CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. – The 27th Special Operations Wing hosted the 14th annual Medic Rodeo at Cannon AFB, N.M., Aug. 21-25. Seventeen teams from across the Air Force travelled to Clovis for several days of challenging practical training scenarios designed to assess and train them in tactical combat casualty care (TCCC) and home station medical operations.
The event took place on both Melrose Air Force Range and Cannon AFB, testing teams in a variety of operating environments and missions, such as burn patients, car accidents, pediatric injuries, traumatic brain injuries, amputations and mass casualty events. Deployed scenarios were split into three segments that mirrored TCCC’s phases: Care Under Fire, Tactical Field Care and Prolonged Field Care.
“In the first phase of TCCC, we were immersed in a deployed scenario where we had to extract a patient while being shot at (with simulated ammunition),“ said Master Sgt. Albert Santoscoy, Cadet Medicine Plans and Operations Section chief for the 10th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron. “In Phase 2 we had to treat all life-threatening injuries while dealing with role players trying to interfere with our care. We then had to get our patient off site and transport them to the closest medical facility. And in the final phase of TCCC, we had to keep our patient alive and stabilize them for three hours.”
The Medic Rodeo also emphasized new tactics and capabilities, like the Battlefield Assisted Trauma Distributed Observation Kit (BATDOK) and the Air Force Medical Service’s “Medic-X” initiative, which equips medical staff members who are not normally involved in direct patient care with foundational skills to better assist providers in providing combat casualty care.
“We’re going to simulate some of that high stress and high demand on our team,” said Col. Greg Coleman, Air Force Global Strike Command Command Surgeon. “What better atmosphere than being right here amongst all that to test out new technology to see if it’s going to give us the capability that we want in that field environment?”
After days of grueling mental and physical challenges, competitors from the U.S. Air Force Academy’s 10th Medical Group emerged the winners, followed closely by the 27th Special Operations Medical Group’s team.
While Independent Duty Medical Technicians assigned to the 27th SOW have been the standard evaluators for competitions past, this year a team of Army medics assigned to U.S. Army Medical Command were invited to help provide feedback and joint perspective from other branches.
“In the Army and the Air Force, we train for what the next fight could be,” said Sgt. 1st Class John Lambe, Trip Ler Army Medical Center Enlisted Advisor for the Directorate of Academics, Research and Training. “So when we start understanding how each of us work, it’s easier to plug and play all of us to make sure that we’re bringing more people home alive.”