CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait -- The Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) recently received Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) training kits that will help medics and Soldiers save lives on the battlefield.

Each of the brigade packages contain two TC3 kits with mannequins that mimic human breathing, bleeding, pulses and traumatic amputations.

With the kits, three medics can train up to a 30-man platoon of Soldiers on common medical tasks such as clearing airways, controlling hemorrhages, and identifying and rendering aid to chest decompressions.

"The TC3 kits allow units to add another level of realism to their training, emphasizing the importance of medical care on the battlefield," said Maj. Jason Tisdale, director of the camp's Warrior Skills Training Center. "I look forward to seeing these kits used in unit training events here."

Introduction of the new training capability reflects the Army Chief of Staff's priority to improve warfighter medical training in Kuwait and then throughout the force.

To expedite fielding the TC3 kits, a number of Army organizations worked together including the Department of the Army G3, Rapid Equipping Force, Army Medical Department, the Combined Arms Center -- Training, Maneuver Center for Excellence, and the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation.

In October, Lt. Col. Robert Carter, the Product Manager for Medical Simulation (PdM MEDSIM) Team fielded the first of eight brigade TC3 packages to benefit Soldiers and medics.

"The first person to try to manage a casualty is usually not a medic…It's a fellow Soldier," said John Hayden, medical subject matter expert for PdM MedSim. "We've raised the standard of casualty management across the force. We've now placed the tools normally associated with contractors training medics into the hands of those medics who can now train individual Soldiers."

A number of units received train-the-trainer instructions including deployed medics from the 31st Combat Support Hospital, 3rd ABCT 1st Armored Division, 777th Aviation Support Battalion, 77th Combat Aviation Brigade, 1-67th Armored Regiment and 4-6th Infantry Division as well as Army support contractors from Camp Buehring.

"The medics are anxious to get their hands on this equipment," said John Matthews, project director for the TC3 project at PdM MedSim. "Instead of the medics and Soldiers having to adapt their busy schedules to attend training at a Medical Simulation and Training Center facility on their post, they can now take the training to their Soldiers."

Training procedures call for units to sign out the kits, take them to their areas and return them. Of the three brigade packages delivered to Kuwait, one package will go to Afghanistan.

The remaining five TC3 brigade packages will be delivered to deploying units over the next few months.

Soldiers using the Rapid Equipping Force TC3 kits will provide feedback to PEO-STRI for configuring more than 70 Tactical Combat Casualty Care Exportable (TC3X) kits that the Army will field across the force in FY18-19.

Editor's note: This article was written by John Matthews, Assistant Product Manager (APM) for Medical Simulation and Training Centers (MSTC), and Mike Casey, Public Affairs Officer for the Combined Arms Center -- Training.