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News | Nov. 1, 2024

Exercising and enhancing combat medical readiness in the heart of NATO

By Rob Helton

More than seven decades of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center’s legacy is built on the foundation of excellence in military medicine, providing healthcare to our larger military community while maintaining a ready medical force of soldiers poised and postured to move, shoot, and communicate as well as provide medical care in an event of a large-scale combat operation on the NATO’s eastern flank.

To hone those complex battlefield and medical skills in a realistic environment, LRMC and its network of combat medics from the Baumholder and Wiesbaden health clinics converged upon an urban training site in Germany to conduct a first-of-its-kind, multi-clinic, combined field training exercise Sept. 26, 2024.

More than 70 soldiers from LRMC’s Medical Readiness Battalion, the European Medical Simulation Center, 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced along with detachments from the 421st Multi-Functional Medical Battalion, 254th Combat Operational Stress Control and 94th Veterinary Detachment took part in the training.

“It was an incredible event demonstrating the effectiveness of collaborating with other LRMC health clinics along with units across the Medical Readiness Command, Europe and our supported battalions at Baumholder to facilitate a demanding and realistic training for our soldiers,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Max Smith, commander of Baumholder Army Health Clinic.

According to exercise planners, for the individual combat medic, this event served to build their confidence in the ability to perform warfighting tasks, broaden the scope of understanding of field medicine, and to validate their proficiency in executing those tasks.

“We are tasked to train ourselves and our soldiers to fight, in tough, realistic environments, and to meet those standards and maintain our skills. This team, comprised of several different units, worked together to provide that caliber of training,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Kaleb Richardson, the lead training facilitator and Baumholder Army Health Clinic Detachment Sergeant. “I was encouraged by the high spirit of our soldiers, rising to the challenges presented by the European Medical Simulation Center team, and provided by the beautiful rainy Baumholder weather. These troops brought the intensity honing their craft to answer the call.”

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