Exercise Broken Warrior

Words and photos by John Cosgrove

"Save me", "where's my baby," and other pitiful cries for help resonated through the darkness as the medics from 3rd Health Support Company (3 HSC) arrived at the Waimate Showgrounds to their largest mass casualty scenario so far.

PTE Mel Evans, a nurse from Christchurch, guides Cadet Sam Kernot from Dunedin into a waiting Unimog ambulance (WN-10-0001-112).

The daunting prospect of locating and treating the victims of a major traffic accident involving three vehicles in the early morning darkness near Waimate in South Canterbury was just one of a number of realistic scenarios played out during the recent weekend-long Exercise Broken Warrior.

The safe retrieval and timely care of victims of explosions, tramping accidents, car accidents and ambushes, sometimes under threat of enemy fire, testing both ambulance teams and the resuscitation capabilities for the medics, were just some of the challenging scenarios faced by New Zealand Territorial Force medics from Christchurch, Dunedin and Temuka who had assembled in Waimate to take part in the exercise. Broken Warrior was a detachment level exercise designed to test the combat responsiveness skills of the medics when faced with a demanding series of scenarios.

It was organised by Second Lieutenant Tim Reiber a newly commissioned Territorial Force Officer, and Platoon Commander. “We received a lot of very positive support from the council here to conduct the exercise in their district, “said 2Lt Reiber. “There are many really good sites available here to use that are council properties and they were very helpful with consents and the use of facilities.

Cadets from the City of Dunedin NZCF unit provided the victims for the exercise and they were adorned in very realistic prosthetic makeup, expertly administered by SSGT Maureen White from Joint Services Health School in Burnham.