground as opposed to four,” said Sanford. “So, we are literally a skeleton crew.”
Even with a smaller crew and none of their ancillary teams, the medics are able to operate and maintain a Role 2 aid station, a higher level of combat care.
In the military, there are several levels of combat care. A Role 1 physician is traditionally placed with an infantry unit to apply on-the-spot care, such as tourniquets and splints, until the patient is evacuated to a Role 2 aid station, where a surgeon and other auxiliary levels of care are present.
“We’re triaging, treating and evacuating as a Role 2,” said Sanford. “Even though we don’t have all the personnel and equipment we would normally have for that kind of operation, we are ... simulating some of it, and using some of the tenant units here for replacements.”
Despite the lack of numbers, the 115th medical company successfully completed their first mass-casualty exercise, said Sanford.
“Our real world mission as [a medical company] would be to do exactly this in a real combat environment,” said Sanford. “So we’re basically here to test our system to make sure our processes, procedures and techniques are effective and that all of the medics are trained in their respective task.”
| Date Taken: | 11.03.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.06.2014 15:36 |
| Story ID: | 147235 |
| Location: | HOHENFELS, DE |
| Web Views: | 122 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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