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Deployed medics 'practice for uncertainty'

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Bahja J. Jones
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  "EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE," the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group exercise evaluation team member announces. "An active shooter incident has occurred leaving several military members wounded."

Emergency medical technicians stormed the building where the mock incident took place. Casualties screamed for help from all directions as the EMTs scatter to assess their injuries, load them onto litters and into ambulances as quickly as possible.

Organized chaos continues as the injured are transported into the hospital and prepped for treatment. Doctors check each patient to determine how to proceed and priority patients are immediately rushed into surgery.

That was the scene at the 379th EMDG mass casualty exercise July 26 at the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing here.

"Mass casualty exercises help to prepare our folks to support the Grand Slam Wing and our coalition partners," said Capt. Kris Walker, the 379th Expeditionary Medical Support Squadron readiness and logistics flight commander deployed from Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. "It give us the opportunity to go out and practice our full response capability."

Airmen acting as casualties were given moulages of gunshot wounds, bruises and scrapes to make the scene appear realistic. They were also equipped with cards listing the injuries sustained during the incident so when the medics responded, they could assess the injuries and determine the next step.

"The important piece was to make it look as realistic as possible so if we are ever in a similar situation, we can triage," Walker said.

Creating calm in chaos, the EMTs had to focus on their primary mission to get the patients moved to receive treatment despite the casualties demanding their attention.

"What you find in many situations, especially when there are injured personnel involved, is a tendency for folks to panic," Walker said. "Through frequent exercises, we try to practice that panic out of everyone; that way if we're called to respond to the real thing, it becomes second nature."

Overall objectives of the exercise were to triage patients as quickly as possible; decide who needs to be taken to the medical facility here; assess the 379th EMDG capabilities; and arrange to send patients to local medical facilities off the installation if necessary, Walker explained.

"We would rely very heavily on the host nation in a real-world situation and we have memorandums of understanding with local providers," Walker said.

Though the local hospitals didn't participate in this particular exercise, the medical staff practiced the procedures as if they were transporting the patients.

"We decided who needed to be transferred and talked through who we needed to coordinate with from the local hospitals, but in this exercise we did not actually make contact," said Maj. Marcus Snyder, a 379th EMDOS exercise evaluation team member deployed from Moody Air Force Base, Ga.

He explained in large-scale exercises involving more of the base, they may include off-base support.

Snyder emphasized two reasons in particular exercises like this are especially important in a deployed location:

"One, these aren't the people they are used to working with at home station, so they need to understand who they're working with and what each person's skill sets are," he said. "Secondly, you are more likely to have a scenario in which you would have to use these particular skills here than back home."

EETs oversaw the exercise and were able to provide feedback on the overall performance of the participants to learn from the experience.

"Exercises like this allow us to see what we did well, things we didn't do so well and gives us an opportunity to correct those mistakes in a controlled environment," Snyder said. "It's important to look at exercises as a learning opportunity and not necessarily as a test; it's an opportunity to evaluate how we do things and look at what works and what doesn't so we can make it better in the future or in a real-world situation."

Exercise participants said they enjoyed the opportunity to practice their skills and learn what it takes to respond to an emergency like this one.

"We hope to never have to use those skills," Walker said. "But our medics will be prepared to answer the call if that time comes."