Communicators complete mass SABC course Published Sept. 17, 2014 By Airman 1st Class Erica Crossen 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- One-hundred and fifty Airmen assigned to the 375th Communications Group received hands-on Self Aid and Buddy Care training Sept. 8 at Scott Air Force Base. The SABC exercise, dubbed "Operation Nightingale," was a one day event, broken up into two groups. Each group was required to attend a discussion portion at the Scott Library Annex and a hands-on performance evaluation at the Education Center. The 375th CG has a large number of personnel identified to potentially deploy as early as January 2015 and the unit's current SABC program could not handle the influx of personnel for the classes. So, the instructors came up with an alternate course of action by hosting a mass SABC course to fulfill their training requirements. "The information presented during 'Operation Nightingale' follows the same curriculum as the current SABC class taught by unit SABC instructors; however the format and flow of the course as well as the number of people we can process in a reduced amount of time differs a bit," said Cathryn Kennedy, 375th CG deputy director. SABC is a critical skill in every Airman's warrior toolbox. When Airmen are deployed to a combat environment they rely on each other's first aid skills. An Airman's on scene SABC skills can determine life or death when life threatening injuries occur. These skills can also be applied to everyday life when medical emergencies or injuries occur. Tech. Sgt. William Updyke, 375th CG lead SABC instructor, said, "Personnel will remember their training a whole lot better if we make it more realistic." The exercise takes the hands-on evaluation requirements and puts it into a simulated combat scenario. People were tasked as actors to play the victims and were allowed to improvise during their scenarios. The day began with personnel completing an indoor portion where they were performing initial patient evaluation, bandaging and tourniquets, and airway management procedures. Following was an outdoor portion which covered care under fire and litter carry techniques. The exercise concluded with the groups of students giving a 9-line report via radio, which is a request for medical evacuation support, to the simulated unit control center. "Before this, SABC instructors noticed a trend of students complaining of 'death by PowerPoint' and requesting more time to perform the hands-on training," said Updyke. "This technique helped them get more out of it." Airman 1st Class Steven Hess, a server administration technician, said, "I think the training went great, and it was entertaining while at the same time jogging my memory about what I had learned in Basic Military Training. "Of everything we did I think the carries were actually the most useful. We learned a few that I actually didn't know. The most fun was probably the final simulation where your group had to rescue and evacuate multiple wounded in a combat situation." The training plan for the mass exercise was identified by the 375th CG SABC instructors during a recent AFSO21 problem solving event. They researched and found that Dover AFB recently held a similar exercise to rectify both issues and allow the group to train all personnel vulnerable for this deployment cycle in a single day. Operation Nightingale "increased the productivity of our people by doing more of the right things with the same or less effort," said Kennedy. A single class typically required one instructor per course for four hours, resulting in an additional 60 instructor hours to meet the requirement. This exercise event required five instructors over an eight hour period totaling 40 hours overall. An evaluation is being conducted on the exercise, and if the projected efficiencies are met, including more Airmen meeting their readiness requirements, this hands-on SABC exercise format will be offered to other Scott AFB deployment managers.