Air Force Special Operations Command has a new course to better familiarize pararescue and paramedic airmen with the world of casualty evacuation, and it includes the use of two “human-simulator” mannequins with computerized sensors that react to treatment. The first two-week course began May 15 at Hurlburt Field, Fla., with five Air Force Reserve Command individual duty medical technicians from the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick AFB, Fla. According to MSgt. Daniel Arnold, superintendent of AFSOC medevac operations, the mannequins “breathe, bleed, blink, urinate, tear, drool, and secrete fluid from their ears.” If the trainees provide the right treatment, such as giving them epinephrine during cardiac arrest, the mannequins improve; if not, they don’t.
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…