Photo By Staff Sgt. Matthew Britton | Medical Paratroopers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division,...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Medic! And other cries for help were the only sounds that could be heard echoing through an open field as dawn approached during Combined Joint Operational Access Exercise, 16-01, Nov. 5, 2015. The foggy sky set the scene for the third day as simulated wounded Paratroopers and civilians lay in wait as medical Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division race to their aid.
The first two days of the health care Soldiers training led up to this mass casualty scenario, where the troops responded to a large scale call of injured patients on the battlefield.
“Today was our MASCAL scenario,” said Capt. Alyssa Noltner, brigade medical officer, 2nd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. “Which was a 43 patient scenario, exercising evacuation, triage treatment and utilization of the (Combat Support Hospital) CSH.”
The first responders and Forward Surgical Team reacted quickly with initial treatment and were able to stabilize casualties for transportation to higher levels of care if need be.
Twelve kilometers from the site of triage, was the 28th Combat Support Hospital, 44th Medical Brigade. A unit with further life-saving capabilities and ready to receive patients.
“Our facility is a 44 bed, early entry hospital package,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joel Haarstad, senior practical nurse, 20th Combat Support Hospital. “We have a total of 24 (Intensive Care Units) ICU beds and the ability to have two fully functioning operating beds. We also have additional X-ray capabilities, lab, blood bank, pharmacy, med supply and med maintenance.”
These training exercises provide crucial, real world scenarios for medical Soldiers to hone and refine their skills.
“One of the things we want to do is stress the teams out here to see how they can do care, not just to the point of injury, but also at the collective level,” said Maj. Eric Sigmon, surgeon, 2nd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. “When the doctor taking care of an injured Soldier can direct his team to do appropriate intervention, not just a tourniquet, but do things like chest tubes, pressure dressings and administer medications safely. Those are the things that we’re looking to improve through this exercise.”
Even though they're in a field environment; the health care professionals still aim to provide the best treatment possible.
“We’re training to be able to provide care in an austere environment where there’s no access to a hospital,” said Sigmon. “We’re running complex casualty scenarios to stress our systems and ensure that we can provide world class care in a field. It's important to do this training because it exercises things that we don't see when we're doing clinical medicine back in the garrison environment.”
At the end of the day these medical Paratroopers fight back death together with one goal in mind; saving lives and helping those in need.
“I like the trauma, I like the rush and I was fortunate enough to do this work,” said Spc. Raymond Quitugua, combat medic, medical platoon, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. “It's always rewarding knowing that you did something to actually affect somebody's outcome. Not everyone has the opportunity to intervene in someone's life and make the difference, you're the deciding factor.”
| Date Taken: | 11.05.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 11.06.2015 16:55 |
| Story ID: | 181246 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 344 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, CJOAX 16-01: Saving lives under mass hysteria, by SSG Matthew Britton, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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