Spc. Dory Soto, of the 2nd Infantry Division's Special Troops Battalion, tends to a South Korean soldier's mock wound Wednesday during a joint mass casualty exercise in Yangju. The Key Resolve exercise required U.S. soldiers and the 1st South Korean Infantry Medical Battalion's soldiers to coordinate and track soldiers from both nation's militaries. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Spc. Dory Soto, of the 2nd Infantry Division's Special Troops Battalion, tends to a South Korean soldier's mock wound Wednesday during a joint mass casualty exercise in Yangju. The Key Resolve exercise required U.S. soldiers and the 1st South Korean Infantry Medical Battalion's soldiers to coordinate and track soldiers from both nation's militaries. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Medics from the 2nd Infantry Division tend to a South Korean soldier's mock wound. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Medics from the 2nd Infantry Division load an "injured" South Korean soldier into an ambulance Tuesday during a joint mass casualty exercise in Yangju. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Pfc. Robert Shipley, right, and medics with the 2nd Infantry Division carry a "wounded" soldier to an ambulance. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Medics from the 2nd Infantry Division tend to a South Korean soldier's mock wounds. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
YANGJU, South Korea — It was a dark and bumpy ride for the medics bracing themselves between two rows of stretchers in the back of a military ambulance Wednesday.
The moment the vehicle stopped, the medics launched themselves onto a rocky battlefield full of screaming soldiers who never broke character while lying in the mud with fake blood pouring from mock wounds.
Treating them was the easiest part of the joint U.S.-South Korean mass-casualty drill Wednesday, said medics from the 2nd Infantry Division’s Special Troops Battalion and 210th Fires Brigade.
Combat medicine is what they are trained to do. But the medics had never worked jointly with counterparts from the 1st South Korean Infantry Medical Battalion.
Until Wednesday.
“There were a lot of firsts for us today,” said medic Pfc. Jennifer Gadberry. “For as many things as we had thrown at us today, I think we handled it pretty well.”
Adding to the pressure, the drill was part of the annual Key Resolve exercise on the peninsula. About 25 South Korean and international media correspondents were on hand to watch the medics in action, while medical soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 38th Field Artillery acted as exercise controllers.
“For me, I actually do better with the stress,” said Cpl. James Hathaway of the 560th Medical Company. “It all comes back to muscle memory.”
Four U.S. and four South Korean soldiers were taken by ambulance to the South Korean military’s Byeokje Hospital nearby the exercise site in Yangju.
Eight other soldiers considered to have more-serious injuries were scheduled to be airlifted to Osan Air Base for treatment.
Poor weather delayed the medical evacuation Black Hawk helicopters Wednesday morning.
While the battlefield action moved quickly, equally important parts of the drill were happening on phone lines and computers at each army’s headquarters.
The behind-the-scenes test was to see how well the two armies’ health care systems communicate when they take care of each other’s wounded soldiers, said Capt. Mark Knight, division medical evacuation officer.
The event also gave U.S. medics a first look at how their South Korean counterparts compare.
The South Korean medics are very methodical and tend to work “by the book,” said Spc. Dory Soto.
The U.S. medics are methodical too but they are more likely to develop routines that differ from the book while still getting the job done correctly, he said.
Pvt. Zack Rider of Division Special Troops Battalion said he hoped their counterparts came away reassured about their quality of work, “so they know we’ll treat them as well as we’d treat any of us.”
