SLOW, SMOOTH, FAST: Medical Airmen participate in Patriot Medic 2024

FORT MCCOY, Wisconsin — As blood drips onto the floor of the tan polyurethane medical tent. Airmen, who were strangers just five days earlier, work together, tying a tourniquet, packing a wound with medical gauze, inserting a laryngoscope. Doing everything they can to save the life of a patient with a missing leg.

Approximately 500 U.S. Air Force Reserve medical personnel assigned to 14 units participated in Exercise Patriot Medic 24 with Joint and Allied Forces, at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, Aug. 2-17, 2024.

PM24 is an annual exercise conducted to challenge and assess Citizen Airmen on their ability to manage administrative, medical and patient transport tasks according to their specific mission requirements while operating in a simulated deployment environment.

“The intent of this exercise is to get our medical personnel a feel for the field environment,” said Col. Scott Williams, 445th Aeromedical Staging Squadron commander and the lead observer and trainer for PM24. “We want to switch them from a counterinsurgency environment that we’ve been in for the last 20 years and start looking at the potential future fight.”

The exercise was a 24/7 operation between U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy joint forces as well as its Canadian and United Kingdom Allied forces spanning several functional areas. Due to the wide variety of experiences between personnel, finding effective ways to communicate and understand each other’s processes became the first obstacle to overcome.

“We’ve never met each other before,” said Staff Sgt. Alexis Workman, 911th Aeromedical Staging Squadron medic. “It was hard to learn to work together smoothly at first, but as time went on, we learned to cohesively work together as a team.”

During the exercise, Airmen are tested on their teamwork, medical skills and ability to perform under pressure. The training included simulated scenarios where patients had wounds which required treatment before being transported to the appropriate facility.

“It is stressful. It is a lot, but it has taught me a lot about myself and taught me that I can get through it and do what needs to be done,” said Workman.

The training focused on the comprehensive management of wounded patients at the Expeditionary Medical Support (EMEDS) facility. It began with triage, followed by prompt medical treatment and stabilization. Patients were then held at the En Route Patient Staging System (ERPSS), before being transported by bus, helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft to their final care destination.

Patriot Medic exercises emphasize not only the importance of medical expertise but also effective resource management, as supplies may be limited and difficult decisions must be made.

“Out in the field, we don’t have unlimited resources,” said Williams. “Airmen have to make life and death decisions. We may not have a resupply for days, if not weeks. They have to make that heavy decision of who is going to live and who is going to die.”

PM24 provided medical reservists opportunities to sharpen their skills beyond what can typically be accomplished during monthly Unit Training Assemblies.

“We only get these members one weekend a month, two weeks a year,” said Williams. “As traditional reservists, they don’t get to experience the field environment, build the tent or unpack all their gear. This affords them that opportunity.”

Throughout the training, Airmen could be heard repeating the phrase “slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” This served as a guiding principle for the teams. This motto, embraced by medical personnel worldwide, encapsulates the careful, deliberate approach necessary to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in high-pressure situations—underscoring the discipline and precision that defined PM24.