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The Navy’s first Role 2 Light Maneuver (R2LM) team, Navy Adaptive Trauma Team
(NATT) ONE, put their crew to the test in their first exercise with the fleet,
integrating with the medical department aboard Whidbey Island-class dock landing
ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) for Dawn Blitz 2017, completing four successful
surgical drills, Oct. 23-28, 2017.
The seven-member team was assembled from Navy medical centers across the
country, coming together to complete the pilot R2LM course as a team at Surface
Warfare Medical Institute (SWMI) East at Naval Station Norfolk, July-August
2017.
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October 27, 2017 - General Surgeon Cmdr. Michael Johnston and
Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant Lt. Michelle Miller of Role 2
Light Maneuver (R2LM) Navy Adaptive Trauma Team (NATT) ONE, treat a
simulated casualty wearing a live cut suit in the medical spaces
aboard Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47)
during a surgical drill for Dawn Blitz 2017. Dawn Blitz 2017 is a
scenario-driven amphibious exercise designed to train and integrate
Navy and Marine Corps units by providing a robust training
environment where forces plan and execute an amphibious assault,
engage in live-fire events, and establish expeditionary advanced
bases in a land and maritime threat environment to improve naval
amphibious core competencies. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication
Specialist 2nd Class Chelsea Troy Milburn)
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“I wouldn't think of the NATT as something brand new, but as another step in the
evolutionary process of wartime surgery,” said Cmdr. Michael Johnston, the
team’s general surgeon and officer in charge. “It’s a new program of record
within Navy Medicine, but it’s built on the historical Expeditionary
Resuscitative Surgery System (ERSS) and Damage Control Surgery (DCS) teams.”
ERSS and DCS teams have been around for about a decade, operating independently
of one another in support of deployed units both afloat and ashore.
Johnston explained how primarily U.S. Army-trained ERSS and DCS teams evolved
into the Navy’s NATT R2LM program.
“The NATT can do everything the ERSS can do and more,” said Johnston. “For the
past 10 or so years, the Navy has filled missions requiring a shipboard surgical
team with an ERSS and missions requiring a shore-based surgical team with a DCS
team. An ERSS was not capable of surging ashore or working in a hostile
environment, while a DCS wasn’t trained to work on ships. We are.”
Though smaller ships like LSDs have their own medical departments, embarking a
surgical team would add significant medical capability to the platform. For Lt.
Emily Calhoun, Rushmore’s medical officer, there is no question in the value an
R2LM team would bring to the ship on deployment.
“A ship is inherently a dangerous environment,” said Calhoun. “Between steep
ladderwells, heavy machinery, shipboard operations, as well as the various
missions the Marines could be sent out on, there is an inherent risk for
injury.”
Calhoun explained that some illnesses and injuries that could be sustained on
mission could be outside the scope of what her department can provide alone.
“We aren’t capable of performing surgeries on board without being augmented by a
surgical team,” said Calhoun. “During operations where we could be days away
from surgical capabilities, having an R2LM team would allow us to treat patients
who need surgery to stabilize their injuries. It would mitigate the risk of not
being able to save potentially savable patients.”
Johnston predicts that the successful drills with Rushmore and the Essex
Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) will set the stage for future amphibious
deployments.
“I believe Rushmore Sailors are seeing the future of amphibious role 2
missions,” he said. “Most LSDs sail forth disaggregated from the ARG for a
majority of their deployments, and I believe that an R2LM team will become a
mandatory part of that disaggregated portion of LSD deployments in the near
future.”
With their success during Dawn Blitz propelling them forward, the team is ready
to move forward to their next step toward real world implementation.
Dawn Blitz is a scenario-driven exercise designed to train and integrate Navy
and Marine Corps units by providing a robust training environment where forces
plan and execute an amphibious assault, engage in live-fire events, and
establish expeditionary advanced bases in a land and maritime threat environment
to improve naval amphibious core competencies.
By U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Chelsea Milburn
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
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