UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, Southwest Asia -- The 332d Expeditionary Medical Squadron recently planned and executed a base-wide mass casualty training scenario, which included integration with a host nation medical evacuation air ambulance center, a host nation medical center, the 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group, and additional squadrons from the 332d Air Expeditionary Wing.
The scenario began with a simulated unmanned aircraft system dropping munitions targeting the installation gym, causing multiple casualties. Simulated patients had moulage to simulate injuries that reflect realistic injuries and scenarios for first responders.
“We needed to make the overall scenario as realistic as possible in order to get the best training outcomes in line with the desired learning objectives,” said Master Sgt. Arthur Jones, 332d AEW exercise evaluator. “Two of the objectives were designed to evaluate EMDS ability to effectively deliver on-site medical care, triage, and stabilize patients as well as coordinate with joint services and host nation civilian agencies to transport patients via rotary wing aircraft to a higher level of care.
To add additional complexity to the exercise, a second UAS crashed at the opposite side of the base, causing additional injuries. Medical response teams needed to manage the complexity of two incidents that were geographically separated, making communication and teamwork integral to success.
“We recognized the importance of requesting additional medical resources from our force protection team, as the EMDS Field Response Team on site relays the number of casualties,” said Capt. Lauren Rose, 332d EMDS executive officer and medical readiness planner. “We had two force protection Airmen with medical Air Force Specialty Codes who arrived at the clinic to support.”
Patients with minor injuries were escorted to the base’s medical facility for care while those with more serious injuries were stabilized and staged for transport to a host-nation medical facility.
The 332d EMDS worked with members from a host nation medical air ambulance center to land a helicopter on the flight line in order to evacuate a patient to a civilian hospital.
“As a role one medical facility, our purpose is to stabilize and then move patients to a higher level of care,” said Rose. “We worked with our host-nation partners in order to provide the fastest means of getting critical patients to a specialty hospital.”
At the second MASCAL site, members from the 46th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron landed an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter in an effort to airlift the two remaining injured patients. Pararescuemen from the 52nd ERQS practiced lifesaving skills on the simulated patient, such as giving intravenous fluids enroute to a medical facility.
The training came to a conclusion once all patients were treated and the base secured.
“This training was effective in stressing our on-site medical resources and capabilities,” said Rose. “We can only improve if we know where the gaps are located within the system, so I wanted the team to be stretched, to show our limitations and how we can improve. We ended up requesting additional medical resources from multiple organizations, having those professionals join us greatly bolstered our capabilities.”