8/16/2013 -- MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER, Calif. – When a Marine gets injured on the battlefield, they rely on corpsmen to provide them the urgent care they require to get back in the fight. When those injuries are life threatening, the Shock Trauma Platoon is there to save lives.
Sailors and officers with Combat Logistics Battalion 11, 1st Marine Logistics Group, conducted a mass casualty drill at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Calif., Aug. 9, 2013.
Over the three-day exercise, corpsmen participating in the training evolution received difficult scenarios in which they applied lifesaving skills to role-player casualties.
Lifesaving techniques such as triaging each victim, mending wounds and stitching were used to effectively stabilize the victims for a casualty evacuation.
A STP is a multi-structured tent system with multiple emergency rooms that can be quickly set up and prepped for incoming patients. Physicians and corpsmen have limited time from when an individual is critically injured to when definitive care is given.
This time frame of 60 minutes is known as the golden hour among surgeons. The skillful care provided by physicians during this hour dramatically increases the patient’s chances for survival.
“We demonstrated that we provide the best care for critically injured Marines and sailors,” said Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Trueba, an emergency medicine physician and surgeon with Combat Logistics Regiment 17, 1st MLG.
The demonstrations displayed the skills and equipment necessary to perform certain tasks to save lives.
Brigadier Gen. Vincent A. Coglianese, commanding general of 1st MLG, came aboard MCAGCC, also known as Twentynine Palms, to show support for physicians and sailors participating in the mass casualty exercise.
Trueba explained that it was a productive opportunity. The visit from Coglianese gave the physicians and sailors the chance to describe to the commanding general challenges they experienced in Afghanistan and Iraq and possible solutions to overcome them.
“I was very appreciative that the commanding general took time out of his schedule to come out and see the medical capabilities that we have to take care of critically injured Marines and sailors,” said Trueba.
For sailors and officers with the STP, the techniques practiced during the training evolution will prepare them for when the time matters.