BILLED JSDF Combat Medical Training May 1996

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JSDF JOINT COMBAT MEDIC TRAINING - MAY 1996

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TRAINING OBJECTIVE: FIELD COMBAT MEDICAL TRAINING LEVEL I
CLASSIFIED

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JAPANESE GROUND SELF-DEFENSE FORCE​	JAPANESE AMPHIBIOUS SELF-DEFENSE FORCE​	JAPANESE AIR SELF-DEFENSE FORCE​	JAPANESE MARITIME SELF-DEFENSE FORCE​

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JGSDF	JAMSDF	JASDF	JMSDF
1st DIVISION 1st Field Medic Battalion 2nd Field Medic Battalion 3rd Light Field Medic Battalion 4th Field Medic Battalion 1050x Standard Infantry 2nd DIVISION 5th Field Medic Battalion 6th Field Medic Battalion 7th Light Field Medic Battalion 8th Field Medic Battalion 1050x Standard Infantry	800x Marines	500x Air Force Support Personnel	2000x Sailors

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MISSION BRIEFING

The goal of this mission is to teach the skills necessary to provide basic combat medical support. Soldiers will be trained in the skills necessary to stabilize wounded people in the immediate aftermath of receiving an injury. They will be taught standard triage theory. Skills will be advanced CPR, First Aid, and other medical trainings necessary to make fast field diagnosis and to provide some remedial measures until soldiers can be treated further as necessary. All trainings will take place near the mobilization port of Chiba and will continue when the soldiers are transported at sea. Instructors will be divided between the branches so that training can continue uninterrupted while soldiers are at sea.

LOGISTICS
Combat medics would be provided adequate shelter, food, and supplies to continue with the training. Civilian medical and support personnel would be on hand to attend to any needs that the medics need while training.

 

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Training Phase I: CPR and First Aid Training

First thing these men were trained in is First Aid and CPR. Basic First Aid and CPR training can be taught in four hours. These men were drilled in near master certification of CPR and First aid, requiring training over two days and 16 hours. Knowledge of these skills was fundamental for first-response medical personnel. Soldiers were drilled consistently, working in teams of two to achieve competence. Once the basics were down, medics would spend one day treating patients discovered outside. Finally, instructors would fire rifles loaded with blank rounds around the medics as they were treating the patients. In order to pass this phase, soldiers had to be able to quickly and effectively diagnose patients suffering from: Gun shot wounds, anxiety attacks, heat stroke, cardio-pulminary issues, obstructions in breathing, puncture wounds, collapsed lungs, broken bones, various wound types received in and out of combat, etc. The goal here was to assess and stablize. Treatment was taught as well, but that was secondary.

 

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Training Phase II: Diagnosis Training

During this phase, the medics would be better trained on identifying injuries, diseases, and other battlefield maladies that they might encounter. This training would begin with a field manual that was to be the medic's bible during their careers. The field manual contained at least some symptom list of most known, and likely, injuries and diseases for diagnosis. Emphasis was on identifying the extent and nature of wounds at this point in the treatment, as that is what the medics would likely encounter, but they were still expected to be responsible for the other items in the manual, or at least know generally how to identify symptoms then diagnose using the field manual. Medics were given the manuals and expected to learn them. Once the medics had the manuals for a few days, they would be tested first by a written examination, and second by a presentation of a soldier with a hidden set of symptoms that the medics had to discover and diagnose through their triage and treatment training.

 

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Training Phase III: Experiential Learning

The medics were deployed across the Tokyo Region serving as emergency medical personnel. Some would be riding alongside the actual EMTs with the medics inserted into the EMT groups to get experience in the field. Others would be deployed in hospitals to work alongside nursing teams addressing wounds. Others would be deployed to clinics in the region to assist there. In these settings, they would be asked to do basic first aid on any non-critical patients. If a patient was in critical condition, the medics would simply observe and learn. Advertising would be spread across Tokyo asking anyone seeking medical assistance to do so immediately for the good of the nation to help these medics learn. In their downtime, if they had any, the medics would be required to review their field manuals in preparation for the final exam at the end of the training.

 

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Training Phase IV: Emergency Basic Surgery Procedures

During this phase the medics are trained on the performance of basic, emergency surgical procedures, such as removing bullets, stitching wounds, and other minimally invasive procedures that might need to be performed in the field. Of course, training on sterilization was emphasized, including in how to sterilize and improvise implements in the field.

The medics would practice mostly on dummies, but they would also observe surgical procedures, get lectures from actual doctors, and eventually practice on cadavers in groups.

 

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Training Phase V: Review, Field Testing, Examination, and Certification

The trainees would now be required to review all the information they learned and face the qualifying tests. In these tests, trainees would first have to perform a field test. In the field test, there would be multiple scenarios they would have to work through. Scenarios included different wound types, scenarios with multiple casualties, combat treatment with live rounds fired overhead with simulated explosion noises blaring in the background, etc. Once a trainee had successfully navigated the field training, they would be made to sit for a written exam that covered operating procedures, injury and illness identification, quarantine protocol, health and cleanliness requirements and the like. With both the field certification and the written exam passed, the medics would complete their training.

Training Complete