Photo By Senior Airman Joshua Hastings | U.S. Air Force Airman Ashlei Merry, 6th Medical Group dental technician, applies a...... read more read more
Subscribe
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --
Throughout their military careers, Airmen may deploy to combat contested areas and need to know how to respond to emergencies.
From May 23-26, the 6th Medical Group conducted a Tactical Combat Casualty Care course for members on base teaching them how to treat traumatic wounds.
“TCCC is a course that teaches people the basic steps on how to save a life,” said Tech. Sgt. Renique Carey, a TCCC instructor assigned to the 6th MDG. “There are different tiers of TCCC training which are used for medical and non-medical personnel.”
Basic trauma care concepts are taught to future Airmen at Basic Military Training, but a more in-depth training is required for Airmen as they progress through their military careers. Non-medical Airmen must go through the TCCC course once every three years and be trained within one year of going on a deployment.
Instructors provide mentorship to students throughout each course so they can feel confident in knowing how to handle potential life-threatening injuries.
“Each TCCC lesson has a didactic portion followed by a skill station,” Carey said. “This allows students to practice those skills and grasp the information they’re being taught. If I’m teaching students how to pack wounds in the morning, I am going to have them practice wound packing in the afternoon while that information is still fresh.”
Each TCCC course ends with a final assessment where students incorporate everything they’ve learned in a simulated event. TCCC concepts are directed towards treating wounded members in combat, but can also be applicable to scenarios in everyday life.
“My job as an instructor is important because somebody might need to use these skills one day,” Carey said. “You could be driving home and see a car accident where someone would need a full body trauma assessment. You would use the same skills taught in this course directed towards combat scenarios as you would in a car accident.”
One of the students going through this week’s course was Lt. Col. Ronald Forster, who recently took command of the 927th Aerospace Medicine Squadron.
“Like with any military course, you’re going to have a diverse range of experience and that’s fantastic for training,” Forster said. “I have been deployed and have seen injuries. During this TCCC training, I was able to offer beneficial information to help those [students] who haven’t been exposed to that.”
Prior to TCCC curriculum being used in the Air Force, Airmen were solely taught using Self Aid Buddy Care training. Unlike SABC, TCCC is a higher standard of trauma care that makes students operate under pressure during simulated combat scenarios.
“SABC taught you the fundamentals of medical care for yourself and your wingman when in a combat situation,” Forster said. “That combat situation is being implemented in TCCC, which is fantastic. The first time providing medical treatment in a combat environment shouldn’t be in combat.”
TCCC courses like the one conducted this week are offered throughout the year at MacDill and will continue to strengthen the readiness of Airmen.
| Date Taken: | 05.26.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.26.2022 15:17 |
| Story ID: | 421647 |
| Location: | TAMPA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 113 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, MacDill Airmen enhance readiness with trauma care course, by SrA Joshua Hastings, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
