Page 8 - RADC Bulletin 2018

A Brave New World
Major Nick Gibbs RADC
In November 2017 12 Brigade had their Validation Exercise to ensure that all
their medical assets were fit for purpose
in preparation to be on readiness from January 2018. This included the Dental Teams from 1 and 4 Medical Regiments and, for the first time in recent history, a significant number of teams from across the DPHC(Dental) footprint. These teams from DPHC(Dental) would increase the number of dentists that the Regiments could deploy to “war fighting” strength, with different dental teams being allocated to different squadrons, and with each squadron having their own specific roles and readiness requirements.
As the Army reorganizes yet again the medical and dental requirement changes. For the last 20 years we have been involved in many Operations including peacekeeping, in the former Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone, and counter-insurgency on Ops TELIC, HERRICK and currently Op TRENTON in Sudan. While there have been a couple of Gulf Wars, the Army has primarily focused on peacekeeping and counter-insurgency, and these Ops had reasonably predictable force generation cycles and often had huge main bases with a large logistical footprint. Now the Army is creating 3 UK Division to be able to fight a peer, for example Russia, and to
Running through a scenario in the Dental Trainer set up in a cold classroom.
do this we will need to be able to operate away from large operating bases in highly fluid and potentially dangerous situations.
This concept may be familiar to some of the readers, who are slightly longer in the tooth, that have seen this scenario before!
5 dentists, 6 nurses and one practice
manager were nominated to attend the Exercise with a few weeks notice from across all DPHC(Dental) regions. Some of the personnel had lots of experience of using the dental field kit while about half had not seen the kit before. As the hosts of the Exercise, the 4 Armoured Medical Regiment’s (4
AMR) dentists and nurses provided training. Majors Nick Gibbs and Tom Drinkel provided training on the deployable kit, and lead group discussions on the sort of issues that may
be faced in the contemporary operating environment. Meanwhile, LCpls Sydney Lewis and Lucy Weedall explained how
to overcome the challenges of providing appropriate infection prevention control in the deployed environment.
In addition, there was a chance to integrate with the unit on PT and in the Medical Reception Station (MRS) trainer, so should any of them deploy with 4 AMR they would be familiar with their role and with key personalities.
The validation was carried out by Major Elle Bartlett and WO2 Lisa Rogers from
5 Medical Regiment. They provided a variety of scenarios to test the ability of
the individual teams to provide high quality dental care with the field kit. Feedback was given and common themes were then flagged up as areas that require additional development and training.
As the army adapts to the contemporary operating environment the RADC must change too. We have to ensure that all
of us are able to deliver high quality and appropriate care whether that is from a brand new ADEC dental chair in a purpose built facility in the UK or in a 12 by 12 tent having driven a Land Rover and trailer in a contested environment anywhere around the world.
6 RADC BULLETIN 2018
Cpl Lewis fires up the light field generator on his first attempt.
“The times they are a–changing” Bob Dylan
MILITARY EXERCISES