Raider Targetry’s motto is “we move. you shoot.” They provide robotic targetry which is fully instrumented and customizable for visual, thermal, radar and maneuver characteristics.
They are also lightweight and their static versions can be hand carried to desired target areas.
The Special Warfare Training Wing supports a rigorous training pipeline, preparing America’s Airmen to meet the physical & cognitive demands required to compete in a contested environment. The physical stresses of both the female and male trainee make training taxing on their pelvic floor & abdominal wall. The prevalence of urinary incontinence for athletes is cited ranging between 10-80%, and for female athletes, 49% experience stress urinary incontinence with exercise.
Given these staggering numbers and the physical demands placed on candidates entering the #afspecwar pipeline, Major Greene, a Physical Therapist (PT) supporting the 352 Combat Control School, invited two Pelvic Health PTs to host a 2-day “pelvic health for the athlete” course at Chapman Annex, JBSA for musculoskeletal experts serving in both the Special Warfare Training Wing and partners at the 59th Medical Wing. The Special Warfare Human Performance Squadron is the first in the DoD serving the special warfare community to understand this impact, host a training course to address the issue, and build a capability ready for America’s next generation of operators.
–Special Warfare Human Performance Support Group
SWAT and Military teams put their tactical combat care skills to the test during the 5th Annual Tactical Rescue Challenge at the Connecticut National Guard’s Camp Hartell in Windsor Locks, Conn. Aug. 14, 2023.
The Tactical Rescue Challenge was created in 2018 as an additional piece to the annual Connecticut SWAT Challenge and tests police and rescue teams on critical medical skills and tactics necessary during rescue operations in austere environments.
“[The challenge is] really geared toward the team medic although operators are cross trained into medicine, so you have not just medics participating in the event but other operators for any kind of tactical team,” said Maj. Wesley Kyle. “There’s a heavy emphasis on medicine in addition to casualty evacuation rescue techniques, moving the casualties off the “X”, and performing treatments at appropriate times.”
Prior to 2001, a trauma patient may have received basic life-saving medical care when an Emergency Medical Technician arrived on the scene. However, Kyle said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan lead to a shift in the point of origin for beginning emergency medical care from the EMT to the police officer or other first responders.
“Moving care toward the point of injury really started out of those wars and then quickly transitioned to the civilian tactical teams,” said Kyle, an Emergency Room doctor in the civilian sector with experience working with SWAT during his residency. “We’re still translating lessons learned from the battlefield because there was such a large loss of life with penetrating trauma, and there was kind of an explosion of new ideas … it’s changed the whole landscape and it’s incredible to see all these things fully adopted on the civilian side.”
Medical innovation is, of course, not something new on the battlefield. Tourniquets were first developed by the Roman army. The concept of triaging patients was developed by Baron Dominique Jean Larrey, chief surgeon in Napoleon’s Army. The ambulance was invented during the American Civil War. Tactical Combat Casualty Care, or TC3, methodologies were developed in the early 90s and fine-tuned during the Global War on Terror. There have also been massive advancements in preventative medicine, mental and emotional health, sanitation, plastic surgery and prosthetics, and many, many more.
For competitors in the Tactical Rescue Challenge, the primary focus was on TC3: care under fire, tactical field care, and tactical evacuation care. In one scenario, teams were required to breach a train and eliminate a threat before evaluating and applying field care to a simulated casualty and extracting the patient to a higher-level of care. A second scenario had teams extract a wounded K-9 from a tear gas-filled train car before administering a tourniquet.
While the idea of a first responder, such as a police officer, having the capability, training, and resources available to administer lifesaving first aid may seem logical, the truth is not every department or officer is afforded this luxury. In addition to providing a competitive environment for officers and operators to practice their skills in a stressful, high-pace environment, the Tactical Rescue Challenge is also meant to demonstrate the importance of incorporating these skills at the lowest level to improve the survivability for people in harm’s way.
To learn more about the Tactical Rescue Challenge, visit: www.ctswatchallenge.com/tactical-rescue-challenge
Photo by Timothy Koster, Connecticut National Guard Public Affairs Office
The TacTec Trainer Weight Vest is very popular with those involved in CrossFit. It’s made from 600D polyester and features adjustable yoke shoulder straps with breathable mesh padding and is PALS compatible.
Fits 5.11 and Rogue weight plates and Tactec Weight Plate Sandbag.
The new colors include Kombu Green, Pacific Navy, and Sage Green.
www.511tactical.com/accessories/load-bearing-equipment
Note: This is NOT an armor carrier.
Trial program measures Guardians’ physical activity and biometric data to assess readiness
Photo: U.S. Space Force / Rick Eldridge
OLATHE, Kan./August 28, 2023 — Garmin smartwatches are being deployed by the thousands to help assess the physical fitness of U.S. Space Force Guardians, the company (NYSE: GRMN) announced today. Commissioned by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the two-year study will explore the effectiveness of smartwatch technology to supplant annual physical fitness assessments.
“Garmin is gratified to be part of this exciting research effort that will help ensure Space Force Guardians are physically prepared to perform their duties. The accurate health metrics and exceptional battery life of our smartwatches will provide a reliable snapshot of a Guardian’s physical readiness, potentially saving the U.S. Military time and money.” — Scott Burgett, Senior Director of Garmin Health Engineering
Guardians who actively participate in the study will be exempt from U.S. Air Force physical fitness assessments. Enrollment has been robust, with over two-thirds of the 8,400-strong Space Force signing up since the program was announced in May. To date, more than 6,000 Garmin smartwatches have been or will be issued to active military members who have agreed to log workouts and complete monthly surveys provided by AFRL, and a second wave of enrollment is expected to begin in October.
