Army medics train with US Air Force for missions

British Army medics have undertaken training with the US Air Force to prepare for joint operations.

At the end of July, 16 Medical Regiment based at the Merville Barracks in Colchester trained with the 352nd Special Operations Wing based at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, for the Mobile Serpent exercise.

They met at the Stanford training area near Thetford in Norfolk and they practised how medical care could be supported from the air.

Staff Sgt Shaun Newbury, a combat medical technician, said it had been a "positive opportunity to build relations with other military units" in the region.

The medics set up a pre-hospital treatment team on the airfield to simulate the first medical facility a casualty would arrive at after being injured on the battlefield.

Planes were then flown from RAF Mildenhall and dropped supplies by parachute, including refrigerated blood products, a quad bike and a trailer loaded with equipment.

The training culminated with simulated casualties being evacuated from planes while medics continued treatment on-board.

Staff Sgt Newbury said working together with the US Air Force had "given each of us an insight into the other's capabilities and understand how we would be able to operate together".

"As much as we are close allies in NATO, we are close neighbours, and it has been a positive opportunity to build relations with other military units based in East Anglia," he added.

Captain of 352nd Special Operations Wing, Hailey Malay, added: "We love working side by side with our UK partners, and training together teaches us how to fight together.

"We build relationships, increase our capabilities, maintain military readiness, and refine our operational integration locally and globally."

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