Mass casualty exercise prepares first responders Published April 5, 2011 By Senior Airman Tong Duong 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq -- The blaring sirens of first responder vehicles and spinning propellers of a C-130 couldn't drown out the plead for help from Airmen sprawled across the flightline. More than 30 Airmen were doing their part to add realism to a mass casualty exercise by creating a stressful environment for first responders, security forces and medical technicians. "We can sit around and talk about how to treat injuries, but everybody can do their job under a stress free environment," said Tech. Sgt. Brandon King, 332nd Expeditionary Medical Operation Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of physical therapy. "If you add stress to it, can they still perform at that high level?" Medical technicians and firefighters rushing to assess injuries were tested on their triage skills. This allowed them to sort patients based on their need for immediate medical attention according to type and seriousness of injury and the likeliness of survival. The exercise scenario centered on a C-130 plane crash with 33 passengers and crew on board. To make the exercise as realistic as possible, patients had mock injuries, or moulage, applied by six medical technicians. Each volunteer acted out a specific injury which ranged from simple cuts and bruises to severed appendages. "To make the patient look like they were actually injured, we use make-up and other sources," Sergeant King, who is deployed from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, said. "We even have prosthetics that pump blood though (the wound) to make it look more realistic." Volunteer victim, Tech. Sgt. Steven Johnson, 332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron programs manager, said he did it because the exercise may benefit a real victim later on. Sergeant Johnson, who is deployed from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and a Birmington Wash., native, was moulaged with full thickness burns on 70 percent of his body. While being able to quickly assess a situation and react is a virtue, safety is always paramount according to 332nd EMDOS commander, Lt. Col. Paul Gourley, who is deployed from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. "We want our Airmen to be safe at all times, especially when responding to this type of incident," Colonel Gourley, a Philadelphia, Pa., native said. "When you get injured, you are no longer a solution but now part of the problem...We can do stuff effectively and efficiently, but speed does not always equal well-done, it can kill and injure as well." Working with firefighters, security forces and volunteers, Sergeant King, a Falls Church, Va., native, said the exercise was important for the medical staff. "We have many new people (on this rotation), so we need to know how our group operates during a mass casualty," the sergeant said. "Regardless of combat environment or not, we want to make sure we're doing the right things... to keep everybody sharp."