JCSE training exercise: As close to real as you can get Published June 5, 2012 By Nick Stubbs Thunderbolt Editor MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- When it comes to training for actual battlefield conditions, location is everything. That's why the 2nd Joint Communications Support Element based at MacDill, packed up and headed for the dense forest of Myakka State Park for a training exercise designed to prepare them for the kinds of medical emergencies team members are likely to face on the battlefield. Held last month, the forest and Mother Nature gave no quarter, blasting the team with heat and rain over the course of the two-day simulation, said Capt. Ada Hernandez, Fox Trot Troop commander and a coordinator on the exercise. One of the primary objectives of the training was to ensure new JCSE members were up to speed, and to evaluate the more senior members of the team, said Hernandez. "We have new members who need the training, and we also wanted to evaluate and focus on the warrior skills essential to the JCSE (to perform its missions)." The mission was defined by a set of tasks, the scenario or conditions, and standards for combat lifesaving and first aid as practiced by JCSE units. The identified task of the exercise was to, "Ensure all members of the 2nd JCSE are familiar with lifesaving interventions for injuries that are most likely to occur and fall within their scope of practice," said Hernandez. The scenario involved a simulated patient and a medical team with supplies and equipment suited to the situation. Standard medical practices were employed, with the objective being to evacuate the patient without causing further injury, said Hernandez. Over the two days of the exercise, three scenarios were played out. Scenario 1 involved the electrocution of a team member who was setting up communications equipment. He suffered burns and had to be treated in a "volatile situation." In scenario 2, a land mine detonated injuring two members. The third scenario involved a snake bite. All emphasis was on realism to ensure the exercise mimicked reality. In the case of the mine explosion, one of the simulated injured members was impaled to a tree and screaming. "We want to simulate actual conditions as closely as possible," said Hernandez, who added that the Myakka environment was the closest location to MacDill that provided the backdrop needed. Overall, the exercise went well, though weather conditions provided an unplanned element of realism. "It went very well overall," said Hernandez, who noted that the team did what is expected in a real battlefield scenario - "adapted and overcame."