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Long Time No See
By Slab
I've finally returned from my latest hiatus. Following my wedding and honeymoon in Rocky Mountain National Park (which was incredible, by the way), I came back to a frantic day at the office. I had put several weeks into planning a training exercise for last week, with events including a range with popup targets at unknown distances out to 800 yards, a live grenade house, and some opportunities for our SAW and M203 gunners to practice with their weapon systems. Of course, since it was planned by a grunt (moi), it also included staying in the field overnight (non-tactically, alas) and conducting a dismounted movement of some miles with all of our crap (said with the utmost affection) on our backs. Unfortunately, it all had to be canceled the day before. The company levied us with numerous administrative requirements, all at the very last minute, and it shot my plan all to hell.
I spent the rest of the week in the Operator Advanced Casualty Response Course, put on by Deployment Medicine International. For those who have heard of it, it's usually referred to as DMOC, or Deployment Medicine Operators Course. OPSEC forbids me to say much of what was covered or how it was instructed, but it is hands down the best medical training I have ever received. Yesterday's field exercise left me sunburnt, exhausted, and 100% more confident in my abilities to treat common injuries in an operational environment. If that's not enough of a testimonial, two ANGLICO sergeants who took Deployment Medicine's Operational Emergency Medical Skills (OEMS) course responded to a mass casualty incident near Habbaniyah last year. Of 17 serious casualties, including the only corpsman, only one died, and his injury was immediately non-survivable. If you spend any time in environments where the metal-to-air density ratio is a concern, I highly recommend you look into DMI and their courses.
I hope to be able to make a few more posts over the next two weeks, and then it will be off to more training for the rest of July. Looks like John and LtCol P are doing such fine work that my absences aren't likely to be noticed anyway.
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Comments
Welcome back, Slab. If you have access to SIPR, send me a note on that med course.
jpp 89
Sir, I can e-mail you on NIPR about it.
Congratulations!
Of course everyone here is doing a good job, but not so much that we didn't miss you!
Congrats on the wedding.
I cannot get the link to work.
Welcome back, sir, and thank you for the post. The quality of the training is a testament to the reduction in fatalities of personnel with traumatic injuries.
Glad to see you back, even if only for a wee while. Yes, you ARE missed by all when you`re absent. However, we`re an understanding group.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
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welcome back dude! And congrats on the wedding.