“By tracking two basic metrics—cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity—we can quickly verify that a Guardian has met their physical requirements and is ready for duty,” said Dr. James Christensen, a product line lead with AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing. “We hope that continuous fitness assessment, implemented via wearable technology, will promote a higher, more consistent level of fitness across the force with expected outcomes like reduced injury and stress, improved resilience and higher overall operational performance.”
Garmin Instinct® 2 Solar and Forerunner® 55 smartwatches were chosen for the U.S. Space Force’s Continuous Fitness Assessment (CFA) project because they offer abundant battery life, high-quality biometric data and the ability to disable GPS functionality. Further, the Garmin Health API and secure data collection practices are compliant with federal privacy and cybersecurity standards for software, sensors and data encryption.
“We were pleased that the Garmin wearable ecosystem went through a rigorous U.S. Air Force cybersecurity and privacy review,” Burgett said. “The U.S. military has high security standards, and our system is designed end-to-end to protect sensitive user data.”
The AFRL team will analyze study results to determine the effectiveness of smartwatches relative to the current physical fitness tests and advise on future efforts to make smartwatches a permanent option. If successful, the program could be adopted by other branches of the Armed Services and include broader Department of Defense requirements such as musculoskeletal injury risk.
Garmin Health provides custom enterprise business solutions that leverage Garmin’s extensive wearable portfolio and high-quality sensor data for applications in the corporate wellness, population health, and patient monitoring markets. The Garmin Health API allows third parties to ask customers to share their data in accordance with their specific privacy policies. As part of a global company that designs, manufactures and ships products worldwide, Garmin Health supports its customers’ commerce and logistics needs, allowing enterprises to scale with a single, trusted provider. For more information, email our media team, connect with us on LinkedIn, or visit us online at garmin.com/health.
SOFWERX, in collaboration with USSOCOM Program Executive Office-Services (PEO-SV), will host a Collaboration Event on 19 September, 2023, to identify, collaborate, and find solutions to streamline the acquisition, purchasing, and scheduling of enterprise training. The purpose of this effort is to alleviate the burden on units of ordering and purchasing required training multiple times throughout the year.
The goal of this series of events is to identify capabilities for a tool that will enable government stakeholders to sort through a menu of available training options from available companies. The tool should allow customers to rate companies’ past performance and allow units to purchase and schedule training without resoliciting and/or renegotiating a contract or purchase order. Ideally, the tool will also provide firewalls to protect company proprietary data and ITAR information and reside on the unclassified network.
See more details at events.sofwerx.org/enterprise2.
Request to Attend NLT 05 September 2023, 11:59 PM ET.
FORT BARFOOT, Va. — A few times each year, the Virginia National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 183rd Regiment, Regional Training Institute, conducts an 11B Infantry Transition Course.
Some of the Soldiers who attend the course, all junior Soldiers and noncommissioned officers, want to test themselves. Others are fulfilling childhood dreams or chasing promotion opportunities. Whatever their reason, their goal is singular: to earn the 11B military occupational specialty and leave Fort Barfoot with a blue infantry shoulder cord.
“It is not an easy MOS, but it is a very rewarding one at the same time,” said Sgt. 1st Class Brian Cook, a long-time cadre member at the 183rd RTI.
During the course, Cook and the rest of the cadre put Soldiers, who arrive as engineers, medics, intelligence analysts and mechanics, through three rigorous weeks of infantry training. Soldiers gain proficiency on weapons, improve their land navigation skills, learn how to communicate and move effectively across a battlefield. The days are long and often made more challenging by sweltering heat and humidity.
The challenge of becoming an infantryman motivated many of the students as they worked their way through the course.
“The reason I wanted to become an 11B is because I like to put myself to the test,” said Staff Sgt. Patrick Powers, a 91B wheeled vehicle mechanic in the Virginia National Guard. He said the course would also help prepare him for his next challenge, U.S. Army Ranger School.
Sgt. Allison Stanton, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division as a 35F intelligence analyst, was also there to challenge herself.
“I wanted to become at 11B because it’s really the only MOS that I felt was out of my comfort zone,” she said. “I felt like the whole job would be very challenging for me, so that’s why I chose it.”
Spc. Alexander Wyatt started his military career as an infantryman in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was discharged due to an injury but rehabilitated himself and worked on an ambulance while out of the military. When he joined the Army, he returned as a 68W combat medic but felt pulled toward the infantry.
“I wanted to become an infantryman because it’s always been a dream of mine. I just always had the itch to still be an infantryman, and I finally scratched that itch,” Wyatt said. He’s now assigned to the 75th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Spc. Steven Schmidt drove across the country to attend the infantry transition course. He started his military career as a medic.
“During my time in the military, I’ve met all sorts of people with different MOSs, but the 11Bs stood out to me in their brotherhood,” Schmidt said. “I’ve always believed that going through difficult times is what brings people together, and I think 11Bs go through that more than any other MOS. I just wanted to be a part of that.”
As the most recent course came to a close, after the Soldiers hauled themselves, their gear and their weapons through the forests, roads and fields of Fort Barfoot, after they tested their endurance with a timed 5-mile run and sent thousands of rounds down range from a variety of weapons systems, they gathered near a small pond. The cadre, decorated with an assortment of badges, tabs and scrolls, formed a corridor through the water. Tired and dirty from days spent in the field, the students were called forward into the water, guided through the protected passage formed by the cadre. Then, dripping pond water and steaming in the midday sun, they worked their way to the top of a hill.
The immersion and ascent served to mark the transition from what they were before to what they had become.
On top of a Fort Barfoot hill on July 26, 2023, 22 Soldiers received their blue infantry cords and officially became the newest infantry Soldiers in the U.S. Army.
By SFC Terra C. Gatti, Virginia National Guard Public Affairs Office
