Capt Scott Lynch, M.D. triages an injured camper during the State Defense Force medical FTX in Sylvania

As medical personnel with the Georgia State Defense Force (GaSDF) prepared not long ago to sharpen their skill at handling mass casualties outside the east Georgia town of Sylvania, its members got the opportunity to put those skills to the test when a vehicle accident occurred taking on real medical emergency

About 50 personnel from the SDF’s Atlanta headquarters, 1st Brigade Medical Team and 3rd Brigade Staff held the three-day training event outside the east Georgia town of Sylvania. Among the training events conducted by the group was patient care and handling, setting up a helicopter landing zone, radio communications and search and rescue techniques.

“This is the first time the entire SDF medical staff has worked together on a cooperative exercise,“ said Dr. John Harvey, the State Defense Force command surgeon. “I’d like to see all the brigades working together as we prepare to meet the demands of any mass casualty situation.”

A Georgia State Defense Force staff member directs a MEDEVAC helicopter into an LZ during the Medical FTX.

The medical emergency happened around 3 a.m., according to 1st Lt. Jerry Nosin, the SDF’s public affairs officer when a motor vehicle, swerving to avoid a deer in the roadway, crashed into a ditch across from the FTX encampment. State Defense Force personnel, Nosin said, immediately responded to the crash site and contacted the local 911 operators for assistance. It was discovered, he said, that the couple in the vehicle had only minor injuries and was able to continue their journey with the aid of a friend who showed up at the accident scene. The couple had to leave their vehicle, however, in the ditch until they could return at a later time.

“No one ever expects these things to happen,” Nosin said “but had the couple’s injuries been more serious than they were, they would have been in good hands considering the number of emergency medical personnel, doctors and nurses we have that do those jobs in their civilian careers.”

With the crisis over, SDF members turned their attention to the FTX, he said.
Using volunteers from the youth group of one medical member’s church, a scenario was constructed in which the group fell victim to a sudden and devastating hurricane. When SDF medical personnel arrived on the simulated scene, they found several of he youths suffering from a variety of “simulated” wounds, fractures and other medical problems, Nosin explained.
The youth’s injuries were assessed and treated, he continued. Those who needed more extensive treatment were airlifted out of the park by a local medical flight team.

“This was excellent training and the reason I joined the State Defense Force”, said Dr. Scott Lynch, a physician at Atlanta’s Emory Hospital and SDF member. Lynch served as the on-scene triage coordinator during the FTX.
One of the skills the SDF members had to hone was setting up a landing zone onto which the medical helicopter could set down and pickup the seven youths designated as critically injured. The SDF medical team also got a taste of having to deal with death when three youths were designated as campers who had been killed during the simulated storm. That, Nosin said, meant setting up a simulated field morgue.

Much of October’s FTX was coordinated by captains Mike Riemann of the Medical Detachment Headquarters and Alton Suggs, with 3rd Brigade. Lt. Col. Robert Crowe commanded SDF’s 1st Brigade staff.