HOHENFELS, Germany – The 212th Combat Support Hospital teamed up with soldiers from the United Kingdom’s 2nd Medical Brigade for Saber Guardian 2019 at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center June 3- 24. The combined forces focused on their communication efforts with testing new equipment to enhance their interoperability during this training.
“Communication between coalition partners is the big thing we’re going after,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth Walters, the 212th CSH acquisitions core officer.
During the exercise the units trained with the Mission Partner Environment, a network that provides users of different countries with the ability to talk, email, web, file share, track weather, logistics and plan.
“With [the MPE] being able to talk on one network helps us out in being able to have communication not just internally, U.S. to U.S., but now with the capabilities to communicate with our coalition partners,” Walters said.
Walters notes that in the past, the communication between coalition forces was limited due to each nation having different communication systems. The MPE serves as a medium for efficient communication with the allied nations.
To remain efficient, Soldiers are cross-trained in the different hospitals to learn how each unit operates in case they are needed there.
“It’s very important to integrate and learn the same terminology that each country uses,” said Lt. Col John O’Dwyer, a neurologist assigned to the 306th Hospital Support Regiment.in the U.K.
O’Dwyer served as the combined hospital’s only neurologist during the mass casualty exercise and is currently the only neurologist in the entire British Army. He says that nearly 20 percent of all medical things that go wrong with people are neurological, without that expertise it’s common for people to get misdiagnosed.
The joint efforts of the two countries medical units provided a full spectrum of capabilities, such as having a neurologist on hand to support the overall mission during Saber Guardian.
“It’s great that we have this working relationship with our allies,” said Master Sgt. Christian Cuyno, 212th CSH Operations Noncommissioned Officer.
“They have become very familiar with our equipment and can now come into our facilities with ease.”
In past exercises, the 212th CSH has been paired with 2nd Med BDE thus allowing the exercises to run smoothly.
“I have been in a lot of MASCAL exercises, and this is one of the smoothest ones I’ve experienced,” Cuyno said.
Date Taken: | 06.24.2019 |
Date Posted: | 07.02.2019 08:49 |
Story ID: | 330049 |
Location: | HOHENFELS , BAYERN, DE |
Web Views: | 486 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 212th Combat Support Hospital Tests New Capabilities with U.K. Soldiers, by SSG Tristin Maximilian, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.