Medics swap stethoscopes for assault rifles as they learn to survive to save lives
A demanding annual military contest dubbed the Cambrian Patrol for Medics has undergone a transformation.
As the nature of world conflicts has changed, so too has the job of the military medic.
In future, they may need to fight and survive themselves in order to save soldiers' lives.
More than 80 medics from regular and reserve forces from all over the world came together in Northumberland to battle it out for the coveted title of Best Military Medical Team on the Army Medical Services Tactical Training Exercise.
They tabbed through the night carrying 15kg as well as their rifles, completing a scenario challenge every 45 minutes.
The contest has been running for more than 20 years and used to be almost entirely focused on medical skills.
But, in future theatres of operation, medical personnel will probably not have the relative luxury of a large tented field hospital as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's much more likely that they will need to operate close to the frontline, treating soldiers in woodland and abandoned buildings – trying to keep not just their patients alive, but also themselves.
And so in this year's contest, the medics were tested on both their soldiering skills as well as their life-saving medical ones.
The scenarios
There were eight scenarios, each one reflecting real conflict situations.
:: Major incident medical incident – treating multiple casualties following an attack
:: Survivability – effectively a grown-up version of hide and seek where medics must sneak into a woodblock undetected and silently extract medical supplies that have been dropped there
:: Dig or die – who can dig the deepest trench for protection
:: Drone attack – drills to survive when drones are overhead
:: Care under fire – advancing into battle in order to reach those in need
:: Anti-ambush – the medics are approached by an aid worker who needs protection to reach vital medical supplies
:: Medevac – extracting a casualty under fire
:: CBRN attack – providing emergency medicine in the midst of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack
International teams
This year saw teams enter from as far away as Serbia and the United States.
Team Serbia, who entered for the first time last year and came second, were wrangling for a first-place finish.
"I always hope!" said Captain 1st Class Nemanja Vasiljkovic, an orthopaedic surgeon.
"Where's the competition if you're not going for first place? But honestly I think winning this is actually just participating – making it through the competition is winning in itself!"
With three general surgeons, three orthopaedic surgeons, an anaesthetist and a radiologist, they may well have been the most qualified – in medicine at least.
"Do you enjoy doing more soldiering?" I asked 1st Lieutenant Shane Curran of Team Ireland, following a particularly crunchy ambush.
"We enjoy it when we don't have to do it very often!" he replied.
The point of the contest
"It is gruelling," admitted Lieutenant Colonel Gizella Simpson-Hayes, the Commanding Officer of 254 Multi-Role Medical Regiment, who hosted the competition.
"It starts at 17:00 and ends at 05:00. They cover over 25km on foot – if they don't get lost! The terrain is hilly. The weather is unpredictable.
"But the serious element is teaching our medical staff to fight, to defend themselves so they can survive to treat and care for our soldiers."
In the end, it was defending champions the Irish Defence Force who became this year's winners – with Northern Ireland reserve unit, 210 Multi-role Medical Regiment, coming in second.
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