HOHENFELS, Germany -- Armenia, participating in exercise Saber Junction 16 here, provides the means to conduct a medical joint combat maneuver exercise with the support of the United States Army and Air Force, in preparation for their upcoming NATO and United Nations' certification.
"This is the first time we have our medical team going out and participating in a large-scale exercise," said Lt. Col. Gegham Pashikyan, commander of the Armenian Role 2 Hospital at the Emergency Medical Deployment System. "Conditions here are as close to real life as possible. It not only made it quicker. There are a lot of issues we couldn't solve, and objectives we couldn't obtain without working together with our international counterparts."
Nearly 5,000 service members from 16 NATO and European partner nations participated in the month-long exercise, Saber Junction 16, held at the U.S. Army Europe's Hohenfels Training Area in southeastern Germany, which will evaluate and certify the mission readiness of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade to conduct land operations in a joint combined environment and to promote interoperability with Allied and partner nations.
"As Armenia is preparing to be evaluated for NATO and United Nations peace-keeping missions," said Pashikyan, "we felt that it would be great if we participated in this exercise to gain some experience of international culture so that we can train better and be more prepared for that evaluation."
During the exercise, the joint medical team set up an EMEDS, a mobile field hospital that allows for medical triage during combat operations.
"The 173rd Airborne Brigade will be jumping in and attacking a notional country, said Spc. Christopher Mayberry, a medic for the 173rd Brigade Support Battalion. "They will first be moving to do an airfield seizure; we will follow behind them and start setting up our Role 1 and then building it up with the Armenian surgical team."
Role Support is made up of four tiers. Role 1 is small and provides basic care such as, first aid and non-battle injuries. Role 2 has surgical capabilities for emergency care. Role 3 is usually provided at the division level and above and includes specialist surgery not provided at Role 2. Role 4 is the highest level of care for patients who require a longer recovery time, usually provided in their country of origin.
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