SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii — Senior medical leaders from across the Army medical enterprise visited the 25th Infantry Division on Jan. 14, 2026, to observe how the division prepares its medical personnel to treat casualties in austere jungle combat environments during a jungle medicine distinguished visitor day.
The visit included leaders from the 18th Theater Medical Command, the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Pacific, and Tripler Army Medical Center, and highlighted how the 25th Infantry Division integrates medical tactics, techniques and procedures while adapting to transformation in contact through realistic, scenario-driven training.
Throughout the day, visitors observed jungle medicine training conducted at multiple locations, including East Range, the Warrior Dining Facility, Conroy Bowl and Desmond Doss Health Clinic. Medical Soldiers demonstrated trauma care, casualty evacuation, blood transfusion operations, and walking blood bank procedures designed to increase survivability when evacuation timelines are extended in dense jungle terrain.
Senior enlisted medical leadership emphasized how the training prepares medics to operate forward under combat conditions and perform life-saving tasks early in their careers. Sgt. Maj. John Dixon, the chief medical noncommissioned officer assigned to 25th Infantry Division, SISCO Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, shared his perspective on the impact of the training.
“This is the best medical training I’ve seen at the division level,” Dixon said. “It’s the most realistic training I’ve experienced in my 22 years of service and truly prepares medics to deploy forward and perform the tasks required in a combat environment.”
A key component of the training included the use of medically donated human tissue models, which provided a level of realism not achievable through synthetic training aids alone. These models allowed medics to train hemorrhage control, wound management, tourniquet application and blood transfusion procedures under conditions that closely replicate combat trauma, while maintaining strict ethical and medical standards.
Division medical leadership explained that this donor-based training is essential to developing confident and competent medical providers before their first real-world casualty encounter. Col. Benjamin Platt, the 25th Infantry Division surgeon, assigned to SISCO Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, described how the training directly supports future battlefield care.
“This training provides a level of realism that most medics never experience,” Platt said. “Working with medically donated human tissue models allows medics to understand how the human body truly responds to trauma. By exposing them to this environment now, we build confidence and competence so that when they are treating a fellow Soldier in combat, it is not their first experience with severe, life-threatening injuries.”
The training also incorporated jungle lane operations, equipment rehearsals, and canine tactical combat casualty care scenarios, exposing medics to the treatment of military working dogs—an increasingly critical capability in modern combat operations.
The distinguished visitor day provided senior leaders a comprehensive view of how the 25th Infantry Division prepares medical teams to operate independently, integrate new equipment and technology, and deliver care from the point of injury through higher roles of care in jungle and expeditionary environments.
By combining realistic trauma training, jungle-specific conditions and forward medical capabilities, the 25th Infantry Division reinforced its commitment to delivering first-class medical care by ensuring its first responders and medical providers possess the skills, confidence and competence required to save lives on future battlefields across the Indo-Pacific.
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