Photo By Maj. Megan Breen | 437th Medical Company Ground Ambulance conducts casualty care at Camp Grayling,...... read more read more
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In a small grassy clearing nestled into the seemingly infinite pine forest of northern Michigan, the Commander of the 437th Medical Company Ground Ambulance watches on as his combat medics load into their ambulances and rush off to provide care after receiving a 9-Line MEDEVAC request. As the last ambulance pulls out, the mist which has soaked the field all morning turns to a heavy rain. The medics who remain on the site move into the command post tent to avoid the weather and wait for the field litter ambulances, or FLAs, to return.
As the urgency of the last 9-Line request falls away, those huddled in the tent settle back into the steadiness of command post operations. The Company is a rotational training unit in the realistic and challenging training of Northern Strike 24-2, an exercise designed, in part, to test their abilities and incorporate innovative advancements in the field of medical logistics.
Just as the steadiness of operations begins to turn to mundanity, an FLA races into the field. A slight chaos ensues as the Commander moves outside and tries to make an initial assessment of the situation. Before the vehicle has come to full rest, the back doors swing open.
An Army Special Operations soldier, one of the Special Operations Combat Medics (SOCM) for the 2/19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Forward Support Company, jumps out of the passenger seat and moves to the rear of the vehicle to see another SOCM medic yelling, “Three casualties on board, where do you want them?” The SOCMs must readily shift plans, under the impression they have just arrived at a Role II site, unaware that the Role II had relocated earlier in the day, and they were instead interacting with only a handful of remaining soldiers from the MCGA.
The casualties, two human and one “SIM MAN” advanced patient simulator, with varying injuries identifiable by their intricate moulage, are placed on top of the sand table just outside of the CP, a camouflage netting providing enough cover to keep the casualties out of the rain, which has now subsided back to a mist. After gaining an understanding of the situation, the MCGA medics jump into action to alongside the Special Operations medical team to treat the casualties.
As the casualties are triaged, an audible buzz grows. A Tactical Resupply Vehicle 150 (TRV-150) autonomous Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) flies inbound to the helicopter landing zone just outside of the command post. The TRV-150, capable of carrying up to 150 pounds of payload, is carrying a lifesaving quantity of blood inside of the Delta Ice 2L Smart Blood Cooler, a smaller version of the Autonomous Portable Refrigeration Unit (APRU 6L), an FDA-approved device capable of providing cooling of blood products, vaccines, and temperature-controlled medications. The APRU has been at the forward operating base (FOB) for the past several days with the Special Forces Forward Support Company, who has been running tests and evaluating the unit’s performance under austere field conditions. The TRV-150 lands, drops the blood, and returns to the sky as quickly as it arrived, the buzz of its rotors fading back into the white noise of a Michigan misty morning.
“The Autonomous Portable Refrigeration Unit (APRU 6L) was originally developed for military applications to carry blood far forward, capable of keeping blood cold for days on battery power alone,” said Tanya Lerch of Delta Development Team. “Today, lessons learned from the military are defining pre-hospital blood programs in civilian, EMS healthcare settings. The use of drones to deliver blood to restricted or remote areas will significantly impact life-saving measures and improve patient outcomes.”
Two members of the Special Operations team move to the HLZ to retrieve the Delta Ice 2L Smart Blood Cooler, full of medical blood bags, and move back to the casualties. Upon their return to the makeshift treatment area the SOCM begins a live blood transfusion on one of the casualty role players of a unit of whole blood drawn from that role player earlier in the week as practice for field transfusion procedures, as the other team members continue to assess and provide aid to the other two notional casualties. With the transfusion complete, and additional care provided, the casualties all begin to stabilize. In between duties typical of those living on small FOBs in the field, these Special Operations medics have been training and running drills for days on caring for all manner of critically injured casualties they may encounter.
Along the wooded edges of the field, members of the Special Operations team not assisting with the medical care work to reinforce a secure perimeter. Having just moved to the makeshift Role II after receiving contact, and already preparing for their next mission, over the radio one of the Special Operations team members calls for an ammunition resupply. Within approximately 20 minutes, a familiar buzzing grows, and the TRV-150 reappears in the landing zone where it drops a crate of ammunition approximately two feet from the ground and again departs.
“Northern Strike was an excellent opportunity to provide quality training for the soldiers of the SFG in the realm of autonomous aerial resupply,” said Chandler Lewis, Project Portfolio Manager for Contested Logistics. “The combined unit and support teams successfully flew over 250 flights, including test flights and resupply requests, and moved over one thousand pounds of supplies to soldiers during the exercise.”
Once the ammunition was secured, an evaluator calls “ENDEX” and the urgency of the scenario falls to a sigh of collective relief from the participants. Around the terrain model-turned-patient staging bandages, remnants of clothing dyed with fake blood, empty IV bags and other medical supplies thrown about reflect the chaotic nature of the response - but this mess is also a representation of the dynamic opportunities that the Northern Strike exercise series facilitates. Innovative solutions such as the APRU and TRV-150 are not unique to this year’s Northern Strike.
The partnership with the TRV-150 team began months before Northern Strike during the Driving Innovation in Realistic Training (DIRT) Days event at the Civil-Military Innovation Institute (CMI2) at Fort Andrew in West Virginia. “Autonomous aerial resupply will be the future of large-scale resupply within the last tactical mile,” said Lewis. “The TRV-150 platform expedites the resupply process while keeping soldiers out of harm’s way. Demonstrating this concept at a large scale, multinational training event like Northern Strike provides us with excellent information to prove the concept.”
When the patients arrived, training began, regardless of unit, status, or component, every individual on location worked diligently, implementing the new technology, and learning the critical lessons that could save lives in the future.
| Date Taken: | 09.20.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2024 10:13 |
| Story ID: | 481381 |
| Location: | GRAYLING, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 500 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Northern Strike 24-2 Facilitates Advancements in Front Line Logistics and Combat Care, by MAJ Megan Breen and David Kennedy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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