Page 15 - QARANC Vol 15 No 2 2017

Dickson AMSTEE Team 204 Ex Arduous Serpeant 17 204 as part of AMSTEE 2017
204 Field Hospital AMSTEE Team
The annual Army Medical Service Tactical Training Exercise (AMSTTE) took place this year at Queen Elizabeth Barracks (QEB), Strensall over the period 30 Jun - 2 Jul 17. AMSTTE is designed to provide a competitive format to demonstrate leadership, command and control, military and medical special-to-arms skills required to succeed in the current contingent operational environment.
Preparation for the competition involved myself and Cpl Catherwood formulating a training package with a weekend running each month from Jan 17 finishing with a final mock AMSTTE which was successfully ran at beginning of Jun 17. This training was crucial to prepare the team for the challenges we would face.
The rules stipulated the team consisted of 8 personnel, a minimum of 2 females. OC Maj Dickson, 2IC Cpl Catherwood, Capt Gilles, Lt Reid, Sgt McMahon, Cpl Donaldson, Pte Irvine and Pte McKee. We had a good mixture of experience, clinical and some new members. A good all round team. Part of the team headed over a few days early with the support of our drivers, Cpl Smith and Maj Steen.
The competition started with a RSOI, where we achieved maximum points and then we moved out into the field. Later as Team Captain I was taken to a centralised OGrp. A situation and ground brief was given and then the team was back briefed.
There were only a few hours for the team to get their heads down before Round 1 began as Saturday was an early start. Saturday was the first phase of the competition and this was the scenario driven element of the competition. Teams moved on foot to a number of stands throughout the day
including C-EO, CUF, Triage, Role 1 and 2, Pre-hospital care, Navigation, assault course with full CEFO, Section-in Defence and we cannot forget the timed TAB in CEFO which I was delighted to hear we were the 2nd fastest team. I believe it was Lt Reid’s passion and encouragement that got us through it. The stands were both physically, mentally and clinically challenging.
Sunday morning led us into Round 2. We had to undertake as a team a series of timed stands including fire and manoeuvre, a stretcher race, followed by the assault course. The team were fantastic and smashed this. The final scoring was tight, only a few points between the top ten which we made. Finally we moved into the Grand final which was a Gun Run with a twist. This was a team effort to move the components of the Gun over several obstacles and load them into land rover vehicles and then to rebuild the Gun. The team gave an outstanding performance and outgunned multiple regular units including our regular sister unit 34 Field Hospital.
As team captain I was extremely proud to be part of 204 AMSTTE 17. Each member showed great commitment and dedication throughout and demonstrated excellent teamwork. This competition gave us, as Reservists, an excellent opportunity to develop both military and clinical skills in a competitive environment including leadership, command and control. I will no doubt be able to transfer these skills to my role as a nursing officer within the Field Hospital environment.
Major Gina Dickson 204 Fd Hosp
THE GAZETTE QARANC 13
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