CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina — Corpsmen put their life-saving skills to the test in a training exercise here, recently. 

Corpsmen attached to the 2nd Medical Battalion converged on Camp Lejeune for the Navy Medical Augmentation Program Sustainment Training where they practiced skills unique to a combat zone.

“It’s medical training to familiarize the corpsmen with medical procedures, gear and the processes for when they deploy,” said Navy Petty Offoicer 2nd Class Zachary Place, a corpsman and instructor with the unit. “These are skills that are necessary to succeed as a unit in a field environment.”

The training took place in a Forward Resuscitative Surgical Center, which is essentially a mobile shock trauma center, where the corpsmen had to treat a number of notional casualties.

“We had other corpsmen not in the exercise who simulated casualties as well as mannequins which could simulate the more serious casualties,” Place said. “The injuries ranged from illnesses that could happen to any Marine or Sailor, all the way up to amputated limbs and wounds from an explosion.”

The corpsmen, while attached to the 2nd Med. Bn., are stationed at hospitals on different military bases throughout the east coast including North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Maryland. When the unit gets deployed, they all will get deployed together.

“The training is very important to get everyone working together, because most of them do not work together on a daily basis,” Place said. “These corpsmen have been around for a while and are extremely knowledgeable and experienced. They were one of the best groups we have had out here.”

The real-life environment gives corpsmen experience that can normally only be learned in a combat zone. Conducting this training gives them the hands-on experience that is crucial to saving American lives overseas.

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