Page 89 - RADC 2016

Exercise INTEGRATED SERPENT
Major Kate Hitchcock 243 Field Hospital
Three RADC (V) personnel who are attached to 243 (The Wessex) Field Hospital spent two weeks in late 2015 on Exercise in the USA.
Major Kate Hitchcock, Cpl Helen Drewitt and LCpl Anna Cole deployed for their Annual Camp, to Camp Pendleton in California for a week-long Hospital Exercise followed by an arduous few days of adventurous training, in the Lake Mead National Park in Arizona and on Mount Charleston.
The rst week found the unit staying in NEMPTI, the Naval Expeditionary Medical Training Institute at the Marine Corps Base
in Pendleton Camp, working alongside the Marines. A tented hospital for 60 patients was built over the rst two days, followed
by several days of a hospital exercise. The USA training eld hospital held no dental equipment so no dental casualties were put through the exercise. This left the three RADC ladies to make themselves indispensable to other departments. Cpl Helen Drewitt helped out in Primary Health Care, LCpl Anna Cole attached herself to the Pathology lab while Major Kate Hitchcock was seen wandering around with a clipboard reportedly acting as the Unit Press Of cer, cajoling colleagues into giving interviews to the press and lm crew.
(LCpl Cole was the RADC pin up and
found herself interviewed – don’t get any ideas for an alternative career!)
The second week found the hospital personnel taking an emotional 6 hour minibus journey to Mount Charleston Resort, some 40 minutes from Las
Vegas, where participation in a variety of different adventurous training activities was undertaken. These challenges included rock climbing, cycling, trekking, horse riding and kayaking. Cycling took the most casualties, while trekking in the White Rock Canyon proved the most heart stopping, when the close proximity of a venomous rattlesnake caused both Anna and Kate to freeze on the spot! Fortunately the snake didn’t fancy a taste of either of them and slithered away to nd a quieter spot.
One day of R+R was spent in down town San Diego, a Mess dinner on board the Midway Aircraft Carrier for the Of cers and Seniors while the junior ranks enjoyed
a fancy dress night, starting in Bar made famous in the Top Gun Film.
This camp was a most useful and rewarding exercise developing and building upon basic skills learnt earlier on in the year, building team cohesion whilst working alongside our American colleagues.
LCpl Anna Cole RADC(V)
RADC BULLETIN 2016 87