The crew of amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay (LPD 20) completed their Fleet Support Operations-Medical (FSO-M) 1.3 assessment June 25-29 while underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

During this certification phase, Green Bay was put to the test with various medical situations, stretcher bearer training, Battle Dressing Station operations and mass casualty drills.

"This was a very busy time for all of us," said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Brendan Duran, Green Bay's Independent Duty Corpsman. "Most of this certification is stretcher bearer-intensive and making sure the patient is properly transported from the scene to medical."

Compared to other medical certifications, FSO-M is unique in that Medical Department isn't necessarily assessed -- the entire crew is assessed on their medical readiness and knowledge.

"It's not about whether or not we as corpsmen can come in and do medical procedures," said Duran. "That's expected of us because it's our job. FSO-M is about whether we have trained the crew proficiently. The crew needs to be able to execute conducting basic first aid in the event it needs to be utilized."

Throughout the week, Afloat Training Group (ATG) assessed Green Bay's ability to handle a casualty and see if they performed well under pressure.

"We wanted to show ATG that we could drop a patient at someone's feet, and the crew would know exactly what to do," said Duran. "The crew showed all of us that they remembered their training and immediately called the casualty away. Once that happened, the first responders retrieved the contents of the closest first aid box and treated the wound. After that, the stretcher bearers showed up, and then they safely transported the patient to medical."

Before FSO-M began, Duran and his team of medical personnel trained the entire crew, going from duty section to duty section, making sure that everyone knew how to perform first aid.

"We have a running long range training plan where we roll through a lot of training and drills," said Duran. "We continuously do this process over and over, hoping that it'll stick in the crew's minds," said Duran.

According to Duran, proper training and utilization of medical training is the key to moving past FSOM-1.3 and into FSO-M 1.4 -- and passing with flying colors.

"I think the crew has the knowledge and when called upon, they will respond," said Duran. "But you never know how you'll perform until you actually do it. You can have all the training in the world, but there's going to come a time when you're going to either sink or swim. I trust that my shipmates won't freeze."

Green Bay is attached to the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group.

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