It’s one thing to talk about military readiness. However, as many Sailors will tell you, putting one’s knowledge to the test on the open ocean is a whole different story.

One such Sailor is a general duty corpsman assigned to the medical department of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), Chief Hospital Corpsman David Long from Rockford, Illinois. Long recently completed a temporary assigned duty (TAD) period in support of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (ABECSG) during its participation in composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX).

COMPTUEX is a month-long certification exercise that assesses a strike group’s ability to conduct military operations at sea and project power ashore through joint planning and execution of challenging and realistic training scenarios.

“COMPTUEX goes on for about a month, and there were many Sailors on TAD that came in to support,” said Senior Chief Gunner’s Mate Paul Fahrenbach, a coordinator from Carrier Strike Group 4, who evaluated the exercise.

As one such Sailor, Long quite literally played multiple roles.

“I was asked to be a role-player and assessor for certain aspects of ship certification, not for the Lincoln itself specifically, but for the escort ships and small boys, the [guided-missile destroyers] and cruisers, for [maritime interdiction operations] and [visit, board, search and seizure],” said Long. “We did counter-piracy scenarios, which would be called non-compliant boarding because they needed to aggressively take control of the ship. We also did vessel-in-distress scenarios, which is compliant boarding, where we would invite them to come on to secure our ship because we couldn’t maintain it ourselves.”

As part of the mission, Long was tasked with many in-depth scenarios.

“Basically they’d say, ‘you’ll act as a vessel that was attacked by pirates, the pirates have left, and Sailors have to come on board,’” said Long. “I went because a lot of the scenarios involved simulated casualties. I’m a [tactical combat casualty care] instructor and I’ve gone to the class on how to use the training aids and the moulage, the make-up and stuff. My role was to plan the casualties, design the medical scenarios that included the details of how individuals were hurt and their injuries, and use all the supplies to create injuries as realistically as I could. When Sailors would come aboard, I would grade their tactics and their medical care. Are they triaging casualties correctly? Are they performing emergency care?”

Long’s experiences showed exactly why exercises such as these are so valuable.

“A lot of people that came aboard could tell me exactly what they should do according to the checklist, but when I stop them and tell them to just do it, they struggle,” said Long. “They know what they’re supposed to do, but have they had a chance to practice those skills or have they just talked about it? This comes down from the [chief of naval operations] when he talks about [repititions] and sets of hard training. The only way to build those skills is through repetition. You should expect your training to be hard, you should expect your training to be repetitive, and as realistic as possible while being safe. That’s how you build capability for when it really matters.”

While pressure can be high in an evaluation environment, the perseverance and excellence displayed by Sailors involved made for a very rewarding experience.

“When one cruiser’s VBSS team came over, a [hospital corpsman 3rd  class] that boarded with them was one of my junior Sailors in the emergency department at Naval Hospital Sigonella,” said Long. “I didn’t know he was there, and he didn’t know I was there. He knocked the scenario out of the water and performed excellently. To see someone that I’ve trained and worked with before out there on his own, doing exactly what he’s supposed to, that’s pretty rewarding.”

Little did Long know though that he would be in for quite a few more rewarding moments.

“There’s another element in this exercise called [Atlantic Targets and Marine Operations] that run the small orange target boats. When I got aboard, one of the first things they asked was, ‘would you be willing to come out on the [rigid-hulled inflatable boat] (RHIB) because we’re down a crew member.’ We ended up doing these high-speed, 30 to 35-knot attack runs against the coalition ships. Imagine being on this little, orange RHIB in the middle of the ocean, well offshore, running full-speed and trying to run down Lincoln as [destroyers] are doing 30-degree high speed turns in front of us to kick up a wake and throw us off track. There were [helicopters] coming in to shoulder us out. It was easily the most fun part, like something out of a recruiting commercial.”

Long’s experience is an excellent reminder that taking on a new challenge can be thoroughly gratifying.

“The TAD was rewarding, valuable, and turned out to be a lot of fun too, with some unique experiences that I’ll probably never have again,” said Long. “That’s a good lesson. You have to be ready to go at all times. Don’t be afraid to say yes to things that may not sound like the most glamorous or exciting, or you’ll end up missing out on some really good opportunities.”

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