FORT DETRICK, Md. – The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense Chemical Casualty Care Division is teaming up with the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence Noncommissioned Officers Academy to exponentially increase the reach and impact of its renowned casualty management training courses, promising to significantly improve Warfighter survivability when operating in contaminated environments.
Typically, USAMRICD offers its courses – which cover the medical, field, and hospital management of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear casualties – to active duty and civilian medical personnel who apply the knowledge in their own units and facilities. At the MEDCoE NCOA, however, USAMRICD’s Mobile Training Team is teaching the cadre of instructors, who will then instruct the noncommissioned officers who are studying to be squad and platoon sergeants in a medical specialty. Upon graduation, the NCOs then return to their own units armed with the tools they need to implement the latest and most advanced strategies for casualty management as part of their duties.
“For many Warfighters, CBRN awareness is along the lines of, ‘Oh, I just need to know how to don and doff my MOPP gear and how to treat myself with an autoinjector,’ but when your job is to treat patients, it’s a lot more involved than that,” says Lt. Col. Michael Neill, CCCD’s deputy chief. “When we introduce all these processes to them, it opens their eyes a little bit more to what the expectations are. When you talk about the medical management of patients, PowerPoint just doesn't cut it.”
The Mobile Training Team recently traveled to Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to provide the cadre of NCOA’s Advanced Leaders Course with a refresher on the H-Hour Training Aids and Tool Kits Introductory Course, which the academy recently added to its curriculum. This is the third training session the MTT has offered at NCOA, and they plan to continue providing regular refreshers to ensure the cadre stays up to date as new personnel rotate in and out.
The joint services medical training offered by USAMRICD is recognized as the gold standard for first responders, medical practitioners and hospital executives whose job it is to prepare for and respond to CBRN incidents. In conjunction with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, USAMRICD offers courses at USAMRICD and around the world via the MTT. In addition to offering standardized trainings, CCCD adapts its course content and structure to the specific needs of the groups requesting training. The division’s Consultation Branch complements the formal training courses with on-demand telemedicine consultation services to deployed caregivers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“What makes our participation in the NCO Academy program unique is that they are training current and future leaders,” says Daniel Boehm, a field medical education specialist at CCCD who prepared the training aids and conducts the refresher sessions at the NCOA. “The fact that the academy recognizes the value of our training and has adapted it into their curriculum is a huge privilege and an honor. To be able to contribute to what the Warfighters are doing to save lives, it doesn't get any better than that.”
The most recent refresher session also provided the USAMRICD team with an opportunity to “ground truth” the effectiveness of their training from the NCO perspective, thanks to the participation of Staff Sgt. Juan De Paz, the division’s NCO In Charge.
“Leading this training was an eye opener,” says De Paz. “I’ve come full circle – from not having received enough of this training throughout my career to being able to offer it to other Soldiers. What I found is that a lot of the NCOs had the same kind of experience I did, and you see them just absorbing this information and you see that light turn on for them.”
USAMRICD works closely with its partners at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to offer three professional development, in-residence and remote courses to joint Warfighters and their civilian counterparts. The course content can be tailored to the specific needs of individual groups and locations, such as responding to CBRN emergencies on board a ship or in an aircraft. The division also develops new courses based on requests from the field; for example, the team is currently in the process of rolling out a new advanced course in the pharmacy management of CBRN casualties. The idea for that course came up during a phone consultation with a care provider in the field.
That kind of feedback is crucial for ensuring that USAMRICD’s training continues to adapt to meet the evolving threats facing Warfighters in the field anywhere in the world.
“Working with the NCO Academy has provided unbiased validation from the best and most knowledgeable NCOs and professional instructors,” says Boehm, himself a former medic. “There's no ‘fakin’ the funk’ when you're working with that group. Their feedback is invaluable for crafting and refining our teaching style and course content.”
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