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Soldiers Prepare for Worst-Case Scenario

By Sgt. Will Hill

Service members deployed to Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, participated in a base-wide mass casualty training exercise on 5th of September.

Soldiers role-playing the injured used realistic stage blood to give the wounds a more authentic appearance for the first-responders.

The training exercise was designed to evaluate how first-responders and other Soldiers would handle mass casualties should such an event happen in real-life. The 219th BfSB is currently deployed to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn.

The base-wide training exercise judged first responders' handling of single incidents yielding multiple injured Soldiers in a short period of time.

"Injured" Soldiers flood the Combat Support Hospital as medical providers triage patients outside during a mass casualty training exercise at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill

This simulated wound has a realistic appearance so Soldiers can better identify the injury and thus respond how they would in a real-life scenario. photo by Sgt. Will Hill)

Indiana National Guard Staff Sgt. Jordan Miller, from Fishers, Ind., and Staff Sgt. Matthew Luzar, from Speedway, Ind., medics with the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, administer first-aid to simulated casualty Spc. Charissa Woods, from Columbus, Ind., also with the 219th BfSB. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill

Indiana National Guard Sgt. James Proft a radio telephone operator (RTO), from Greenwood, Ind., with the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, administers first-aid to simulated casualty Spc. Brandon Conlin, from Martinsville Ind., also with the 219th BfSB, during a mass casualty training exercise. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill

Indiana National Guard Soldiers with the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade respond to a simulated explosion. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill)

Indiana National Guard Staff Sgt. Jordan Miller, from Fishers, Ind., a medic with the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade administers first-aid to simulated casualty Sgt. Chelsea Singleton, from Danville, Ind., also with the 219th BfSB. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill

Indiana National Guard Spc. Sarah Gober, from Franklin, Ind., with the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade role plays a dying patient, gazing off into the distance as medical providers administer first-aid to her simulated life-threatening injuries during a mass casualty exercise. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill

"Injured" Soldiers flood the Combat Support Hospital as medical providers triage patients outside during a mass casualty training exercise. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill

Staff Sgt. Tiwanda Brown, from New York, with the 20th Engineer Brigade, globs red liquid on Indiana National Guard Spc. Jeffrey Maldonado, from Franklin Ind., with 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, to simulate a head injury for a mass casualty training exercise. Photo: Sgt. Will Hill