The following article is taken from the latest issue of the Globe & Laurel magazine.
Click the button below to discover more.
A Spec Recon team from Surveillance Reconnaissance Sqn were deployed to Alaska on Ex Arctic Edge 24 to deliver Cold Weather Warfare (CWW) training to 19th Special Forces Group, ODA. Using our specialist CWW skills, developed through working in the High North, each member of the team had the experience and professional qualifications to deliver the necessary training that will enable our American counterparts to operate in the harsh conditions of Alaska.
The first phase of the deployment was to deliver a CWW Course to the ODA teams over a period of three weeks. After landing in Fairbanks, Alaska, the team proceeded to conduct all training out of a US Air Force Base. Tuition started with building the students’ basic understanding of surviving and operating in Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) environments, which included a variety of lessons such as cold weather hazards, movement on skis and snow mobiles, tactical considerations, and building survival shelters. The first night in the field was the survival night where the ODA ranks put into practice the skills and techniques required to create shelters to protect them from the elements. The following morning was the ECW casualty packing lesson where each ODA team watched a full demonstration from SRS of how to treat a patient in this environment using the ‘cold weather burrito’ method. Once completed, each ODA team then replicated this technique and built the confidence to treat any patient in an ECW environment.
The next phase was the medical training; three members from SRS were now in each ODA team, operating alongside them for the duration of the deployment to spread our knowledge and experience within their teams. The medical training led by US Navy SEALs was a 12-hour serial consisting of a variety of medical lanes in which they demonstrated how to maintain casualties, provide prolonged field care, and conduct casualty evacuation on skis and snowmobiles. The following day was high-fidelity medical serial. Being at the point of injury, the team reacted quickly to provide the necessary lifesaving treatment, then used the ‘cold weather burrito’ for the subsequent casualty extraction. Once the patient was extracted into shelter, they proceeded to deliver prolonged field care. This is where they could fully evaluate the patient and begin to undergo the necessary treatment required. Under the guidance of doctors and surgeons present, the SRS team had the opportunity to witness and perform medical procedures themselves. After being told more patients were arriving, they were then given the opportunity to take charge of the medical facility. This allowed the medical clinic to run effectively and prioritise the actions required. It was a unique and rewarding experience to be part of.
The final phase of the deployment was the field tactical exercise. After SRS divided its specialists between the ODA teams …
To find out more about Ships Force Protection Ops and RM activities across the globe, catch up regularly with all the news in the Globe & Laurel Magazine, the Journal of the Royal Marines.
Read more from the Journal of the Royal Marines
For more information, and to read similar stories, visit:
Globe & Laurel – RMA – The Royal Marines Charity (rma-trmc.org)
