Wherever Soldiers train, they also need medical care. For Soldiers participating in Operation Golden Cargo 2009, much of that care comes in the form of Pfc. Dustin R. Smieja and Pfc. Nathan D. Kalstad, both healthcare specialists from the 7212th Medical Support Unit of Rochester, Minn.
"For this particular mission, we're conducting sick call for Soldiers here for Operation Golden Cargo," Pfc. Smieja said. "It's good training. We do what we were trained to do."
Pfc. Smieja and Pfc. Kalstad are part of a small team of medical personnel assembled from three separate units in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas to provide healthcare support for more than 300 Soldiers training at Blue Grass Army Depot throughout July.
"When in a garrison situation we work like a nurse's assistant," Kalstad said. "But in the field or on patrol, we're like paramedics." While at BGAD, Smieja and Kalstad are working as assistants to two registered nurses (RNs) along with Sgt. Herbert Armstrong, health care specialist, 5501st U.S. Army Hospital, San Antonio, Texas.
"The three Soldiers working with us are excellent," Lt. Col. Alma J. Bell, 5501st U.S. Army Hospital nurse, said about Pfc. Smieja, Pfc. Kalstad, and Sgt. Armstrong. "They have good assessment skills and good people skills. Send me to the field with them anytime; I would be remiss without them."
Together the team provides basic first aid and medical assessments to meet Soldiers' needs on a daily basis.
"We're here to take care of the troops," Lt. Col. Bell said. In caring for training troops, the medical personnel are training themselves, she explained. "We work with the [healthcare specialists], and if they're not doing this job on a daily basis, here is an opportunity for them to practice their skills and learn new skills."
"For me, it's great to get out of a purely medical setting," said Maj. Sandra A. Gress, an intensive care unit nurse with the 4010th U.S. Army Hospital from New Orleans, La. "[Here] we get to spend some time with regular Army Soldiers, think through new challenges, get into a mindset for deployment working with non-medical people, and ask 'how can I best be able to fit into a field or combat situation and help Soldiers''"
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