Page 54 - RADC Bulletin 2018

MILITARY EXERCISES
Exercise Pegasus Serpent
LCpl Williams RADC
I am a newly qualified dental nurse within the RADC and I currently work at Dental Centre Colchester. As the 16 Medical Regiment Dental Nurse had been posted early there was an opportunity for me to
go over to the Medical Regiment and work alongside the team. I was extremely excited and thrilled to be given this opportunity as I would like to be more involved in the green side of military dental nursing.
I deployed on two separate exercises, forming part of the larger Exercise Pegasus Serpent, one in December 2017 and the other in February 2018. I was working alongside Maj Cunningham who has had previous experience within the field. The aim of the exercises was for the validation of field kit and the effectiveness of the Regiment.
The first exercise was for four days at Friday Woods and the second exercise was for six days at Woodbridge. As you can imagine the weather was freezing at those times of the year and, without fail, it snowed on both exercises. I think the temperature went down to –5°C at one point.
At the outset of both exercises we had to make sure that all the required kit that was to be taken into the field was present and in working order, and it was then loaded up into the wagons. It involved a lot of lifting and carrying heavy equipment, as well as efficient packing skills as there was a lot
of equipment to fit into a limited space. It was great to see all the different capbadges working together. Up until these exercises
I had only been employed within the dental centre and it was great to see how a medical field exercise is put together.
Friday Woods Exercise
Once the wagons were loaded the drivers began their journey into Friday Woods, the
training area just outside Merville Barracks. As a troop we gathered up ready to tab into the area, which was about 2 miles away. Arriving at the area we quickly got to work on setting up the facility. The facility was made up of Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter (DRAS) tents. Within a few hours the facility was up and running ready to start seeing casualties. I set up my surgery area within the ward, however, this was the first time I had seen or used dental field kit. The dental kit was old and heavy but fit for purpose. Unfortunately, Maj Cunningham couldn’t make it out for the first day so I just had to help with the ward staff. I would look after causalities making sure they were warm and comfortable.
Day two was busy, there were lots of casualties to deal with so the whole facility was ‘alive’. Maj Cunningham and I ‘treated’ a patient that had an abscess that could potentially cause the airway to shut so
we had to make a quick decision on what treatment would be best. In the end the tooth was extracted and there was no need for the patient to be sent to theatre.
Day three was so cold it started to snow - but the hard work carried on. Gratefully, the OC called end-ex that evening, and so began the big rush to close and pack the facility and get back to the warmth.
Woodbridge Exercise
For this exercise we travelled on a coach to the training ground at Woodbridge Airbase. Yet again, in true exercise style, the weather was rubbish. It was snowing the day we arrived so spirts were not so high. We did not want to leave the warmth and cosiness of the coach. Soldiering on, we began
to set up the facility. We set up within the hangers to
provide some shelter from the snow. The best part about the exercise was that there was a field kitchen. Knowing that you didn’t have to eat ration packs, that you would get three decent warm meals through the day and, most importantly, unlimited brews was great for morale.
We didn’t take the DRAS tents this time so it was back to the good old fashioned 12x12 and 6x6 tents. We only stayed at
the hangers for three days then moved to a new location within the woodland area. The aim was to see how quickly we could pack up the facility, relocate and erect the facility again. We tabbed to the new location, which was about 2 miles away. The weather was proper grim that day with strong winds and rain. The team worked hard to please the OC and get the facility up and running within an hour.
Throughout the exercise Maj Cunningham and I treated patients, some cases more juicy than others. It was interesting to go into theatre with one patient whose airway had blocked due to an infection in the lymph nodes. One night there was a mass casualty drill and I got to help the medics by carrying the stretcher into theatre, and reassuring the patients.
Overall, I really enjoyed my first experience working within a Field Hospital and I would like to have a posting to a Medical Regiment in the near future.
52 RADC BULLETIN 2018