DA NANG, VIETNAM - "Medic!" is the call heard through the billowing smoke on the battlefield.
A U.S. Army Soldier with the familiar 'aid bag' strapped to his back runs to the injured patient.
He immediately assesses the seriousness of the patient's condition based on the level of distress and mental status.
This patient must be medically evacuated from the battlefield.
He calls in the 9-line (Medical Evacuation) MEDEVAC request and within minutes a Marine air wing corpsman is running from an aircraft to help get the patient aboard.
In the air, the assessment and treatment continues.
On the horizon, a U.S Navy hospital ship awaits the injured.
A Navy independent duty corpsman meets the aircraft and helps load the patient on a stretcher.
The patient is stabilized but must be transported to a military medical center.
Once on the aircraft, equipped to care for the critically injured, the patient is placed into the hands of yet another team.
This team is made up of a flight nurse and two enlisted Air Force medics.
This scenario was the basis of the presentation, "Role of Medical Non-Commissioned Officer Panel" at the Asia Pacific Military Health Exchange (APMHE) in Da Nang, Vietnam on Sept. 14, 2015.
Over 400 participants from 23 countries listened to the enlisted medic Joint panel describe the interoperability of today's U.S. military medic in the Pacific.
"They understand the ranks, live and work alongside the troops they care for and are critical for the successes we experience today," said Fleet Master Chief Mark W. Rudes, U.S. Pacific Command senior enlisted leader, to the international military audience of the APMHE. "We've learned that training jointly has improved our capabilities while finding efficiencies, streamlining infrastructure and saving money. We now train as we fight, jointly. Logically, this has the potential to benefit us globally with other nations moving to professionalize their non-commissioned force," he added.
Many nations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region are just beginning to understand that the "backbone of the U.S military" is the professional non-commissioned officer corps.
Indonesia's first Warrior Leader Course or inaugural NCO course, led by Tentara Nasional Indonesia -- Angkatan Darat (TNI-AD), or Indonesian army, graduated in 2009.
Other Pacific nations like Nepal and Mongolia have followed the path of professionalizing their NCO Corps.
Some nations, like the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand are comparable to U.S. military NCOs and are already utilizing their NCOs in high capacity to include medics and health care professionals.
"Once cultural biases are broken and the fear of losing authority with delegation is suppressed, a country can really begin embracing a professional enlisted force and our global health care continuum will see accelerated and rapid growth," said Rudes.
As U.S. medic teams train with partner nations during exercises, there is a two-fold benefit of U.S. joint training and NCO development of partner nations.
"We just recently had our (medics) jointly deployed on U.S. Navy ships in support of Pacific Partnership all across the Pacific," said U.S Army Master Sgt. Michael Freeman Jr. during his panel remarks at the APMHE. "Supporting humanitarian assistance missions in Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, the Philippines, and right here in beautiful Vietnam, conducting medical health exchanges with host nation countries, is invaluable training for NCOs," Freeman added.
The enlisted medic panel, including medical NCOs from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force took questions from the audience about training and joint work.
In closing, U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Yvette Rose, International Health Specialist for Pacific Air Forces, brought the joint picture into focus with the battlefield scenario described.
"These enlisted medics used their knowledge and training to help the injured Soldier survive from point of injury all the way to the large, joint medical facility," said Rose. "This is one example of how well-trained enlisted medics can jointly contribute to saving lives in our military," Rose added.
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