During a nighttime hostage rescue mission your team undertakes a strenuous swim in cold water. Shortly after climbing on board of a large watercraft one of your teammates becomes acutely ill. He is short of breath and he is coughing a lot. Thankfully, your team has successfully eliminated the threat and you can focus on helping your buddy. Continue Reading
Your team is being deployed to Africa. One of your teammates has had a respiratory infection for the past week. A few hours after a 14-hour flight, he comes to you reporting shortness of breath and pain on the right side of his chest whenever he takes a deep breath. Continue Reading
Your ODA is on a training mission in the southern Philippine islands. While conducting base defense improvements and inspections, your engineering sergeant (18C) has an accident resulting in a large splinter impaled into his right upper thigh. You remove it and 2 days later the 18C complains of pain, swelling, warmth, and redness around the initial puncture wound. Continue Reading
“Inspiring change” sounds like a good excuse, doesn’t it? Even though in special operations excuses are generally unacceptable, let alone welcome, I sheepishly hope, you won’t take ours as lame.
We haven’t been posting on this blog… Our vimeo channel got covered in dust and our social media venues ( i.e. Facebook and Twitter) have long disappeared of anyone’s radar… Yet, behind the scenes we’ve been working hard to empower the SOF Medics on the Old Continent. We’ve been sharing the advances of U.S. SOF medicine, and dedicating our time to inspire a paradigm shift in the special operations circles on the Eastern side of the Big Pond.
Your team was tasked with setting up an observation post in the Hindu Kush mountains. As you complete the mission and descend down a snow covered slope, one of your team members slips and slides. He is able to self-arrest using an ice axe. Unfortunately he sustains an injury to his right shoulder.
Your team is participating in a remote operation in Afghanistan together with an Afghan team. As a result of an IED blast, 2 Afghanis are killed in action, and one of your team members is injured. On the initial assessment the U.S. operator has reassuring vitals:
This time let’s get straight to the point! No need to keep repeating what SOFsono JSOM cases are all about!
During a Partner Nation Force (PNF) field training exercise (FTX), you are called to a scene of a motor vehicle accident (MVA). Two all-terrain vehicles (ATV’s), carrying a total of 5 US and PNF service members, crashed into each other. As you TRiAGE the victims, you realize that all 5 potentially need further medical care. The closest hospital is 90 minutes away, and your local ambulance service is capable of transporting only two patients at a time.
