USS America, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship, completed a series of mass casualty drills during its first underway in 10 months after completing a post-shakedown availability, March 22.
The drills were designed to prepare the medical training team and ship’s crew for an upcoming inspection referred to as Fleet Service Operation Medical 1.4 with Afloat Training Group, San Diego.
The shipboard inspection will assess the MTT, their level of knowledge in emergency response and the crew’s knowledge of basic first aid.
Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Brian Butorac , Medical department’s leading chief petty officer, explained the significance of having the crew prepared for any casualty.
Butorac said: “The overall importance is making sure we are ready to go to sea. Doing these drills on a day-to-day basis ensures that, at any time, if there is an accident or emergency involving an injured crew member, another crew member is ready to respond to help the fallen casualty, or possibly save a life.”
America is an aviation-centric amphibious assault ship that provides forward presence and power projection as an integral part of joint interagency and multinational maritime expeditionary forces.
The ship supports Marine aviation requirements, from small-scale contingency operations of an expeditionary strike group, to forcible entry missions in major theaters of war. America is currently conducting maritime training operations off the coast of California.