GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Goodfellow Airmen joined with members of the 14th Medical Group from Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, to complete the Tactical Combat Casualty Care course here, Feb. 7.
The TCCC course is being implemented across the Department of Defense providing military members with combat medical skills to avoid preventable deaths and rapidly treat injuries on the battlefield.
The 17th MDG partnered with the 14th MDG to administer the TCCC course they are utilizing at Columbus Air Force Base.
“This course is important because it allows us to train on the same platform across the DoD,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Kelly, 14th MDG chief nurse. “This way, when we deploy, we will all be able to work together utilizing the same medical framework and avoid unnecessary casualties.”
During TCCC course training, students underwent a rigorous combat medic course curriculum. The training included 14 hours of instruction and hands on combat medical skills with the assistance of animal meat to replicate wounds. Students were trained on tourniquet application, needle decompression, airway surgery, rapid assessment and many other combat life-saving medical skills throughout the course.
The course culminated in a final battlefield scenario to test the student’s skills. 17th Security Forces Squadron members and medics worked as a team to extricate casualties from the battlefield, then rapidly assessed, treated, medically stabilized and evacuated patients in a mock tactical environment.
“We realize we don’t deploy by ourselves as medical professionals and we should learn to train as a team with other agencies,” said Kelly. “Because of this, we took the opportunity to learn the tactical movements and communication tools necessary to accomplish the mission from our defenders.”
During the final battlefield exercise, instructors applied many techniques to simulate a deployed environment as much as possible. Members were dressed to play the role of victims with imitation wounds, speakers blared the sound of gunfire, and a fog machine added to the mayhem by creating artificial smoke.
“We try to simulate as much chaos as we can,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Stobaugh, 14th MDG noncommissioned officer in charge of medical maintenance. “When you get downrange, it can be very chaotic. The more we can simulate that environment during training on base, the more muscle memory individuals will have when they need it.”