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JBSA News
NEWS | Sept. 30, 2016

BAMC team wins regional Best Medic competition, will compete at Army-level

BAMC Public Affairs

Soldier teams from around the region competed in the Regional Health Command-Central (Provisional) Best Medic Competition Sept. 20-22 at Camp Bullis.

 

Brooke Army Medical Center’s two-Soldier team, 1st Lt. Chi Wing Pang, clinical staff nurse, and Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Eisele, noncommissioned officer in charge for the Department of Surgery, won the competition. They will represent RHC-C at the Command Sgt. Maj. Jack L. Clark Jr. Army Best Medic Competition Oct. 25-28.

 

The teams were challenged both physically and intellectually to test their tactical medical proficiency, physical fitness and leadership skills.

 

The 72-hour competition included a physical fitness test, obstacle course, combat water survival test, day and night land navigation, combat trauma lanes, a M4 rifle and 9mm pistol stress shoot and a 5K buddy run. Day three concluded with a 12-mile foot march and awards ceremony.

 

“The toughest part of the competition for me was the swim,” Pang said. “I would not consider myself a weak swimmer, but the events definitely caught me by surprise. I learned all I could from it and I will definitely be more ready for the Army Best Medic Competition in October.”

 

Eisele agreed, “It tested your endurance skills and your will to succeed.”

“You come from all different backgrounds and all different specialties, but for the last 72 hours you were combat medics,” said Col. John P. Lamoureux, RHC-C chief of staff. “Some people ask why we do this. We do this because this is how we show the Army our commitment to the combat medic.”

 

Lamoureux explained the combat medic represents a system of total care from the battlefield back to the medical treatment facility.

 

“By being out here you are demonstrating commitment to the Army, showing how good we can be as medics,” he said. “The medic is on the tip or the spear for the Army Medicine system we all represent.”

“In today’s battlefield environment, things are constantly changing, requiring an adaptive mindset for creating solutions to new problems,” Pang said. “This competition is not only about physical and mental toughness, but also having that adaptive mindset to overcome the unknown obstacles. Being adaptive to any given situation may be the most important skill there is to master.”

 

“We have to be ready at all times to deploy and protect our country and fellow Soldiers and ensure we all come home together,” Eisele said.