CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — Sgt. Curtis Pattinson, center, a medic with 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Spartan, conducts joint medical training at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, with Kuwaiti Land Forces soldiers from the 11th Engineer Battalion in April. The Soldiers worked together to practice basic combat lifesaver skills, such as placing a chest seal. (Photo by Sgt. Liane Hatch)
By Sgt. Liane Hatch
3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office, 4th Infantry Division
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — U.S. Soldiers with 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Spartan, and Kuwaiti Land Forces (KLF) soldiers from the 11th Engineer Battalion conducted joint medical training at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, to strengthen its ongoing unit partnership and develop basic combat lifesaving skills among the troops.
The 588th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3rd ABCT, facilitated the training, pulling medics from 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd ABCT, to train with two separate groups of 11th Engineer Battalion soldiers at Camp Buehring’s medical support training center. Also supporting the training exercise were two 3rd ABCT linguists, as well as civilian contractors from Camp Buehring.
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — Spc. Jay Choi, left, a medic with 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Spartan, works with soldiers from the Kuwaiti Land Forces’ 11th Engineer Battalion to conduct medical training at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in April. Choi said he enjoyed working with the KLF soldiers on developing basic combat lifesaver skills and getting the opportunity to see how other forces are trained. (Photo by Sgt. Liane Hatch)
“We’re doing medical training with our sister engineer battalion in the Kuwaiti Land Forces, and we’re asking them their best practices for medical techniques and showing them ours,” said Capt. Katie Deichl, 588th BEB, 3rd ABCT, plans officer and officer in charge of the training. “They’re learning how to use things that you would find in our (individual first aid kits), and we’re learning more field-expedient type things, like if you don’t have access to an IFAK.”
Throughout the training exercise, Soldiers reviewed basic combat lifesaving skills, such as treating hemorrhages, blocked airways, gunshot wounds and other forms of potential battlefield trauma. While U.S. Soldiers learn most of these skills during basic combat training and continue to practice them in training environments, KLF Lt. Col. Munawer Al-Otaibi, 11th Engineer Battalion’s explosive ordnance disposal training and operations officer, said Kuwaiti soldiers have traditionally left those skills to trained medics only. For most of the KLF soldiers, he said, the joint training was their first exposure to medical training and equipment.
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — A soldier from the Kuwaiti Land Forces 11th Engineer Battalion checks a casualty manikin for trauma during a joint training exercise with U.S. forces from 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Spartan, at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in April 2019. U.S. medics and Kuwaiti engineers worked together to ensure forces would be ready to respond to battlefield injuries, increasing joint partner readiness. (Photo by Sgt. Liane Hatch)
“For us, this is a bit different,” he said. “Normally if we go into combat or into a specific task, we’d have somebody from the medical center themselves come support that task, so typically my men will not deal with an injury. Instead casualties will be treated by the medical professional, so to have this kind of training gives my soldiers a bit more confidence in how to deal with something under pressure, in combat or in training.”
Working with their Kuwaiti partners helped 3rd ABCT medics hone their own skills and gave them a greater perspective of how other allied nations train and develop readiness, said Spc. Thomas Savitt, a medic with 64th BSB, 3rd ABCT.
“The main purpose of us being out here is just to share knowledge between ourselves and the Kuwaitis,” he said. “It’s really good practice for us, and it seems like they’re getting a lot out of it, asking a lot of questions and very eager to learn.”
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait —Spc. Thomas Savitt, center, a medic with 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Spartan, demonstrates for Kuwaiti Land Forces soldiers from the 11th Engineer Battalion how to place a nasopharyngeal airway on a casualty during partner training at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in April 2019. The training was just one of many opportunities for partnering Kuwaiti and U.S. forces to learn best practices from each other. (Photo by Sgt. Liane Hatch)
The medics said that from their perspective, everyone involved gained a lot in training value.
“It was really cool to work with another force and practice with our allies,” said Spc. Jay Choi, medic with 64th BSB, 3rd ABCT. “It’s been a lot of fun and a good chance to see how other nations train.”