MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Fortunately, most enemy-launched rocket propelled grenades in Iraq miss their mark. But Navy Lt. George J. Brand II knows better than most that occasionally insurgents strike a blow.
Brand also knows the damage those erratic but lethal weapons can do. In his case, a strike on the humvee he was riding in killed one Marine and left another with two badly damaged arms that were later amputated.
Brand, 28, said quicker medical attention might have lowered the toll. So he's doing his part to make sure 1st Medical Battalion's corpsmen have even better training next time they deploy.
That was the idea behind medical augmen-tation training here June 19-24. The training put OIF veteran corpsmen to work, training those who haven't yet been to Iraq.
Seven-ton trucks full of corpsmen climbed up Pend-leton's steep hills to get to the training site, kicking up dust clouds as they grinded their way up dry dirt roads.
Roughly 200 sailors, augmentees, Marines and permanent personnel set up camp at 4:30 a.m., June 19, on the sandy surfaces of Red Beach and Victor training areas. Most of the tents spread across the landscape contained nothing but medical supplies and Meals-Ready-to-Eat.
The exercise included not only Med. Bn. corpsmen, but augmentees from naval hospitals throughout San Diego, along with motor transport specialists, radio operators and electricians.
"When we deploy with the unit, we don't have enough corpsmen, so we take other corpsmen from other areas to (provide) the unit with a sufficient amount of corpsmen," explained Petty Officer 1st Class Michael A. Vanhorn, leading petty officer for Med. Bn.'s administration shop.
The exercise was realistic enough to include helicopter support for training in "en route" care. The training allows corpsmen to get comfortable administering medicine while zipping through the air. It's all about stopgap, life-preserving care while casualties are whisked away for higher-end treatment, Brand said.
"It helps stabilize the patient so when they get to real hospital, they're ready for proper medical care," Brand said.
Corpsmen tended to role-playing servicemembers as the CH-46 helicopters made beelines between the two training areas. Looking like zombies out of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" -- complete with artificial wounds and tattered cammies -- the actors moaned, groaned and hyperventilated while corpsmen feverishly worked.
It's all designed so the corpsmen "will know what it'll be like when they deploy," said Vanhorn, who has deployed twice to Iraq.
Corpsmen also took turns with the "phrase-a-lator" -- computer software that translates a patient's foreign language to English when he or she speaks into a microphone.
The mock wounded helped corpsmen put the prototype software to the test.
"They are speaking different languages such as Arabic and Farsi to test the language software out," Brand explained.
When on the ground, corpsmen and patients reconvened in operating room tents. Techniques covered included stabilizing broken bones by screwing rods into a bone model.
The training came to a close June 24. The corpsmen boarded their vehicles and returned to their units.
It was merely a fitting coincidence the training landed around the same time as the Hospital Corps' 107th birthday, Brand said.
"It restates the proud tradition and dedicated service that corpsmen have serving with the Marine Corps," he said about ceremonies marking the birthday around base. Those events also prompt corpsmen to remember "our friends that have died."