Lakenheath medical personnel participate in Shared Resilience 2012

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Dwayne Gordon
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
CAPLJINA, Bosnia and Herzegovina --  More than 50 personnel from the 48th Medical Group are participating in Shared Resilience 2012, an annual medical training exercise, May 28 - June 8.

The goal of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff-sponsored exercise is to strengthen interoperability, facilitate training in disaster management and crisis response, and validate the readiness of deployable multinational medical and humanitarian assistance teams.

Participating nations include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Norway, Slovenia, Serbia and the U.S.

"Training is very important," said Col. Robert Marks, SR12 co-director. "Shared Resilience 2012 allows the United States and our partner nations to train together in order to be a more effective medical community later. We're exchanging ideas and techniques at the multinational level to speed coordination and ultimately save lives."

During the first week RAF Lakenheath medical personnel learned important deployment training by attending the Expeditionary Medical Support course taught by U.S. Air Force cadre from Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.

"We are learning how to set-up the EMEDS basic package, which is a rapid deployable expeditionary package that contains surgical, [emergency room] and command and control capabilities," said Senior Master Sgt. Alvin Holland, 48th Medical Support Squadron and EMEDS superintendent. "The course teaches real-world readiness skills to deployable medical personnel."

The course is a combination of classroom lectures and hands-on training.

"The hands-on portion is great," said Airman 1st Class Courtney Peterson, 48th Inpatient Operations Squadron labor and delivery technician and EMEDS student. "I have never deployed before, so I think it is very helpful for us to learn how to set-up the tents and equipment prior to arriving at a deployed location."

After completing the week-long EMEDS course, Team Lakenheath will join forces with the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and other multi-national SR12 participants in a crisis exercise that will demonstrate the interoperability between the U.S. military and its partner nations.