JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-CAMP BULLIS, Texas –
Soldiers and Airmen participated in a Joint Critical Care Field Training Exercise at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis Feb. 25-26 to enhance the clinical and tactical skills of critical care staff at Brooke Army Medical Center.
The exercise focused on emergency medical response in simulated combat environments, critical care procedures, and multi-platform medical evacuation operations. Its goal was to prepare critical care nurses, licensed practical nurses, techs, medics, and providers to deliver high-quality care in austere and challenging conditions.
“Our goal here is to certify the Army nurses on their ICTLs (Individual Critical Task Lists), and the Air Force nurses on their CMRPs (Comprehensive Medical Readiness Programs),” explained Army Capt. David Hegarty, one of the organizers of this year’s FTX. “Those are the tasks that the military expects us to be able to do as critical care nurses. We’re also training on some basic warrior tasks.”
The comprehensive full-day training event consisted of medical triage model instruction, a U.S. Transportation Command Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System overview, and multiple learning stations.
Participants received hands-on familiarization with various medical evacuation platforms, including Field Litter Ambulance, C-130 aircraft, and Blackhawk helicopter patient loading and unloading.
“We really have the opportunity to hone our skills every day in the hospital, but it doesn’t always look like that when we go overseas,” Hegarty said. “This is a great chance for our nurses to get experience.”
Air Force Maj. Chelsea Cheshire, critical care nurse, enjoyed the opportunity to showcase both Army and Air Force assets.
“It’s not often that our Air Force nurses are working hand in hand with critical care nurses from the Army,” she said. “When we’re deployed, there are occasional times where we work together, but we’re often in situations where Air Force is very specialized in critical care transport and Army is more far forward. Exercises like this help us bridge those gaps and talk about both of those things.”
The training culminated in a simultaneous mass casualty exercise and Wide Area Virtual Environment, or WAVE which is an immersive 3D environment which includes smoke, noise and an interactive background to simulate a combat environment.
“It was really great to be out here and see our team training shoulder to shoulder, getting the opportunity to put what we learn in the hospital to use in a different environment,” said Army Col. Kevin Kelly, BAMC commander. “We know that combat is not forgiving, and we’ve got to be our best on our patient’s worst day.”
“Learning to train in an environment where it’s not comfortable, you don’t have everything you need, where you have to adapt and overcome to minor or even large challenges is a really good opportunity for our nurses to be able to do that and to work together,” Kelly added. “We wear a different name on our uniform, but we all wear a uniform meaning that we will deploy together. So, it’s important that we learn how to work together in the hospital as well as in a deployed setting.”
The FTX was supported by 62 cadre and support staff who were able to validate 100 participants over the two-day event. Kelly praised the team for their efforts.
“I really thought that the team who put this together -- our leaders across Brooke Army Medical Center, the Medical Readiness Battalion, and our teammates in the Fort Sam Houston Medical Group really did a great job combining various training opportunities so that we could meet requirements and also be prepared for whatever tomorrow might bring,” Kelly said.
Overall, 1,105 Army ICTs were validated and 1,050 Air Force CMRPs were reviewed.