Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit FIVE (NEPMU-5) completed a one-week field training exercise at the Navy Expeditionary Medicine Training Institute on board Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, March 18.

The field exercise (FX), a critical portion of the unit's Forward Deployable Preventive Medicne Unit (FDPMU) training cycle, tested the FDPMU's ability to enter austere locations and provide force health protection through rapid assessment, prevention, and control of health threats in a theater of operations.

"Our FDPMU training cycle is about building and employing our preventive medicine skills," said FDPMU Coordinator Lt. Eric Foss. "This exercise is a culmination of all the military skills training our FDPMU team members have been continuously taught and trained on."

During the exercise, the team completed multiple scenarios involving each of its five components. The team established equipment operations and testing capabilities to identify and evaluate environmental health hazards, including chemical, biological, radiological, and physical agents, while assessing the risk of adverse health outcomes.

The team provided their own shelter, supplies and consumables, while establishing logistics and command and control functions.

"Our team did a fantastic job in the field." said Foss. "The FDPMU executed the mission as we would in a true combat scenario, while gaining valuable training and experience. I am fully confident that if we were called upon today, we would be able to successfully support the Navy and our nation's mission in a deployed contingency environment."

The final test for the FDPMU will come in April at the Operational Readiness Exercise, where the team will be tested and certified to be worldwide deployable as a unit.

For more news from the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit FIVE, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/nepmu5 and follow NEPMU5 on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nepmu5.
For more news from Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, visit http://www.navy.mil/.