U.S. Sailors, Soldiers Teach Combat Medical Care Course at Khaan Quest 2016

24 May 2016

From Petty Officer 3rd Class Marc Castaneda

FIVE HILLS TRAINING AREA, Mongolia - Fleet Marine Force (FMF) corpsmen from 3rd Medical Battalion and medics from the Hawaii National Guard taught a casualty control familiarization class to soldiers of the Mongolian Armed Forces, May 23, at the Five Hills Training Area in Mongolia during the multinational peacekeeping exercise Khaan Quest 2016.

The class is part of a five-day course that will train the Mongolian soldiers in basic life-saving skills and casualty care to prepare them for deployments in support of United Nations peacekeeping or other missions.

“Our training that we’re providing for the Armed Forces of Mongolia are things like, hemorrhage control, basic splints, tactical field care, things that you would normally encounter in the field,” said FMF Hospitalman Charles Lebaron, with 3rd Medical Battalion. “This training will be beneficial for the soldiers of Mongolia because we want to be able to treat those possible injuries in combat situations.”

The course reemphasizes information that the Mongolian soldiers are already familiar with, but it also introduces the soldiers to new techniques and tactics critical to life-saving in combat situations. Some of these topics include extensive training in hemorrhage control and how to provide immediate care while under fire.

“This is a very good training for us, especially for the soldiers who are not combat medics,” said Mongolian Armed Forces Senior Sgt. Purevdorj Javkhlan. “So they [soldiers] will know how to treat casualties in the battlefield. We really appreciate the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps instructors.”

The course instructors are helping shape the way Mongolian forces prepare and train for future operations, but this training stretches far beyond the wind-swept hillsides of the training areas of Mongolia.

“The training is just as beneficial for the U.S. Forces as it is for Mongolian forces,” said Lebaron. “Because if and when we do partner up in the future together, we can rely on our Mongolian counterparts to take care of us, as we would with them. It also allows us to bridge the gap between soldier and medic, in a sense that every soldier in a combat environment will be able to take care of casualties as well.”

Khaan Quest 2016 is an annual, multinational peacekeeping operations exercise hosted by the Mongolian Armed Forces, co-sponsored by U.S. Pacific Command, and supported by U.S. Army Pacific and U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific. Khaan Quest, in its 14th iteration, is the capstone exercise for this year’s Global Peace Operations Initiative program. The exercise focuses on training activities to enhance international interoperability, develop peacekeeping capabilities, build to mil-to-mil relationships, and enhance military readiness.