Operation Blue Horizon 2025: Joining forces to strengthen medical readiness

Story by Airman 1st Class Alicia Campbell

6th Air Refueling Wing

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – A sense of urgency emboldens their movement as they trudge through the muddy waters to reach their wounded. Amid exhaustion and upheaval, these service members come alive. Operation Blue Horizon is a Navy Reserve-led joint-service exercise that allows medical personnel to hone their critical medical care skills while under pressure.

Operation Blue Horizon, now in its third iteration, is an annual training event that combines traditional classroom learning with simulated scenarios to mimic a deployed environment. It reinforces medical professionals’ core competencies and fundamental practices for providing life-saving care such as Tactical Combat Casualty Care, advanced trauma life support and patient transportation.

“We have two main goals with this exercise, the primary goal being medical readiness with an emphasis on operating in an austere environment,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Cameron Cushenberry, officer in charge of Operation Blue Horizon. “Our second goal is joint service interoperability. We want to understand the different platforms of our sister services and what their capabilities are.”

MacDill AFB’s multi-service community makes this event a unique experience for trainees. The opportunity to partner with the 927th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, 5th Army Reserve Battalion-159th Aviation Regiment, 130th Airlift Squadron and the 167th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron brings together resources that prepare medical personnel for the real-world possibility of working in a joint environment downrange.

The culminating event combined the capabilities of sister services in an immersive full-service patient movement for participants.

The final exercise was the culminating event of the training courses and combined the capabilities of sister services to create an immersive full-service patient movement for participants to experience. From performing TCCC to en-route patient staging systems (ERPSS) set up by the 927th ASTS to aeromedical evacuations supported by an Army Reserve UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter assigned to the 5-159th AR, the exercise highlighted the benefits of exposure to other services and the resources that could save lives.

U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Chief Brooke Christenson, an instructor for the exercise, reflects on her experience, “At [the United States Transportation Command] I do en-route patient care, so it’s nice to see it from this perspective because I’m seeing what I’m talking about on the computer,” she said. “I get to see everything come full circle, seeing it from the flightline all the way to the ERPSS.”

This year saw the addition of an emergency evacuation flight on a C-130J Super Hercules where trainees had the opportunity to watch a simulated medical care scenario while in-flight. The 130th AS provided air support while the 167th AES showcased the critical medical capabilities that allow personnel to envision the type of care that can be delivered while en-route to a more safe and stable facility.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to Blue Horizon,” said Lt. Cmdr. Peter Losi, a trainee in the exercise. “We had the chance to train advanced trauma life support skills with our peers, and I always learn something new every time I come.”

Sailors and Airmen teamed up in the University of South Florida Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation to learn from some of the Navy’s most proficient medical instructors to better operate on patients both stateside and in the field. Losi’s attendance this year marked his second appearance at the exercise, and he hopes to return for more in the future.

The organizers aim to enhance the exercise’s impact for participants in the coming years. They concluded the week-long exercise with a tour of a Coast Guard Cutter at Coast Guard Base St. Petersburg and the introduction of the Navy’s Enlisted Leadership Development course, a requirement for sailors to be promoted to non-commissioned officers.

“Understanding the capabilities of our sister services can assist our medical personnel in planning downrange operations, guiding how we can integrate their strengths into our medical missions. This is valuable information and could mean the difference between life and death,” said Cushenberry.