Med Group PATRIOTS practice emergency response

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Julia Santiago
  • 108th Wing
Airmen from the 108th Wing Medical Group and members of the Wisconsin-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (WI-1 DMAT) treated and processed patients after a simulated earthquake during PATRIOT North 18 at Volk Field, Wis., July 18, 2018.

“PATRIOT has been one of the best training exercises for us.” said Lisa Hass-Peters, the WI-1 DMAT Commander. “The collaboration, integration, and cohesiveness between us and the military members has taught us so much, especially with the Airmen of 108th Wing.”

PATRIOT North is a joint agency civilian and military exercise, sponsored by the National Guard Bureau (NGB). It is a training exercise designed for civilian emergency management and responders to work with military entities in the same manner that they would during disasters. This exercise will test the National Guard’s abilities to support response operations based on simulated emergency scenarios.

“We’ve learned so much from training with the 108th Wing.” said Hass-Peters. “The members of the 108th Wing made this experience great for us. We were one team. Same goal, same mission.”

Hass-Peters facilitated the training session where the participants accepted patients into their base of operations after the simulated earthquake. The Airmen and DMAT treated and stabilized the patients in order to send them off to a larger, more equipped medical facility.

“It was amazing.” said Master Sgt. Rasha Burton, a medical administrator with the 108th Wing Medical Group. “This exercise has taught me a lot. Now when a real world scenario comes up, I’m ready to go.”

For many members of the 108th Wing Medical Group, this was their first experience with a large-scale, joint exercise. PATRIOT strives to develop cutting edge ways to accomplish training that is relevant, realistic and interesting. PATRIOT is committed to providing an innovative, and cost-effective training exercise as the U.S. military continuously transforms to meet new missions, realignments, and budgetary allocations.