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News | May 18, 2018

Two associates complete Advanced Tactical Operations Medical Specialist course at the Ohio Fire Academy

By Paul Alexander DLA Columbus Fire and Emergency Services

Tactical Emergency Medical Services is nothing new to the Department of Defense. For years, combat medics have been providing lifesaving care during combat operations in less than ideal conditions. Today, civilian medics are taking the knowledge that’s been gained from the battlefront and using it to save the lives of victims involved in hostile events where large loss of blood is a concern and survivability is limited to minutes.

Recently, Capt. Ryan Bardar and Firefighter/Paramedic Ryan Bellman of the Defense Logistics Agency Columbus Fire and Emergency Services attended a weeklong course related to advanced concepts learned from the battlefront from recent hostile events that have occurred here in the United States. The course is called Advance Tactical Operations-Medical Specialist (ATOMS), which uses concepts from Tactical Emergency Casualty Care and Tactical Combat Casualty Care in conjunction with more than 200 years of professional experience between the staff, to provide the most realistic and up-to-date training available.

ATOMS not only provides students with the critical lifesaving knowledge needed in hostile situations, students also learn how to work alongside law enforcement agencies performing tactical movements that are used to secure a hostile situation or during police raids.

The medical aid provided by medics to members of law enforcement during a hostile situation isn’t only lifesaving but enables officers who are still capable the ability to continue the fight and neutralize the threat.

Tactical medics are a huge part of a strike team ensuring the health and safety of the team at all times so that they’re fit and ready to respond. From advanced medical procedures to team health, ATOMS provided DLA Columbus FES personnel the knowledge and skills needed to increase the survivability of police and victims involved in a hostile incident where time is critical.

Bardar and Bellman successfully completed their ATOMS training May 11.

ATOMS training consisted of four days where the training lasted at least 16 hours. They received both classroom and hands-on training. They interacted with, and worked along-side firefighters from across the state and with civilians and police officers. The course exposed them to 16 different scenario-based, mass casualty incidents. The scenarios had volunteers who dressed in makeup and outfits that helped bring realism to the scenario.

They also learned some basic life-saving skills used to treat the canines that may also become injured during an active shooter/hostile event response. The students also learned how to identify various improvised explosive devices and how to differentiate them from a meth lab, which appear to be quite similar.