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American Morning
Evacuating Wounded Soldiers From Battlefield Scenarios
Aired February 17, 2003 - 09:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in Kuwait, I want to introduce you to Major Trey Kirby out of Nashville, Tennessee. You're also a medical doctor.
And the exercise we see right now taking place right behind us, walk us through what we're seeing here.
MAJ. TREY KIRBY, U.S. ARMY: Right. Well, this is an actual scenario, simulating a casualty or injured soldier inside of an M-1 Abrams tank. What you're seeing here is a 113, literally an armored ambulance. The door falls, some combat medics rush out to the scene, they're going to climb aboard the track, and they're going to extricate or remove this casualty.
HEMMER: So, the wounded soldier is inside the tank.
KIRBY: That's correct.
HEMMER: OK, this would take place in what type of battlefield scenario?
KIRBY: Any battlefield scenario where the tank was taking fire, this is a potential set up.
HEMMER: OK, now, are they using the tank to shield themselves here...
KIRBY: Right.
HEMMER: ... in order to extricate -- to remove the soldier?
KIRBY: Right, under ideal situations, they would do that.
HEMMER: OK. How often do you train on this?
KIRBY: These guys train just about every day on trying to do some type of evacuation techniques. What you're seeing now, they're stabilizing the soldier, trying their best to maintain some spinal stabilization there, getting him out of the track as quickly as possible and get him on the wooden backboard here, secure him and then quickly get him in the back of the ambulance and get him out of here quick.
HEMMER: How much real-life experience has members of the Army had on this?
KIRBY: These guys probably have had not -- haven't had any combat experience, but a lot of these guys are EMT-qualified, they work in the back of real ambulances back home, they see car wrecks and trauma and some of those things.
HEMMER: How critical is this when it comes to training in the eventuality of something like this taking place?
KIRBY: Absolutely critical. Time is of the essence. They talk about the golden hour of trauma. These guys have to get these casualties extricated as quickly as possible, get them back to the forward aid station or main aid station, where I usually am or my physician assistant, so we can get them stabilized and get them out of here to a combat support hospital.
HEMMER: This is pretty impressive in terms of speed. Start to finish, how long?
KIRBY: Start to finish on a good day is about three minutes.
HEMMER: Wow! And it looks like right now they're about right at that time.
KIRBY: They're super guys. They do a good job.
HEMMER: Thank you. I appreciate it, Major.
KIRBY: My pleasure. Thank you.
HEMMER: Dr. Trey Kirby, appreciate your sharing with us and your exercise.
KIRBY: Appreciate that.
HEMMER: Bottom line, how long and how often will you be able to train like this out here?
KIRBY: As often as we can. As often as we can.
HEMMER: Almost every day or more than that?
KIRBY: Almost every day.
HEMMER: Thank you, Major.
KIRBY: All right.
HEMMER: Good luck to you, all right? Stay safe.
KIRBY: Appreciate it.
HEMMER: That's it from the Kuwaiti desert.
Back again to New York and Paula -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired February 17, 2003 - 09:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in Kuwait, I want to introduce you to Major Trey Kirby out of Nashville, Tennessee. You're also a medical doctor.
And the exercise we see right now taking place right behind us, walk us through what we're seeing here.
MAJ. TREY KIRBY, U.S. ARMY: Right. Well, this is an actual scenario, simulating a casualty or injured soldier inside of an M-1 Abrams tank. What you're seeing here is a 113, literally an armored ambulance. The door falls, some combat medics rush out to the scene, they're going to climb aboard the track, and they're going to extricate or remove this casualty.
HEMMER: So, the wounded soldier is inside the tank.
KIRBY: That's correct.
HEMMER: OK, this would take place in what type of battlefield scenario?
KIRBY: Any battlefield scenario where the tank was taking fire, this is a potential set up.
HEMMER: OK, now, are they using the tank to shield themselves here...
KIRBY: Right.
HEMMER: ... in order to extricate -- to remove the soldier?
KIRBY: Right, under ideal situations, they would do that.
HEMMER: OK. How often do you train on this?
KIRBY: These guys train just about every day on trying to do some type of evacuation techniques. What you're seeing now, they're stabilizing the soldier, trying their best to maintain some spinal stabilization there, getting him out of the track as quickly as possible and get him on the wooden backboard here, secure him and then quickly get him in the back of the ambulance and get him out of here quick.
HEMMER: How much real-life experience has members of the Army had on this?
KIRBY: These guys probably have had not -- haven't had any combat experience, but a lot of these guys are EMT-qualified, they work in the back of real ambulances back home, they see car wrecks and trauma and some of those things.
HEMMER: How critical is this when it comes to training in the eventuality of something like this taking place?
KIRBY: Absolutely critical. Time is of the essence. They talk about the golden hour of trauma. These guys have to get these casualties extricated as quickly as possible, get them back to the forward aid station or main aid station, where I usually am or my physician assistant, so we can get them stabilized and get them out of here to a combat support hospital.
HEMMER: This is pretty impressive in terms of speed. Start to finish, how long?
KIRBY: Start to finish on a good day is about three minutes.
HEMMER: Wow! And it looks like right now they're about right at that time.
KIRBY: They're super guys. They do a good job.
HEMMER: Thank you. I appreciate it, Major.
KIRBY: My pleasure. Thank you.
HEMMER: Dr. Trey Kirby, appreciate your sharing with us and your exercise.
KIRBY: Appreciate that.
HEMMER: Bottom line, how long and how often will you be able to train like this out here?
KIRBY: As often as we can. As often as we can.
HEMMER: Almost every day or more than that?
KIRBY: Almost every day.
HEMMER: Thank you, Major.
KIRBY: All right.
HEMMER: Good luck to you, all right? Stay safe.
KIRBY: Appreciate it.
HEMMER: That's it from the Kuwaiti desert.
Back again to New York and Paula -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
