CAMP HUMPHREY'S, REPUBLIC OF KOREA -- When a helicopter crashes in the heat of combat, or a vehicle carrying several Marines overturns on the roadway, one thing is imminent: There will be several injuries in need of immediate medical attention.
It is up to naval hospital corpsmen to be among the first to respond and provide emergency medical assistance to Marines and Sailors who are injured in an accident.
Several hard-charging hospital corpsmen from various units in the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing arrived in the Republic of Korea in March to support Exercise Foal Eagle by providing medical support throughout the grueling exercise.
Upon arrival, the first task was to transport tens of thousands of dollars of medical equipment to the simulated combat zone here, and to establish a medical aid station.
"One of the hardest parts of this exercise was not just treating troops, it was transporting and being accountable for all the equipment to the training area, and [for] setting up a medical aid station," said Lt. Cmdr. Dean Asher, medical officer for the Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, 1st MAW, in Okinawa, Japan. "We had to set up all our equipment to support troops in the snow, and while the ground was [still] frozen."
While battling the cold weather and treating patients, the devil docs took advantage of the chance to work with soldiers in the U.S. Army's 52nd Aviation Battalion, 8th Army, Republic of Korea. With the use of the Army's UH-60A Blackhawk helicopters, Sailors and Marines, who simulated being injured in the helicopter crash, practiced medical evacuations, also known as "dust offs."
A medical evaluation is needed when a service member incurs injuries such as massive hemorrhaging that cannot be treated in a medical aid station. He must therefore be taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Prior to simulating medical evacuations, however, the soldiers instructed the attentive Sailors on the proper way to load patients into the Blackhawk.
Afterward, Sailors strapped Marines onto stretchers and loaded them into the awaiting helicopters as demonstrated.
"This is the first time many of the hospital corpsmen have been able to do training like this in a long time," said Petty Officer 1st Class Adrian Dunkerly, a hospital corpsman with the MWSS-172. "We managed to get everything set up expediently and conducted some valuable training.
"All the hospital corpsmen benefited from this, and it gave us a chance to work with another branch of the service."