CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. - Expeditionary medical support Airmen put their medical expertise on display recently during Exercise Vibrant Response 2013 in Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky.
Vibrant Response, conducted by U.S. Northern Command and led by U.S. Army North, is a joint field exercise to test the Department of Defense's Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear response force capabilities.
The goal of the training event was to test the ability to deploy, employ and sustain specialized military response forces upon the request of local, state and federal authorities. EMEDS teams from Andrews and Nellis Air Force Bases provided a mobile hospital that allowed for care of critical patients while also providing necessary short-term care.
"This has been one of the best training opportunities I've had since being in the Air Force," said Capt. Jacqueline Selly, a registered nurse from the 779th Medical Operations Squadron at Andrews AFB."It's been an outstanding exercise and opportunity."
According to medical professionals, EMEDS units have the capability to provide 24-hour sick call and emergency operations, medical command and control, preventative medicine, trauma resuscitation and stabilization, general orthopedic surgery, aeromedical evacuation coordination and aerospace medicine.
During the exercise, specialized federal response forces acting as part of the nation's tiered capability for responding to natural or manmade catastrophic events, worked to save lives, relieve human suffering and perform response operations. Responding teams included active duty members, reservists, national guardsmen, DoD Civilians, contractors and local, state and federal members.
"This is my first time working in a joint environment," said Staff Sgt. Keiatta Turner, medical administrator from Andrews AFB. "It's been very exciting and very informative and a good experience. I've enjoyed learning about litter transport during medical evacuations."
According to medical trainers and observers of the exercise, the EMEDS team performance during the 19-day exercise went according to plan and added an element necessary to ensure critical medical care was delivered in a simulated catastrophic environment.
"The EMEDS medical personnel pulled together as a team quite well during the exercise," said Lt. Col. Leigh Ann Erdman, NORTHCOM Joint Regional Medical Planner. "They executed critical missions and assisted their joint partners according to established standard operating procedures."
Exercise activities took place at 11 different training areas spread across 5,000 square miles, including Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center and Muscatatuck Urban Training Complex in Indiana. According to officials with ARNORTH, this year's event was the largest in the exercise's history with more than 9,000 personnel training in aviation, medical, engineering, logistics and other life-saving areas of expertise.
Exercise officials conducted more than 200 live events at 50 different venues. Specialized response forces are required to support local civilian authorities only when federal assistance is requested by a state and approved by the secretary of defense said a NORTHCOM official.