FORT KNOX, Ky. – Cadre members run a Casualty Evacuation Exercise at Christensen Range. The CASEVAC exercise is to make sure they are prepared in high-risk environments like the live grenade range. The exercise was all Cadre members.
Cadre conducted a Mass Casualty Evacuation Exercise on June 4th, to ensure they are prepared for any situation that may arise during training at Cadet Summer Training 2019. CST Cadre along with Ft. Knox Emergency Medical Services treated the simulated injuries before an Army UH-60 Black Hawk MEDEVAC helicopter arrived to take the wounded to a local hospital. | Photo by Catrina Dubiansky, Public Affairs Office
This specific CASEVAC scenario had two Cadre members in the grenade pit when a grenade went off. Both personal were hit with shrapnel in the legs. They were then treated by three of the five medics that were on hand. Once they were stable they moved them to the helicopter location. They would be airlifted out of Fort Knox up to Louisville.
“It is important to train for this in case it happens in real life. We want to be ready,” said Private August Boldt, Fourth Infantry Division Fort Carson, “There were a couple of things today we could’ve done better but that’s why we do the training – to iron out the kinks.”
The goal of this training is to ensure that there is communication between the different moving pieces to make it as efficient as possible “lives matter, seconds matter,” said Capt. Joseph Grillo, Rutgers University.
This is the first year that the live grenade range has been used in the Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox. “The catastrophic nature of a grenade in the pit, outside the pit, or shrapnel, we can respond properly and to make sure the casualty gets the proper care,” said Grillo.
Cadre conducted a Mass Casualty Evacuation Exercise on June 4th, to ensure they are prepared for any situation that may arise during training at Cadet Summer Training 2019. CST Cadre along with Ft. Knox Emergency Medical Services treated the simulated injuries before an Army UH-60 Black Hawk MEDEVAC helicopter arrived to take the wounded to a local hospital. | Photo by Catrina Dubiansky, Public Affairs Office
“Every enlisted Soldier has gone through this training, these future officers will be leading these enlisted Soldiers,” said Grillo. “Its hard to lead someone when you haven’t been through the training yourself. So its important they go through the training.”
Before the Cadets arrived to CST, the Cadre went through the exact same training as the Cadet will be going through. “Cadre have been training for weeks. They have been extremely adamant about safety and standardizing their instructions,” said Boldt. “When I’m in the grenade area it runs extremely smoothly, that’s a result of the training from the Cadre.”
The grenade range is a high-risk environment Cadets will come in nervous. “Don’t be nervous and just listen to the Cadre,” said Boldt.
