FORT BENNING, Ga. –
Do you know how to navigate unfamiliar terrain without Waze or Google Maps? How about mastering that skill after treating a casualty and calling in a medevac?
Fort Benning Martin Army Community Hospital Soldiers do, thanks to this week’s Army Warrior Tasks/Battle Drill. 1st Lt. Tia McDonald explained the importance of the quarterly training. “We want to make sure people who are in MEDDAC can do our Soldier first duties if we get deployed.”
In order to enhance BMACH Soldiers’ readiness to fight and win on the battlefield, 150 had to properly don CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) gear. They also had to treat patients suffering from an amputation, while under fire themselves. Soldiers then had to relay critical information as quickly as possible when sending up a 9-line (Army’s version of calling 911). Last but not least, the teams of two had 30 minutes to find one of five points using just a map, protractor and compass.
“They get tested on a whole grading scale. Land navigation is the one that gets most people,” Staff Sgt. Stephanie Kirk said. “We make sure we re-train, re-train, re-train.”
Instructors certainly put the Soldiers through their paces. At the casualty station, Soldiers had to apply a tourniquet to an amputation and treat massive bleeding from another wound on the neck. All the while, the instructor called out complication after complication as Soldiers assessed their patient for an obstructed airway, shock, onset of hypothermia and responsiveness.
“The thing with every Army training that we are assigned is 100% passing, 100% ready,” McDonald said. “Our training is how we account for readiness… not just being medically ready but also making sure people are aware of doctrine and doing things correctly and with integrity.”