Members of various commands and amphibious assault ship USS Boxer medical department participated in a medical exercise implementing a Casualty Receiving Treatment Ship (CRTS) mission aboard Boxer at Naval Base San Diego from March 6-10.
“The Marine Corps has their medical battalions, and Navy Medicine has done a lot of great work supporting the medical battalions in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Cmdr. Justin Campbell said. “But as we start to pivot and look at distributed maritime operations in the Indo-Pacific, it’s more important that we start to exercise the full capability of the CRTS mission.”
Casualty Receiving Treatment Ship
When called upon, such as a major conflict scenario or during a mass casualty situation, Boxer can become a CRTS.
The exercise was designed to test and integrate the various entities that comprise the CRTS: a Fleet Surgical Team, an M+1 augmentation, and the medical team organic to the ship.
Boxer is an amphibious assault ship and serves as the cornerstone of an amphibious ready group. A Fleet Surgical Team is embarked to the Boxer when deployed with the ARG, to augment the ship’s medical department.
Fleet Surgical Team-5, which is organic to SURFPAC, is made up of approximately an 18-person team capable of operating at least one of the operating rooms on a ship like Boxer.
However, Boxer has a capacity for four operating rooms requiring manning augmentation to become fully operationally capable.
“You can quickly become overwhelmed in a mass casualty scenario.”
-Capt. Corey Gustafson
“You can quickly become overwhelmed in a mass casualty scenario, or if we’re at conflict and expect to receive casualties,” said Capt. Corey Gustafson, officer in charge. “The CRTS gets activated to augment this capability.”
To do so SURFPAC has a partnership with Naval Medical Forces Pacific, who participated with developing and scheduling the exercise. The NMFP sourced and embarked the M+1 out of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command San Diego, which was designed as an augmenting force to the CRTS.
Robust surgical response
The M+1 is an 84-person team that helps bring the ship to its full capability to receive, treat and regulate casualties as a CRTS, and is a Navy Medicine platform.
Within the 84 personnel, CRTS-9 is made up of additional general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and oral maxillofacial surgeons; along with anesthesia and perioperative services, to provide a more robust surgical capability; and management of medical surgical patients, intensive care patients and general ward patients.
During the exercise, the CRTS personnel have been providing robust surgical response to a variety of simulated casualties, officials said.
When bringing together such a diverse field of specialties from a mix of departments within NMRTC San Diego, some of the goals are mutually understanding their capabilities, improving organization, and optimizing surgical and medical response.
New challenges
In addition, the personnel assigned to the CRTS-9 work daily at Naval Medical Center San Diego, or subordinate branch medical clinics. The shipboard environment presents challenges that some may not be accustomed to, officials said.
The training experience has been a great benefit to the ship’s crew.
“My biggest takeaway in the training element is understanding the roles of those on the other side,” said Chief Hospital Corpsman Rochelle Cannon, Medical Leading Chief Petty Officer, USS Boxer. “We are shipboard medicine, so we never get to see that higher echelon of care. We usually give patients the best level of care that we can, then we medevac them off the ship. But having a surgeon here or having the full staff here going through everything as if we’re deployed has been very beneficial to the team.”
Assigned to Expeditionary Strike Group 3, Boxer is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, commissioned Feb. 11, 1995, and is the sixth U.S. ship to bear the name.
Crew: About 1,200 officers, enlisted personnel
Boxer’s crew is made up of approximately 1,200 officers and enlisted personnel and can accommodate up to 1,800 Marines.
The amphibious capability of the Navy and Marine Corps team has been demonstrated in a broad range of operations including foreign humanitarian assistance operations, noncombatant emergency evacuations, natural disaster response, the recovery of downed aircraft and personnel, counter-piracy and strike operations, and diverse support to our partner nations.
Naval Medical Forces Pacific provides oversight for 10 NMRTCs on the West Coast and Pacific Rim that train, man, and equip medical forces, primarily in military treatment facilities.
Globally, NMFP oversees eight research laboratories that deliver research expertise in support of warfighter health and readiness.
Story by Grady Fontana, Naval Medical Forces Pacific
