AED-N holds battle drill to test response readiness
Apr 14, 2010
By David A. Salazar (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District - North)
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Afghanistan Engineer District - North held a Special Teams Battle Drill on the Qalaa House compound in Kabul March 24.
Emergency response teams from the Administrative, Intelligence, and Operations branches of the headquarters element, as well as volunteer combat life savers, responded to the mock drill, designed to test the abilities of each element in preparation for a real case attack.
"The premise of the drill was to have three people wounded after a rocket impact in the front square (of the compound) and have different typical injuries you'd have from that scenario that combat lifesavers need to fix," said Mark Hill, AED-N's emergency operations manager. "Then we'd run through the drill so that the ops guys, the intel guys and the personnel accountability folks can run through their drills of what they'd do in an actual event."
The drill came at an opportune time for AED-N, as normal turnover of personnel on the compound created a need for such training. In addition, a new group of volunteers graduated the Combat Life Savers Course March 18, making the drill the first test of their new knowledge.
"For some of them, this was their first exposure to any sort of simulated casualty," said Barbara Smith, AED-N's Occupational Health Nurse and instructor for the CLS course. "Some didn't do everything correctly, but I think they actually would have saved the casualty's life. I think there's always room for improvement, especially when it comes to the medical field. Practice makes perfect."
In the training scenario, a rocket made direct impact in the center of the compound, critically injuring two personnel and killing another. Each of the victims had make up and moulage applied to create a more realistic experience for combat life savers. Fake blood was also applied to the injured's clothing and poured around them to produce puddles.
"We had three different casualties with all blast-related injuries," Smith said. "The first patient had a large abdominal wound and a piece of glass stuck in her neck, which severed the carotid artery."
This particular casualty 'died' in the scenario, simulating what combat life savers could potentially encounter in a real life scenario.
"You do what you can to help them, but sometimes, their injuries will be beyond what you could do for them," Smith said.
The other two mock casualties suffered sucking chest wounds, amputations and blood loss.
For the participants, the drill offered a training scenario that was realistic, and allowed them to work with actual people instead of dummies.
"That was the first drill I'd ever been in - it was off the charts," said Charlie Bechtold, a civil engineer in AED-N's Operations and Maintenance Branch.
Bechtold was among the group that recently graduated the CLS course. The practical application of his recently-acquired skills were the best part of the drill for him, he said.
"My opinion of the training was that it was really hands-on - stuff you do not get in the classroom. You really get a sense of the time element and how important it is," Bechtold said. "Instead of us standing around a dummy, sterilized and cleaned up, the idea of cutting someone's clothes open to access a wound - they can tell you that in class, but when you actually have to designate someone to cut their clothes off and expose all the wounds, it's really different."
With the surge of 30,000 additional troops expected to arrive in Afghanistan in the coming weeks, Coalition Forces anticipate a higher volume of attacks over the summer months, when Taliban activity is at its peak.
"In the past, people didn't really want to do battle drills, it was viewed as an extra thing to do. This camp has never really been hit, but this exercise has inspired people to take this a little more seriously," Hill said.
While the scenario was handled well by all parties involved, Hill said both the operations response and combat life saver components experienced some procedural snags that only offer those involved more experience to learn from.
"Inside, the staffers went through some stumbling blocks like the (camp's voice alert system) didn't work quite right, they weren't sure of the procedures, the bunker phones' conference call didn't work correctly the first time, they had to do it again," Hill said. "Now all the new people know how to do 'big voice' alerts and they know how to get a hold of bunkers, so it was effective inside, as well."
Hill plans to coordinate similar drills with some added components to help bring the realism to new levels.
"We plan to have another battle drill - but it will be a full battle drill - from the alert to going to the bunkers to having injured and we're planning to have a helicopter come in and do a dust-off and take the sick and wounded away," he said.
Hill said he plans to hold these more comprehensive drills on a monthly basis.
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