Photo By Maj. Leslie Reed | Oregon Army National Guard medics Sgt. Samuel Villalta, Oregon Training Command; Pfc....... read more read more
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SALEM, Ore. – It came as no surprise that Specialist Kimberly Harless had done her homework. A combat medic specialist with 1249th Engineer Battalion and an Oregon State University public health student, she had canvased her brother Conner (also an Oregon Army Guard medic), to help set expectations ahead of her first annual combat medic refresher training, held at Camp Rilea, in late January.
“I knew initially that we would be doing some good training that I don’t get at my unit,” she recalls, “which I really wanted. I knew we would be doing things similar to Advanced Individual Training (AIT), like a field training exercise, so I was looking forward to doing ‘live action’, hands-on, scenario-based training to help boost my confidence and secure in my abilities as a medic.”
More than 15 Combat Medic Specialists, including both Harless’ attended the week and a half course, which covered everything from hemorrhaging practical exercises to IV therapy, training that more closely aligned with their initial entry training, “you do a lot of trauma-based training at AIT and when you get to your unit, it’s a little bit of a shock because you have a lot of clinical stuff you have to do and we don’t focus on that as much as a combat medic in AIT.”
Sgt. Bailee Stauch, an Army medical instructor assigned to the 249th Regional Training Institute (RTI), explained the diverse group of attendees, “All of the students are 68Ws, a few are in school in medical career fields, we have some that are current active EMTs, and we have some newer, less experienced medics this year.”
For Stauch, much like Harless, it was also her first time attending, only as an instructor. “We were able to pick the subjects we are most comfortable with, or that we feel confident about teaching” she said, “Sometimes we choose ones that also help broaden us as instructors, we want to be well-rounded.”
When decision time came, she remembers, “I selected abdominal trauma, thoracic trauma, and triage. I selected triage specifically because I came from Charlie MED (Charlie Company, 141st Brigade Support Battalion) where mass casualty (MASCAL) events are really our bread and butter.”
With seven years at Charlie MED, Stauch had “grown as a medic there and came to RTI. I hope to be here for a couple of years and then move on. It’s a great broadening assignment before going back out to the force.”
Aa a young man, Staff Sgt. Daniel Garcilazo, a medic with 1186th Military Police Company, had a tough, but honest conversation with his mom. “My mother told me when I was young that she would not be able to afford to send me to school,” recalls Garcilazo, “I was sixteen, I said, I hate leadership, I’m never going to be able to deal with anyone telling me what to do. And seventeen came around and we had a real talk and was like, well this is an option…I started planning, and thought I’m going to make this happen.”
For Garcilazo “doing medical training, reigniting the fire, I very much intend to pursue the physician assistant route,” he says, “talking to Col. Van Horn (Oregon Army National Guard State Surgeon) and Maj. Burns (Physician Assistant), they are great resources and I’ve been picking their brain on how to set myself up for success.”
Since completing his initial entry training in 2009, Garcilazo, who on the military side has deployed with both 2nd Battalion, 218th Field Artillery and 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry as a medic, has worked on the civilian side as both a medical assistant (immediate care medicine) and managing electronic medical records systems.
“I joined as a medic because I needed something to do in real life,” Garcilazo said. “And it directly translated into being a medical assistant... and I would say it also helped me become more disciplined. I am somebody that my whole family comes to – not just for medical advice, but someone they can look up too. The kids look up to me, it’s nice to feel, to be that leadership.”
His mother has also, he says, “voiced her pride in the man that I’ve become.”
“I joined and it turned into more,” recalls Garcilazo, “It gave me discipline, benefits, comradery, support, its endless the ways we benefit.”
Harless too dreams of pursuing more, “I want to become a nurse, that’s my goal” she says. Joining the Guard was part of her continued plan to “…push myself to get outside of my comfort zone.”
“Emergency medicine,” she says, “I love that it will be applicable anywhere. My skills and knowledge won’t just be used in the National Guard or if I become a nurse one day, there are so many scenarios where you can be that one person, instead of being a bystander.
Garcilazo appreciates that as a medic, “You’re relied on, and you’re a professional.” And indeed, they are, it’s medics that give confidence to Soldiers down range, confidence that they will be taken care of should the worst day happen.
As we transition from a counterinsurgency battlefield to Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO), one of the very subjects addressed within Oregon’s multi-day course, medics must be able to face “challenges unseen since World War II” write U.S. Army officers, Lt. Col. Matthew K. Marsh and Capt. Ryan L. Hampton, “…with contested air and ground movement along with increased lethality associated with emerging weapons systems, casualties in future LSCO will require critical care for more prolonged periods,” requiring “enhanced skills at the tactical combat-medic level.”
| Date Taken: | 02.05.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.01.2024 17:07 |
| Story ID: | 467513 |
| Location: | SALEM, OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 118 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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