FORT POLK, La. - The medical staff treated more than 120 notional patients within 24 hours after conducting a forcible entry airborne operation at the Joint Readiness Training Center on Fort Polk, La.

More than 75 Army physicians and medics assigned to Company C, 407th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division were involved in the mission. They deployed to simulate combat medical treatment at the training center earlier this month for an intense three weeks of medical support in the most austere of environments.

“The training is extremely realistic,” Sgt. Karlos Contreas, an emergency care noncommissioned officer with the company, said. “The broad spectrum of casualties and the amount of patients is amazing. We can actually touch, feel and see the patients.”

Training this rotation has been more intense and realistic than imagined for the medics and staff manning their Forward Support Hospital, Contreas added.

While the combat arms units are honing their skills on the battlefield, Capt. Andrew Jones, the company’s commander, ensured his team was ready to treat the ill and wounded – notional and real world.

Notional casualties arrived in groups with each mission the brigade’s battalions conducted. Soldiers participating in the training were issued casualty cards that dictated what injury they received if they became a casualty. Injuries ranged from minor lacerations to wounds requiring full field surgeries. There were also a number of real-world injuries. The medics saw paratroopers with spider bites, snakebites, poison ivy, and some upper- and lower-extremity injuries, Jones said.

The medics treated every patient as if he suffered a real-world injury.

The JRTC rotation was designed with complex scenarios based on current global issues. Troops encountered a conventional military, insurgent forces, and criminals. They also focused on humanitarian assistance, working with international aid worker role players. The training will bolster the brigade’s readiness and give its paratroopers the confidence and skill set to perform any mission worldwide.

With a new mission on the horizon, the brigade could be called on to deploy with little or no notice. The brigade’s paratroopers must be prepared for uncertainty, Jones said.

“We don’t know where we are deploying [if called on],” Jones said. “But we are pretty sure there won’t be a forward operating base.”

At least that’s what the brigade’s paratroopers are training for, Contreas said.

“This type of training is what a lot of medics I have talked to want to do when joining the Army,” he said. “It’s more than just a simulation. You have to take this seriously, get in the right mindset when you come out here.”

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