The Fayetteville Observer

SPRING LAKE, Ark. — Sgt. Jonathan Chapman had only recently brought his family to Fort Bragg when he learned he may soon have to leave them for a year to train in Texas.

But a new program, a partnership between Womack Army Medical Center and Fayetteville Technical Community College, is helping soldiers like Chapman stay home while improving the capabilities of local Army medics.

A typical Army medic receives about 10 weeks of medical training.

Flight medics or medics assigned to special operations units receive more.

Twenty-eight Fort Bragg medics are in a course that will give them additional certifications, putting them in line with civilian paramedics and more than tripling their training.

Womack Army Medical Center Command Sgt. Maj. Carlos Gomez said the additional training will improve the care they provide, foster new leadership within their units and better prepare them for life after the military.

The course, conducted at FTCC's Spring Lake campus, began in January and ends in October.

This week, students were preparing to start working in hospitals and with paramedics.

Bryant Stepp, a paramedic instructor at FTCC, said the students would be required to spend 300 hours working at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center and another 300 hours of "ride time" in an ambulance.

Soldiers said they were constantly learning new things and becoming more comfortable in their capabilities.

Spc. Ignatius Acheampong and Spc. Dustin McMinn, both of whom work in the emergency department at Womack, said there was little doubt they were better now than they were weeks ago.

"It was a bumpy start, but it's a lot better now that we're actually getting into the meat and potatoes of what we do," McMinn said.

Acheampong said he was being introduced to new procedures. As part of the class, he's learned how to intubate patients, opening their airways, and is more comfortable with medications.

McMinn said the training taught them new skills, why certain procedures work and how medications can affect the patient.

Receiving the paramedic certification also will accomplish a lifelong goal for McMinn, who said he planned to be a paramedic after his service.

Gomez said soldiers like McMinn would be in good standing once their service ends.

"The community, Fayetteville and Cumberland County, cannot hire enough paramedics," he said.

Gomez, who organized the course, said several units across Fort Bragg were participating in the effort.

The current class includes medics from Womack, the 82nd Airborne Division, 44th Medical Brigade, 16th Military Police Brigade and civilian medics from Fort Bragg Emergency Services.

While other installations would need to send their medics to train at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Gomez said Fort Bragg had the size to warrant closer training, keeping soldiers with their units.

"There's enough people on Bragg that we can figure it out," he said.

The additional training will upgrade Bragg medics' emergency medical technician training from EMT-B, or basic, to EMT-P, or paramedic. That will give them the same certification as civilian paramedics, Gomez said. It also puts them in line with the training Army Ranger medics receive.

Gomez said Ranger medics had a higher success rate when it came to keeping troops alive once injured in combat.

Currently, most Army medics are not required to receive the additional training.

One exception is soldiers like Chapman, who is assigned to C Company, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

Those soldiers are part of what is known as All American Dustoff, the helicopter crews tasked with evacuating injured troops from the front lines. Flight medics are being required to receive paramedic certification or risk being booted from those units.

Chapman said he learned of the new requirement shortly after moving to Fort Bragg. He said his wife was not too happy with the prospect of him being away for a year to be certified at Fort Sam Houston. He said the FTCC program was amazing for allowing him to stay in place.

"It's huge, just for the hearts and minds of our community," Chapman said.

Two other soldiers in his unit agreed.

Sgt. Brandon Dukes and Staff Sgt. James Soroka said the training at FTCC was difficult, and at times chaotic, but staying close to home helps.

"Still being able to go home to the family is a huge bonus," Soroka said.

While other medics on the course aren't required to receive the certification, Gomez said he believed medics should be pushing for higher standards.

He envisions soldiers trained through the FTCC partnership to go back to their units and spread their new skills on to other medics.

"These individuals are going to be tested, their skills are going to be validated and they're going to go back to their unit a more confident, experienced medical professional," Gomez said.

"I personally believe this is a step," he said. "It's not the end all. What I want an Army medic to do is more than what a paramedic would do."

He said he would advocate for others in the Army to follow Fort Bragg's lead when he meets with other enlisted leaders in Army medicine for a summit on combat medics in Texas next week.

Speaking to the soldiers in the course on Thursday, Gomez encouraged them to keep going and said they were part of the future of Army medical training.

"At the end of the day, it's going to be hard," he said. "But nothing worth any value is ever easy."

Copyright 2016 The Fayetteville Observer

​All Rights Reserved

