Photo By Senior Airman Derrick Bole | U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy service members carry a manikin to an Army UH-60...... read more read more
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MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Joint force Operation Blue Horizon prepares military medical professionals for the fleet and field by teaching them to work together to save lives outside the wire at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.
Airmen and Sailors worked together to learn new ways of taking care of patients during Operation Blue Horizon from Jan. 30 to Feb. 9.
Operation Blue Horizon is a joint force operation that trains military medical professionals to provide care in a combat environment.
Service members participated in Tactical Combat Casualty Care, the Tactical Nurse Core Course, drilled evacuations out of U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawks, and more. The courses trained more than 300 service members over two weeks.
“Our mission is to prepare service members for real-life scenarios,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Justin Williams, Naval Medical Reserve Training Center Jacksonville operations officer. “It’s much different than just lifting weights, and we need our corpsmen prepared to save lives.”
Service members taking the TCCC course went through two days of classes and practical exercises before taking a hands-on exam on the third day. The exam started with rescuing a manikin from a smoking KC-135 Stratotanker crash test site, simulating a downed patient in a low-visibility, and breathe-restricting environment.
After bringing the patient away from the crash site and dragging them to safety, participants address random wounds determined by the TCCC cadre and used a gurney to carry the manikin to a U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk. From there they briefed the flight medic on the condition of the patient, and prepared the manikin for a casualty evacuation, all while being yelled at by the cadre.
“The goal is to maintain a solid fighting force,” said Chief Hospital Corpsman Victor Suanier, Naval Medical Forces Command lead TCCC instructor. “The stronger our medics are, the more people we can save outside the wire.”
On the day following the exam, the service members went to the Rattlesnake Point Army Reserve Center to practice military working dog medical care, mobile blood bag application, and maritime first aid.
One group went to the University of Southern Florida Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, one of the world’s largest free-standing medical facilities for training healthcare professionals. They toured the facility and attended lectures with several professors.
Operation Joint Horizon helps prepare our medical professionals for the joint combat environment of the future by combining work with Airmen, Sailors, and Soldiers.
“The joint environment allows our Sailors and Airmen to be the best in the world,” said Rear Adm. Eric Peterson, Naval Medical Forces Atlantic Navy Nurse Corps director. “We will tackle the future together.”
| Date Taken: | 02.09.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 02.09.2023 16:48 |
| Story ID: | 438225 |
| Location: | MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 344 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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