CAMP CASEY, South Korea (Jan. 26, 2016) — The health care specialists, assigned to the 210th Field Artillery Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division/Republic of Korea, or ROK,-U.S Combined Division, recently conducted a medical evacuation training at the helicopter pad near Troop Medical Clinic, at Camp Casey, South Korea, Jan. 7-8.
Medical evacuation training is designed to train, execute and evaluate the ability of medical specialists to complete aeromedical evacuation tasks. As the Soldiers conducted the exercise, they were able to get hands-on training from the experts assigned to Company C, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, and 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade.
“All the medics that are training get hands on training with our aeromedical company,” said 1st Lt. Andrew D. Obelgoner, a Macon, Georgia, native and a brigade medical planner assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, or HHB, 210th Field Artillery, or FA, Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division/ROK-U.S Combined Division. “They train as if they are under a real-live scenario.”
There were two phases to this exercise. The initial phase allows the medics to learn extensive coordination of aeromedical training and cold/hot-load training.
“The medics learn medical evacuation 101 training, which teaches the students how to carry litters with patients into and away from the aircraft, establishing helicopter landing zones and marking pick-up sites,” Obelgoner said.
After practicing and learning how to perform aeromedical evacuation operations, the medics move on to the next level of the training. Here, the candidates call for nine-line medevac requests and load the patients onto rotary winged aircraft for multiple iterations.
“On the second day, the medics call for the ‘nine line’ on the ground,” said Sgt. 1st Class Tae Kyung Kim, a medical operations noncommissioned officer in charge assigned HHB, 210th FA Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. “Then the helicopter will pick up the patient from the ground and fly around Camp Casey.”
As medics complete more iterations of the exercise, they became more familiarized with the aeromedical evacuation operation process.
“The purpose of this training is to familiarize all our medics within 210th Field Artillery to be ready to fight tonight,” Kim said. “Based off from what we learn from the crew chief, we are trying to familiarize ourselves how to get under the chopper safely and how to get off the chopper safely and how to best take care of our patients.”
“Most of our medics came straight out from advanced individual training and they never had opportunities to see and be on a chopper,” Kim said. “So this training is for the familiarization of what the medics should expect during the medical evacuation missions before an actual operation with a real patient.”