USTRANSCOM concludes mass patient movement exercise

Story by Iain Page

U.S. Transportation Command

More than 1,000 military and civilian members took part in Ultimate Caduceus 24, June 10-21, a training event that exercised military patient movement response capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region and continental United States.

Ultimate Caduceus is a U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)-led patient movement exercise that simulates receiving injured troops from overseas locations at designated aeromedical evacuation hubs and patient reception areas. Federal coordinating centers and local partners then receive, triage, stage, track, and transport patients to pre-designated local definitive care facilities.

The annual event enhanced the unity of effort to provide safe, reliable, and scalable global patient movement for the Department of Defense. This year, USTRANSCOM was joined by other DOD entities including the Defense Health Agency, and also by the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to USTRANSCOM Surgeon General Air Force Col. Christopher Backus, Ultimate Caduceus simulates patient movement at scale, highlighting the importance of interoperability with the partners involved.

“Ultimate Caduceus provides a critical opportunity to test our systems and procedures in a controlled environment, ensuring we are prepared for actual missions,” Backus said. “This allows us to experiment, try new things, and add value to the mission from both the operator and higher headquarters standpoint.”

One of the highlights, and a first for Ultimate Caduceus, was using a commercial aircraft — a modified Boeing 767 outfitted for patient movement and manned by International SOS medical teams — to move patients from a military transportation hub to VA-led federal coordinating centers.

USTRANSCOM Defense Health Agency Liaison Officer, Anthony Ross, said DHA’s partnership with industry and support from multiple DOD organizations led to this commercial solution that can augment existing DOD capabilities.

“This effort highlights how DOD combat support agencies leverage their unique capabilities to support a combatant commander’s assigned mission,” Ross said.

According to Ross, these partnerships are instrumental in ensuring seamless large-scale patient movement from the point of injury to the point of definitive care within the United States.

“The DOD patient movement system scales with and through our government, private and community partners.” Ross said. “Ultimate Caduceus is our opportunity to collaborate with mission partners and continuously refine those processes and relationships.”

As USTRANSCOM continues to innovate and integrate new technologies and strategies, exercises like Ultimate Caduceus remain vital in maintaining and raising global patient movement care standards.