Page 9 - RADC Bulletin 2018

Ex Iron Viper 17
LCpl Sydney Lewis RADC
Ex Iron Viper was my second Exercise in 3 months since joining 4 Armoured Medical Regiment. Having come from various DPHC(Dental) jobs it has been great to get out of the Dental Centres and become more involved with the wider Army.
Ex Iron Viper was a two week combined logistic and medical exercise that started in South Cerney before going across the border to Chepstow in Wales. Traveling to different locations we upset a lot of people on the M4 as the trailers could only do a maximum speed of 40mph! It was a long slow journey. Caerwent Training Area
in South Wales, as you would expect,
is in the middle of nowhere with “run-
down” buildings and sheep everywhere. We helped set up the whole MRS in a large warehouse which got us out of the constant rain and, after asking the RLC attachments nicely, we managed to get fresh food every day. Everyone was given brand new camp cots to sleep on but
they were so squeaky that every time someone moved in their sleep it would wake everyone up as it echoed around the warehouse.
We set up our dental centre and
went through several dental emergency scenarios for the first couple of days. During one of these scenarios a mass casualty scenario occurred with over 15 T1, 2 and 3s and we were involved in the
triage, scribing and hand-over take-over of some of these patients. When we weren’t doing this we played casualties and we were dragged from the huge OsshCoshh trucks and carried into Chinooks.
During the exercise there was also an enforced rest day as there was a Car Rally on camp that prevented us leaving the warehouse and crossing any roads.
The opportunity to do what we did
was great and being a part of a Medical Regiment was exciting and new for me. I was happy to be a part of and experience this type of exercise, especially with the other people that also deployed and I would definitely recommend a posting to a Medical Regiment to people in the RADC.
Exercise
Bellowing
Dragon
LCpl K Alexander RADC
Ex Bellowing Dragon was an opportunity for all the dental teams posted within a Medical Regiment to get together and discuss ways of achieving maximum productivity within our units, and to ensure a set standard between units. This year the event was hosted by the dental teams from 5 Medical Regiment based in Catterick. We were also joined by one of our Naval colleagues, who works with the Royal Marines, giving us an insight into his role within the unit.
Day 1 started with presentations about the recent Role 1 validation of 5 Med and discussion on ways to standardise the validation process within the Dental Corps. A presentation was then delivered on the recent Ex Askari Serpent and learning points that can be taken forward from it, these largely being related to remaining operational despite poor weather and road conditions, and how to maintain good equipment care despite adversity. We finished up with a demonstration and familiarisation of the
new compact DPU and the Nomad X-ray kit. Instead of having three different, hefty, awkward and bulky boxes, the new DPU
has been downsized into one lightweight box equivalent to the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, allowing us to work with a reduced burden on the logistics chain.
Day 2 comprised of discussing initial plans for how we can provide effectual dental care to patients in the field as the army moves throughout the battle space. We did this with a focus on improving our care to align with the STRIKE concept,
and trying to define different roles with the clinical capability and capacity associated with our role as well as what kit we take with us. Whether this is a more stationary ‘heavy’ role or a mobile ‘light’ role providing
only the most basic care, having defined roles will help when deploying under a non- dental, and sometimes non-clinical, Chain of Command.
In summary this was a great opportunity to ensure all dental teams within medical regiments are collaborating and maintaining a standardisation of our roles to best fit with the main effort of our respective regiments.
It is planned for us all to meet at least yearly and maintain communication through SharePoint and Defence Connect. It is also a great opportunity for those soon to post into a medical regiment to learn more about the role they will fulfil.
RADC BULLETIN 2018 7