U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers from the 456th Movement Control Team and 301st Quartermaster Company conducted a variety of medical training exercises at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, on July 18, 2023.

The Fort Dix Medical Simulation Training Center provides Soldiers an opportunity to refresh their medical readiness.

"We went through the principles of tactical combat casualty care, tourniquet application, pressure dressing, wound packing and burns and chest wounds," said U.S. Army Reserve Capt. Conor Lillis, an observe controller/trainer with the 78th Training Division. "There are very real world applications for all of this and everybody should be able to identify and control life threatening bleeding or life threatening injuries."

During the training the soldiers were put through a medical situation where, even under stress, the group would have to use their medical knowledge to advance forward and treat all who became injured during the exercise.

"As a unit, we did well implementing what we learned," said U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Steven Randles, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, with the 301st Quartermaster Company. "Having even a little bit of know-how, could potentially save someone."

The unpredictability of the course forced the Soldiers to work as a team and make use of their skills to implement a path forward while using their medical knowledge to treat and save the other Soldiers within the exercise.

"These are all basic fundamental warrior tasks so that a Soldier can take care of themselves individually or also a buddy if called upon,” Lillis said.

"When real-world things do go down, especially in this scenario with the chaos and everything, that's the most important thing you get from this scenario," said U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Demetri Zobro-Taft,  a water treatment specialist with the 301st Quartermaster Company. "Being able to function and operate in a scenario where you have multiple things coming at you and being able to still get the tasks done."

The Fort Dix Medical Training Center course trains Soldiers to perform at their best even when put into stressful situations, so when a real world scenario happens, they will still get the tasks done.