News & Information - The Mercury - August 2008 Mercury

3rd Medical Command, 362nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment and 319th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment contributed to this report

	Army and Navy medics triage patients at the 322nd Combat Support Hospital during Exercise Global Medic at Fort McCoy, Wis. (Photo by Bill Kem/Fort McCoy)

Nearly 2,500 military personnel spread across the country this summer for Global Medic - the Army Reserve's largest medical exercise. The exercise involves the Army, Air Force and Navy at Fort Gordon and Bush Field in Augusta, Ga.; Fort McCoy, Wis.; Camp Parks, Calif.; Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. and offshore of Charleston aboard the naval hospital ship Comfort.

"I pray to God that my sons never end up needing the things we are practicing here," said 1LT Kristense Oberle, a nurse with the 369th Minimal Care Detachment, "but if they do, I know they'll receive the best possible care because of what our medical personnel do here and around the world."

Oberle knows firsthand the importance of such training. Her son James - one of two sons she has in the Army - was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2003. He survived and the impression that military medical personnel left on Oberle led her to join the Army as a nurse in 2005.

Troops involved in Global Medic practiced getting medical treatment to the injured troops at the point of injury to stabilize them and then transporting them to more advanced medical facilities as quickly as possible.

At Fort Gordon, casualties were flown from the 256th Combat Support Hospital to Bush Field and then by the Air Force to Charleston, where they were again placed on MEDEVAC helicopters for transportation to the Comfort anchored off of the South Carolina coast.

MG James Hasbargen, commander of the Army Reserve Medical Command, said the Comfort was a key piece in expanding the exercise.

"Most importantly, the jointness of this exercise is allowing us to work with the Air Force and Navy and working out a number of potential challenges including communication between the services," he said.

The hospital ship HSNS Comfort received Global Medic patients flown from Charleston, S.C. (Photo by Air Force SSG Mary Jones/4th Combat Camera Squadron)

"In war, it does not make any difference who is injured. We care for them regardless of their branch or service," Hasbargen said.

More than 400 Soldiers, airmen and sailors augmented the Comfort's full-time crew of about 50 active-duty sailors and Military Sealift Command civilian mariners.

"Even though you are working with a pick-up crew, because you are working with medical professionals who know their roles, you can make a well-functioning team in no time at all," said Navy Captain Bruce R. Boynton, commander of the Comfort's medical treatment facility.

More than 600 simulated patients were treated during the exercise, representing battlefield trauma, disease and nonbattle injuries and combat stress casualties.

Members of the 256th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Gordon trained on SIMMAN 3G, an advanced simulated patient that responds automatically to intubation, drug administration and other treatments. It has an air compressor to simulate breathing and fluids to simulate bleeding and sweating. The eyelids blink and the pupils are reactive.

At Camp Parks, a team of experts was assembled to prepare realistic wounds on Soldiers portraying casualties.

	CPT Chris W. Kesting of the AMEDD Professional Management Command (left) assists PFC Lorena Morales of the 185th Dental Company (right) in intubating a patient during training with MOPP protective equipment at Camp Parks, Calif. (Photo by SPC Jeremy Fowler/362nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

"This is better than what they could do at a unit; we have the time and skills to make this look real," said Matt L. Sagaser, an instructor.

"A casualty came in with a black eye and I did a double take. I had to ask the actor if it was real or not," said LTC Fran D. Patterson, a nurse with the 228th Combat Support Hospital.

At Fort McCoy, Soldiers of the 322nd Combat Support Hospital practiced treating trauma from the battlefield, and a few unexpected cases as well—one simulated patient had been raped by fellow Soldiers, while another was an explosive-ordnance detection dog hit by a vehicle.

Soldiers of the 2nd Medical Brigade and Western Area Regional Support Group were certified at Camp Parks in such courses as Combat Life Saver, Basic Life Support, Prehospital Advanced Life Support, Combat Medic Advanced Skills Training, Advanced Cardio Life Support, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Medical Response to Weapons of Mass Destruction.

"I'm really excited about a lot of the new stuff that they taught me—I can tell by the training that it was devised by people who have been there," said SSG Timothy E. Baldwin of the 1980th Forward Surgical Team.

"I'm always encouraged about the future of America when I look at the Soldiers, sailors and airmen and see the way they approach their jobs," said BG Richard A. Stone, commander of Medical Readiness Training Command.

"I can't emphasize enough how important training like this is," said Oberle. "Every injured troop is someone's son or daughter. We have to continue to provide them with the very best medical care possible."

From the August 2008 Mercury, an Army Medical Department publication.