By Sgt. Kevin McSwain
210th MPAD
LSA ANACONDA, Iraq — Whenever there is an emergency, a small group of servicemembers is ready to respond and provide assistance to anyone who needs it.
This special group of servicemembers is known as the first responders, which consist of a variety of military specialties.
"A first responder consists of anyone who is on-call to handle any emergency situation," said Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Remedies, fire chief with the 332nd Expeditionary Engineer Squadron. "Our role here is to respond and provide command and control for emergencies."
The Squadron, which is comprised of Soldiers and Airmen, responds to all emergency calls and takes control of the area to ensure the safety of the victims and the crews working on the site.
"We continually coordinate with different emergency units on base so we will understand what is going on in the area," he said. "This helps cut down on confusion between different groups on the scene of any emergency."
Remedies said his teams, which operate on 24-hour shifts, continually train in order to be prepared for whatever situation arises.
"You can never be prepared for every emergency, but with proper training, servicemembers will be able to react to a situation and neutralize the problem," he said.
In addition to the fire fighters here on base, the ambulatory team from the 206th Area Support Medical Center here is ready to respond to any emergency and provide emergency transport for victims.
"I am one of the first responders on scene to help provide command and control and triage," said 2nd Lt. Edward Ecklund, ambulance officer in charge.
Ecklund said all his Soldiers are constantly training in the emergency response center.
"We prepare them for any emergency and work around the specific situation," he said.
Ecklund attributes their ability to work with different components to the numerous mass casualty exercises that are held on the LSA.
"Working with the Air Force has been a great experience," he said. "We communicate with each other so well, and we are able to work so well together because of the mass casualty exercises. We take what we learned there and apply it to real-life situations."
Ecklund said during specific emergencies, Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 167th Cavalry Regiment (Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Target Acquisition) secure the victims and the ERC team transports them to the hospital.
"We generally respond to emergencies which happen on LSA Anaconda," he said. "Medics and physicians from 1/167 RSTA respond to emergencies off base."
Ecklund said that during one particular emergency, the medic from 1/167 RSTA helped perform triage and prepared victims for transport to the hospital.
"We transport the victims to the hospital so the Soldiers at the scene can continue to help other injured personnel," he said.
After the victims have been transported to the hospital, the first responder's mission is over but a second set of special responders go into action.
Soldiers from the 111th and 209th Quartermaster Company wait to process casualties and when death occurs, they prepare the remains for future processing.
"We process the remains of casualties and handle the remains with honor," said Staff Sgt. Daniel Davenport, mortuary affairs noncommissioned officer in charge with the 111th Quartermaster Company. "We also begin to attempt to identify the individual."
Davenport said their direct role is to process, preserve, and store the remains to a state where they will not deteriorate.
"You can not train for every type of emergency, but if you learn the basics you will be able to handle anything," he said. "We also build a relationship with the direct links during a mass casualty. We communicate with other services to ensure there is no confusion about how a job should be done."
All these different components and others not mentioned, came together Jan. 7 here and responded to a mass casualty situation after a civilian airliner crashed outside of LSA Anaconda.
Within minutes of the accident, servicemembers from the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing deployed to the scene and began emergency procedures.
Davenport said his 20-Soldier team was very well prepared for their job due to the communication with the servicemembers on the scene.
"With this being our first mass casualty everything went very smooth, we actually finished the mission in almost half the time we expected," he said.
During this process there is one final team that is not as visible as the others. They are the chaplain and his assistant.
"We care for the wounded, nurture the living, and honor the dead," said Chaplain (Maj.) Charles Yost with the 164th Corps Support Group.
Yost said a chaplain is not just there for the injured, he is also there to be available to the Soldiers providing care.
"We are there to help Soldiers cope with the situation," he said. "We give them a chance to talk about what is bothering them so they can continue on with their mission."
Yost said in addition to his duties, he is there to make sure the dead are treated with respect and are honored.
"We will pray for the victims," he said. "This helps give the family members peace of mind to know they were treated with respect. We even have prayers from different religions to make sure we are able to do this with as many different people as possible."
The chaplain is also responsible for ensuring all Soldiers affected go through a debriefing to help relieve stress.
"We help coordinate a critical incident stress debriefing," he said. "We are trained to administer the session but we usually coordinate it with the combat stress office."
During this recent emergency with the crash of a civilian aircraft, the chaplain and his assistant were not needed immediately. But they must always be ready to respond during this type of situation.
We must be physically, mentally, and spiritually fit, said Sgt. James Blount, chaplain's assistant about the readiness of a chaplain and his assistant.
And with careful coordination and execution, one victim was provided life-saving surgery and treatment.
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2002 |
| Date Posted: | 01.25.2007 10:01 |
| Story ID: | 8926 |
| Location: | BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 83 |
| Downloads: | 45 |
This work, Anaconda's joint-service "First Responders" ready for any mission of co, by MSG Kevin McSwain, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
