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For Your Health: Expert Field Medical Training

Story Published: Aug 19, 2010 at 7:15 PM EDT

Story Updated: Aug 19, 2010 at 7:15 PM EDT

Carrying a loaded stretcher under a blanket of barbed wire is just one of the 45 tasks soldiers have to master to get their expert field medical badge.

"It's a very elite, very difficult, challenging badge to earn," said SFC Lance Stenfeldt, EFMB Commission Officer in Charge.

Of the 79 soldiers who started the training, only two passed every test.

Every move, every step, every decision must adhere to a set of strict standards, and just one mistake is enough to knock you out of the competition.

"It's very, very stressful, and it's meant to be that way. It's actually set up and designed to imitate combat experience," said SFC Richard Reese, EFMB Test Controll Officer

And when it comes down to it, that's what it's all about.

The latest, best techniques figured out on the battlefield become part of the competition.

"If they earn the badge, that's of course an additional bonus, but at the end of the day the most important thing is that they can do their job in a combat environment," said Major Brad Frey, EFMB Test Board Chairman.

Those skills translate to saving lives back home, too.

The training counts towards the continuing-education process every medic has to do.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
, Watertown, NY

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