Naval Hospital Bremerton Shares 'Down Range' Insight with Operational Awareness Seminar

BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) held an Operational Awareness Symposium on what to expect if deploying for a medical assignment billet in Kandahar, Afghanistan, May 31.

The facilitator of the event Lt. John Spannuth, NHB Family Medicine Nurse, noted the quarterly awareness classes are vital to keep people informed if they're assigned to the Role 3 Hospital at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

"The people who've come back from Kandahar want to share their knowledge and wisdom to people going down range," said Spannuth. "The staff currently here at the hospital who may eventually be assigned to go on an IA (Individual Augmentee) billet will go through a substantial amount of training before getting over there. This conference provides an initial look into how things operate there."

The Role 3 Multi-National medical facility provides the highest echelon of care at KAF for active duty military, NATO Forces without organic medical support, local nationals - including the local populace, the Afghan National Army and Police, as well as third country nationals and civilian contractors from all over the globe.

The U.S. Navy assumed responsibility for the Kandahar Role 3 Hospital operations from Canadian forces in August 2009. A newer, more modern $60 million facility was opened in May 2010

Lt. Christopher Grey, NHB Emergency Room Department, recently returned from an extended deployment in the Kandahar compound. He discovered the actual process of getting to the Regional Medical Hospital at Kandahar or other specialized clinics within the compound involves extensive training and preparation.

"Once you have orders in hand and a set time you begin workups here at the hospital," said Grey. "My training then included time at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton which specialized on field training. After that we had a basic Army training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. (Grey and other Kandahar veterans in attendance noted Fort Dix in New Hanover Township, N.J. as another possible destination for the specialized Army training.) This included a lot of weapons familiarization, protocol and procedure within the compound as well."

New arrivals to Kandahar are often anxious and eager to get into full-on operational 'down range' mode. The indoctrination training provides vital and necessary information to handle the responsibilities for such an environment.

"There are so many things to remember when you're over there," said Spannuth. "The huge amount of class time is given to ensure you don't get too casual and relaxed like you have the whole system down. There are little things stressed, like always having a "battle buddy" watching out for you, and that you are constantly vigilant on what's going on around you. These are keys in making sure you'll come back home okay."

Editor's Note: The term "Role" describes the tiers in which medical support is organized, with Role 3 describing the capabilities of a theater-level hospital. A Role 3 military treatment facility includes additional capabilities such as specialist diagnostic resources, specialist surgical and medical capabilities, preventive medicine, food inspection, dentistry, and operational stress management teams. Role 1 refers to emergency medical care in the field, historically handled by independent duty corpsmen. Role 2 has been traditionally defined as Battalion Aid Station, where the wounded are linked up with a nurse and physician in the chain of evacuation. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, is the largest American hospital outside the United States and an example of a Role 4 facility. Role 5 sites are rehabilitation facilities.

For more news from Naval Hospital Bremerton, visit www.navy.mil/local/nhb/ .