CONTINGENCY OPERATING STATION GARRY OWEN, Iraq -- Bulldog Company has chosen to be proactive as 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division prepares to transfer Contingency Operating Station Garry Owen to Iraqi Security Forces and move their equipment to Contingency Operating Base Adder in advance of the drawdown of United States Forces-Iraq later this year.
Third platoon, recently took the opportunity to do some realistic training in sector and practice their medical evacuation skills. The training included setting up a helicopter landing zone and loading litter-bound casualties onto the helicopters.
Soldiers simulated an IED blast, or multiple blasts, before setting vehicles in a security perimeter.
Bulldog Soldiers sprung into action immediately applying buddy aid, scanning for secondary attacks, readying litters and calling up a 9-line MEDEVAC to battalion.
"I think it was really good training," said Pfc. Juan Germosen, a native of the Dominican Republic and the platoon medic. "We should do that sort of training more often." Germosen also said that the practice of managing multiple patients, triage and working as a team were the most important elements of the exercise.
"It was great because we've never worked with the birds before," said Spc. Mark Yaletchko, a rifleman and native of Westchester, Pa. "Especially for those of us who are on our first deployment. It was good. We learned how to set up security for an LZ, pushing guys out to the medic, multitasking." Yaletchko added that he felt confident that the unit would perform just as well in a real-life scenario.
Germosen especially liked the way the platoon worked together. He noted that every Soldier jumped in to perform necessary tasks.
"During the first iteration we had two casualties, and I was able to manage them both, but during the second we had four casualties, so I needed to work through other Soldiers to get them stabilized in the short amount of time we had," said Germosen. "We had really good communication. My guys have been trained on this before, so it was beautiful. In real life, all four casualties would have been stable and we would have gotten them to medical care."
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