PDA

View Full Version : CSU helping military's Green Berets with training


Team Sergeant
12-07-2012, 09:59
And now for some good news......;)

CSU helping military's Green Berets with training
Staff report | Tue., December 4, 2012 @ 3:34 pm

FORT COLLINS—One of the U.S. military's most elite groups is looking to Colorado State University's nationally ranked Veterinary Teaching Hospital to help train its medics.

The Fort Carson-based 10th Special Forces Group – a unit of the Green Berets – is sending medics to CSU’s veterinary hospital for two weeks of intensive animal care training. They’ve also spent time training at Hartshorn Health Center on campus and with CSU Athletics to learn some fundamental sports medicine techniques they can use in the field.

Highly demanding training required
The Green Beret Medical Sergeants are within the action element of the Special Forces Group known as the Operational Detachment-Alpha Team, “ODA” or “A-Team.” Each team consists of 12 Green Berets who have undergone a highly demanding physical and mental assessment, selection, and training process, said Lt. Col. Steve Osterholzer, public affairs officer for the group.

Individual soldiers receive extensive training and experience in a select specialty of weapons, engineering, medical, communications, or intelligence. Additionally, each team is specialized to handle austere environments that might involve skills such as mountaineering, water operations and specialized parachuting or other mobility.

Medical training has historically occurred in human hospitals, but increasingly, medics face animal issues in the field. CSU is one of many partners involved in training the soldiers.

“When we’re on the continent of Africa, for example, the animals are extremely important to these small villages,” Osterholzer said. “We’ve had veterinary clinics where the medics are very important – that supports our overall relationship with the local villagers. Our guys are often working out of a mud hut somewhere where they are the nurse, the doctor, the technician and they’re not in a controlled environment.”

http://www.fortcollinsijournal.com/article.php?id=7627

Badger52
12-07-2012, 12:24
Very cool, thanks Team Sergeant. That sounds like another great opportunity to expand on and hone a classic UW skill. Imagine this is additional to the experiential training done in FM 31-27 (now FM 3-05.213) type stuff.

Looking at the example given about Africa, I wonder if there are situations where it's "Doc, don't worry about him, he's my brother-in-law - but my cow isn't giving milk."

Seriously, good stuff.

Team Sergeant
12-07-2012, 13:14
I know when I was in 1st Group we sent a medic or doctor to learn how to take care of elephants and water buffaloes.

These are the "John Deer's" of Asia.

MtnGoat
12-07-2012, 13:37
When I was at Carson We had a Group Vet that would get with the Post Horse team and our medics would go out and help out with their horses. I had our Medics help on a birth of a horses calf. Mtn Teams would go outside the Fountain Gate to the Shiner Mule train stables for training. When Group staffs do coordination lie this to work for the better of the Group.

TOMAHAWK9521
12-08-2012, 05:39
If I recall, CSU is the primary large animal vet hospital for the western US. At least it was when I was up there. My late wife and a good friend of ours were both equine medicine students so they got to see all kinds of big critters from zoos and such.