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NATO Mission Iraq conducts mass casualty exercise

NATO Mission Iraq (NMI)

Jul 28 2025

Baghdad, IRAQ -- On 24 July 2025, NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) conducted a comprehensive mass casualty (MASCAL) exercise to test its joint medical teams, operating in a Troops Medical Center (TMC) Role 1, to receive and treat casualties, validate triage and determine appropriate levels of care.

Under the leadership of the French medical team who will take over the Role 1, three NATO nations participated in the exercise, monitored by American medical staff, to test and validate MASCAL processes and procedures. Altogether, American, French, Spanish and Polish teams tested medical capabilities starting from the point of injury to prolonged field care and medical evacuation to a healthcare facility.

MASCAL exercise gives every NATO troops contributing nations the opportunity to conduct a realistic, large-scale test of NMI's mass casualty response processes, policies and procedures. The exercise demonstrated and showed interoperability and readiness, with key lessons identified and learnt to improve future emergency.

"These MASCAL scenarios force us to evaluate permanently our processes and ensure we are well trained between NATO Allies. MASCAL training also forces us to ensure we have solid procedures in place to deal with a real-world incident, if needed. I am very proud of the NATO team that showed determination and professionalism", he added.

Running a mass casualty exercise is essential and crucial for emergency preparedness and response. This type of exercise, run in Union III camp, simulates real-life scenarios involving a large number of casualties to test and improve the NMI capabilities of healthcare system and emergency services.

A mass casualty incident refers to any situation where the number of injured individuals overwhelms the local healthcare system's immediate response capacity.

Without training, even the best plans and resources can fail during a real crisis. A TMC (Troops Medical Centre) or Role 1 provides the initial level of medical care focusing on immediate life-saving measures. It's a unit that is responsible for the medical support of the soldier. In case of MASCAL, it is responsible for triage, resuscitation, and stabilization of casualties before further evacuation to higher echelons of care.

Story by NATO Mission Iraq Public Affairs Office