Soldiers tackle EFMB course

"Medic, medic!"

No other call on a battlefield generates as much uncertainty as this one.

Over 120 health care professionals engaged in the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) Course, a two-week long field exercise which tests Soldiers on medical and combat-related tasks, at Fort Bliss, which ended with a 12-mile forced road march, Aug. 12.

"I'm glad we're still doing this," said Col. Charles Lombardo, commander, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, of the EFMB course. "You are the role models, the fact that you're going beyond (medical tasks) and doing (the EFMB course) as a combat Soldier speaks greatly about your character."

The EFMB course was created in 1965 during the Vietnam War to distinguish field medical personnel who had demonstrated exceptional competence and outstanding performance in both medical and Soldier tasks.

Soldiers tested in multiple areas including litter obstacle courses, emergency medical treatment, survival skills in a Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear environment, CPR, Medevac, and a 12-mile road march to be completed in three hours.

"The course consists of two phases, the standardization phase and the testing phase," said Maj. Barry Seip, test board chairman and physician assistant, Neurology Clinic, William Beaumont Army Medical Center. "Soldiers don't realize how tough it is because not only is the course physical, they're living in the field the whole time."

Seip, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was prior enlisted as a combat medic and earned his EFMB badge in 1990. Although the course has changed, the importance of real-world combat-simulated training in the course hasn't.

"It's hard to get it," said Seip about the EFMB. "The title isn't just given to you, you have to earn it."

The course is also as diverse in rank as it is in requirements, with Soldiers from the rank of private first class to lieutenant colonel, attempting to earn their badge. The course also welcomed Soldiers from all around the country along with Soldiers from active, reserve and National Guard units.

"(EFMB) symbolizes that you're setting yourself apart from your peers," said Spc. Ero Wainio, 21, health care specialist, Training Support Activity, Camp Bullis, Texas. "You're showing you can pay attention to detail and do your job, accomplish all the warrior tasks and drills."

For Wainio, a native of Lincoln, California, the course contained elements he trained for prior to his second attempt at earning his EFMB. Soldiers who come back to the course a second or third time is not uncommon as the attrition rate is one of the highest of any Army course.

"We started with 129 Soldiers, to be left with only 10 is by far the tough cut," said Lombardo. "It's not about winning it, it's the lessons that we've learned and the training that we've gained from it."

After the culminating event, a 12-mile forced road march, only 10 Soldiers earned the right to be pinned with the EFMB.

"You can't just walk on to the field and earn a badge, you have to train for it," said Seip. "It's like a badge of honor for medics and recognition for excellence in field medicine."