Bloody good training

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Joshua Stevens
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  In the United States, roughly 2,575,000 people are injured in vehicle accidents, one is injured in a fire-related accident every 32 minutes and 27,731,818 are injured in unintentional accidents annually, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Such rates make evident the need for ready responders who can handle injury victims at a moment's notice; these responders must be trained to handle many variations of injuries, from serious to minor.

Ellsworth and its surrounding communities have a helping hand to accomplish this training - the 28th Medical Group Moulage Team. This six-person team helps base and community organizations train by creating realistic injury scenarios by use of its namesake - moulage. Moulage artists use artificial blood, makeup and other materials to create the scenarios.

"I took over the Moulage Team last year and hand-chose the other team members," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Davis, 28th Medical Support Squadron Administrative Services NCO in charge and Moulage Team chief. The members were selected because of their willingness to put so much of their own time into this program; they are all volunteers.

The team participates in many facets of scenario situations. They are often challenged with new concepts and unique environments involving, but not limited to, drunk driving accidents, nuclear, biological and chemical threat injuries, plane crashes, fires, bombings and more.

Annually, the team will participate in three to four large-scale exercises and various smaller ones. The team's exercises have taken them not only to locations on Ellsworth, but locations in the community such as Rapid City Regional Airport and many of the local school districts.

When performing exercises on base, the team is given its scenarios from the base's Plans and Programs office and also notified of how many "victims" will be in the scenarios from the Emergency Evaluation Team, Sergeant Davis said. The injuries mocked will be tailored to the events of the scenario and the emergency responders who they want involved.

Moulage effects are sometimes described as an art. For Sergeant Davis, his skills come from those before him.

"The training for this is a kind of passed-down art," he said. "[My predecessors] passed it to me, and I pass it on to others. Most of the time we just experiment until we get the effect we want."

The team makes use of many kinds of materials to accomplish the realism of the injuries.

"Mostly we use wax, liquid latex, glues, plastics [to create bone shards], chicken bones, bandages, artificial blood, charcoal and makeup [for dirt and road-rash effects]," Sergeant Davis said. "We even use condoms filled with oatmeal and water to simulate exposed intestine."

"The more realistic the scenario appears, the better our responders will be on the job," said Tech. Sgt. Tricia Carnes, 28th Medical Support Squadron Medical Readiness NCO in charge and Moulage Team member.

Besides providing essential training, the work the Moulage Team does in the community helps strengthen the bonds between the emergency organizations involved in the joint effort.

"We meet state troopers, fire fighters, medical personnel and others who really appreciate our help," Sergeant Carnes said. "The great thing about it is they are not just seeing the 28 MDG come out to give them a hand; they are seeing Ellsworth give them a hand, and that's important."

For Sergeant Davis, the biggest reward of his involvement with the team comes from exercises held at community schools, which often target the possible somber outcomes of choosing to drink and drive.

You feel like you are really making a difference when you see the expressions the teenagers have seeing the possibility of injuries they could cause themselves and others from choosing to drive drunk, he said.

Currently, the team's goal is to attend professionally-held moulage training in Las Vegas, Nev., in order to further hone and sharpen their skills to better serve all the organizations their talents assist.