KANDAHAR FIELD, Afghanistan –
Combat medics from the Special Troops Battalion, Task Force Resolute, 7th Sustainment Brigade, conducted standardized combat medical training at the Medical Simulation Training Center Oct. 8 on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.
Soldiers and Airmen participated in training under combat conditions to further enhance their abilities to provide warfighters the best care.
The MSTC provides the technology and training aids to medics enabling them to gage their immediate response and care capabilities. Servicemembers reacted to a scenario involving servicemembers injured during an indirect fire or an improvised explosion device attack.
The training hoped to be as realistic as possible, according to Lt. Col. Douglas Maurer, officer in charge of the TF-Resolute medical operation section.
"Each mannequin has the capacity to be manipulated with mock injuries, wounds, cuts, and missing limbs," said Maurer. "Each mannequin is also attached to a computer system which records and simulates internal injuries like air circulation and internal wounds."
The mannequins used at the MSTC can simulate breathing, talking, and bleeding, said Gerald Smith, Combat Life Saver training coordinator for MSTC. When a Soldier bandages a wound, seals a punctured lung or gives the mannequin morphine, Smith inputs that information and the mannequin reacts accordingly.
"The data that I receive from the medics, be it clearing an airway or how many cubic centimeters (CC's) of saline he or she used, will dictate the scenario," said Smith. "For example, if I input that Soldier A (mannequin) was given a breathing tube and Soldier A had breathing problems, then I communicate to that mannequin to breathe... you then see the mannequin's chest rise and fall."
Response time and skills are the tools medics use in the field. What a medic does in the first 10 minutes of care is crucial to that servicemember's survival, said Sgt. Benjamin Ulery, combat medic with TF Resolute.
"We are expected to engage on patients quickly," said Ulery. "Whether it is us or combat life savers, nothing is more important than treating Soldiers as fast as possible."
Many times during an attack of some kind, there are many servicemembers around that can aid in the process. Teamwork is imperative and was encouraged during the training, said Spc. Kaylea Wilson, combat medic, also known as health care specialist, with TF-Resolute.
"During the scenario, as we assessed injuries, we split up who would do what type of treatment," said Wilson. "Working together increases the patient's recovery time vastly."
Medical care is a perishable skill if not constantly honed, said Maurer.
Practical application cannot be done without the proper tools. First responders have an extensive list of important items at their disposable.
"We simulated injuries so that the medics can have hands-on training with tourniquets used to stop bleeding from major limbs, chest tube kits to alleviate breathing and pelvic and neck slings to stabilize those areas which may be internally fractured or broken."
In a combat zone, the time it takes for an injured servicemember to be treated by medical surgeons can be much shorter then it is in a normal hospital emergency setting. It is those first medical providers that make the difference between Soldiers, Sailors, Marines or Airmen surviving an injury or not. It was critical for Maurer to get STB medics, which work on the Role I aid station on KAF, to continually work on the skills.
"This is the setting where I want them to learn from their mistakes and ask questions. Out in the battlefield, it is how you react that will save someone's life."