Grayling, Mich. –
As part of the Northern Strike training exercise, Soldiers of the 676th Ground Ambulance Company provided real world medical support, conducted training and received an external evaluation to establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) and familiarize themselves with newly fielded equipment on Aug. 5-19, 2023, at Camp Grayling, Michigan.
Northern Strike is a multi-component and multinational exercise designed to build readiness and enhance interoperability with allied forces with approximately 7,000 participants.
“The collaboration between joint forces here is really valuable for us as a unit. Just to learn how we coordinate with these different units and basically just getting some experience working with different people from different services has been very valuable,” said 1st Lt. Kiersten Boley, 676th Ground Ambulance Company commander.
“It's been a fantastic experience out here. We've got some new equipment fielded to us, so this has been an excellent opportunity to shake it down, establish some new SOPs, and iron out what our plans are in the event that we have to do this in the real world,” said Spc. Kyle Black, a combat medic specialist with the 676th Ground Ambulance Company.
The Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) system is one of the new pieces of equipment for the ambulance company. It is used to communicate between units participating in Northern Strike, monitor and provide the exchange of essential information with the many Field Litter Ambulances (FLA).
The training scenarios focused on the treatment and transport process of patients using the newly-fielded equipment.
“These scenarios are with moulage and fake injuries, but they look real. It gets them ready to drive up on a patient, treat them and transport them to a higher echelon of care,” said Sgt. Samuel Beck, a combat medic specialist and squad leader with the 676th Ground Ambulance Company.