4th Regiment Soldiers Train in Disaster Rubble

Story by: CW2 Janet Schmelzer, 4th Regiment PAO

Posted: 26-APR-14

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS -- The 4th Regiment, Civil Affairs, Texas State Guard (TXSG) was in  Grapevine, Texas, Saturday, April 26, 2014 for life-saving skills training and a mock disaster exercise. Soldiers used life-saving skills to treat mock victims.

The exercise was designed to be as close to real world events as possible. There were four mock training areas: triage, first aid, search and assessment, and extraction. The soldiers had to triage mock victims.  Then they had to search and assess the disaster area, administer first aid, and extract victims from a mock collapsed building.  The soldiers had to prepare a victim for transport, and transport the patient from the danger zone to a safe zone.  Soldiers had to climb through collapsed walls, go through rubble (rocks, dirt, and boards), through narrow tunnels of rubble moving along on hands and knees, and work in small and confined spaces, all of which was designed to replicate a tornado strike. Soldiers had to remain aware of their surroundings and safely treat mock victims as they would in a real world emergency.

Working with the 4th Regiment were soldiers from the TXSG Dallas-Fort Worth Medical Response Group, Arlington firefighter and Texas Task Force One Team leader Billy Hirth, and  Grace Cares, a volunteer disaster relief organization.