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Operation Bushmaster


My platoon members carrying a simulated casualty - DoD photo by Sharon Holland

A couple weeks ago I returned from USU's capstone military medicine exercise, Operation Bushmaster. This is what makes my school unique. It was a fun and exhausting 5 day experience. We deployed to the notional country of Pandakar, where every aspect was meant to simulate a real deployed environment. We were expected to have medical knowledge, but the real lessons were in leadership and toughness.

The physical experience was that of wearing body armor and a kevlar helmet at all times, except for the approximately 3 hours of sleep each night. There was no showering or other creature comforts. Knowing this ahead of time, I expected to feel completely exhausted throughout and by the end of the exercise. While I did sleep great the night I got home, I was surprised that I never felt tired during the exercise. My bones ached and my muscles got tired, but I needed less caffeine than at home to remain awake and alert through 5 sleep-deprived days. I attribute this to the fact that we were busy the entire time. Every 4 hours was a new Pandakar day, and with it, a new job to take on. Every day brought new missions, surprises and challenges.

We rotated through many different roles, and my first 4 jobs were all graded leadership positions. I struggled as a platoon leader early on, learning how difficult peer leadership can be. By the end of the exercise, I "found my command voice" as an assistant platoon leader. At the end of that day my platoon mates told me they had never heard me yell like that. I never had more control of a chaotic situation as I did in my final role as patient admin officer during a mass casualty. I am generally a very soft-spoken, laid back person, but learned that force, surprise, and volume came to my advantage as a leader. I don't think these tools would be effective if used frequently, but when they came unexpectedly, they were effective peer leadership tools for me.

I linked a couple articles below about this year's exercise. It was an amazing experience that I'm proud to have been a part of. It gave me the opportunity to learn skills and tools that will be invaluable as a military physician and leader.

Our simulated patients included dogs!

Tonight at 10PM, PBS is airing a documentary, "Military Medicine: Beyond the Battlefield" I'm excited to watch this tonight and see the impact my faculty and classmates are having!

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