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Military, civilian emergency responders join for casualty exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt Chris Bolen
  • 301st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
FORT WORTH, Texas --  Members of the 301st Fighter Wing participated in a two-day joint Mass Casualty Exercise at the Army Reserve Center here during the September Unit Training Assembly.

"The scenario is that there was an explosion at a Federal building, similar to Oklahoma City, where there was also a daycare," said Maj. Patricia Herbelin, 301st FW Medical Squadron and exercise evaluation team chief. "So there are injuries from a baby on up."

The exercise brought together the equipment, skills and abilities of about 600 personnel from multiple emergency organizations and first responders in North Texas.

The 301st MDS joined Navy medical personnel from NAS Ft. Worth JRB, local medical emergency agencies, law enforcement and volunteer organizations in the two day exercise to better prepare for large scale emergencies.

"Overall this is a great learning experience," said Senior Master Sgt. Tony Navarro, 301st MDS medical technician. "The combination of all the different branches working together is great."

Participating units included: Air Force, Army, Navy, Texas National Guard, firefighters from Fort Worth, Aledo and Lockheed Martin, civilian medical personnel, Tarrant County officials and the Texas Wing Civil Air Patrol.

In her position as team chief, Herbelin is responsible for the planning of the mass casualty exercise.

"In a situation like this all resources are pulled out between first responders on the civilian side and the services as well because our part of the base (NAS Ft.Worth JRB) support plan is manpower," she said. Should something happen then the JRB would automatically respond in that way.

In addition to show casing the ability of military and civilian emergency organizations to operate together in a joint effort, the exercise provided current training to improve medical response, coordination and communication among the many agencies in the North Texas area.

Simulated victims were made up to represent various types and severity of injuries then spread out across an eight football field size area. When signaled, the first responders rushed from various locations to the site of the casualties. Following initial evaluation the victims underwent medical triage and then were transported to a field hospital area for further treatment.

"The Air Force is providing the e-meds (emergency medical) treatment facility where the patients will arrive at after they are CASEVACed which is the term they use for the helicopters in the Army instead of air evac the way we (Air Force) do," said Herbelin.

"We all experienced some great training out here," said Navarro. He and other members of the 301st MDS served as evaluators on day one and then became first responders for day two.

"It's good to be able to get to know each other, what our resources are, how we work and get common "acronyms" together because the Army doesn't always say the same things the way that we do," said Herbelin.

"Also it's the camaraderie, just being able to be with our sister services as well," she said. "Of course first and foremost is to hone our medical skills."

"The exercise emphasizes readiness in the sense that as airman we should be ready to respond to a situation according to our training," said the major. "It's getting to know each other and knowing what something may actually look like in a setting like that.

"We saw some rough spots out there," said Navarro. "There were some challenges which are good because we can evaluate the gaps for the next exercise or the real thing."