JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-CAMP BULLIS, Texas –
Chaplains, religious affairs Airmen and medical personnel assigned to the Expeditionary Medical Support team conducted simulated trauma training May 13 at the Medical Readiness Training Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis.
The training was part of the proposed Level 1 Trauma Ministry Operations Course, or TMOC, an initiative designed to prepare religious support teams, or RSTs, for the realities of large-scale combat operations and mass casualty environments.
The course immerses chaplains and religious affairs Airmen in realistic medical scenarios intended to strengthen their ability to provide spiritual care and emotional support during high-stress combat situations.
The initiative supports a direct training requirement identified by Air Force Chaplain Corps leadership to better prepare RSTs for future conflicts involving sustained casualties and high operational tempo.
“It’s a great opportunity for chaplains to work alongside the 59th Medical Wing and Brooke Army Medical Center,” said Capt. Joshua Hammans, 59th Medical Wing chaplain. “In a combat environment, medical settings are one of the most organic places for us to provide ministry. While we regularly practice ministry in garrison environments, training directly with medical personnel exposes us to the intense and demanding situations we are most likely to encounter during combat operations.”
Hammans said the immersive training allows chaplains and religious affairs Airmen to experience environments they would not typically encounter at home station, including operating rooms, intensive care units and trauma settings involving severe injuries and death.
“We’re exposed to the sights, sounds and stressors associated with mass casualty situations, and that forces you to better understand yourself and how you respond under pressure,” Hammans said. “It’s important that when we face these situations in real-world operations, it’s not our first time experiencing them.”
The training also helps participants build emotional resilience while learning how to remain calm and effective in crisis situations.
“You meet yourself in the hard moments during training,” Hammans said. “This is as close to a real-world environment as we can safely replicate, and it allows us to train at a much higher level. Our hope is that participants gain the confidence and resilience needed to sustain ministry operations during prolonged casualty situations without losing sight of hope, faith or the ability to care for others. At the end of the day, the goal is that we can still stand, and stand alongside others, while helping them through some of the hardest moments they may ever face.”
Master Sgt. Michelle Abercrombie, flight chief of religious affairs assigned to the 87th Air Base Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, said the training gave her a better understanding of how RSTs can support both medical personnel and warfighters during crisis situations.
“You can study spiritual care in a classroom all day, but until you see how people respond in crisis and experience that environment yourself, it’s difficult to fully understand what they are going through,” Abercrombie said. “This training helps us learn how to remain calm, compassionate and mission-focused during high-stress situations so we can better care for others.”
Abercrombie said the realism of the training also challenged participants to evaluate their own reactions to trauma environments.
“This experience gave me confidence in how I would respond to the sights, sounds and stress of a traumatic environment,” said Abercrombie. “I now feel better prepared to provide spiritual care and support to others in those situations.”
During the exercise, participants integrated directly with medical personnel inside an expeditionary medical tent, navigating simulated casualty scenarios while practicing communication, spiritual care and emotional support techniques in a fast-paced operational environment.
The training is designed to bridge a critical readiness gap identified by Air Force Chaplain Corps leadership. Historically, many RSTs have had limited exposure to trauma medicine and mass casualty operations prior to deployment.
The proposed TMOC combines expeditionary medical training at Camp Bullis with immersion opportunities at Brooke Army Medical Center, the Department of War’s only Level 1 trauma center. Together, the training environments are intended to prepare chaplains and Religious Affairs Airmen to operate more effectively alongside medical teams during future wartime operations.
Organizers say the training represents an important step toward ensuring Religious Support Teams are fully integrated into the broader mission of sustaining combat effectiveness and caring for Airmen in future conflicts.