ARRC NEWS
Ex VIGOROUS WARRIOR 24
HUNGARY
28 Apr – 9 May 24
Exercise Vigorous Warrior ( Ex VW ) is a biennial live exercise organised by the NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine . It allows participating NATO and partner nations to exercise together in a realistic Article 3 and 5 scenario . It provides a unique opportunity for medical forces to train alongside civilian assets and offers nations the ability to exercise experimental doctrinal concepts , train in a multinational environment , and stress their medical assets . This year , assets included ground medical evacuation , rotary wing medical evacuation , medical treatment facilities , and fixed wing strategic evacuation .
Ex VW is the largest dedicated multinational medical exercise in NATO . This year , over 1600 participants joined the exercise in Bakony Training Area , Hungary from 35 NATO and Partner nations . This included military and civilian assets working together to form the operational patient care pathway from point of wounding back to a hospital in the Netherlands . The training area was a sight to behold , with military and civilian medical personnel , treatment facilities , ambulances , and helicopters from all the different nations working together . The sounds of sirens , helicopter blades and aircraft , interspersed with the 35 national accents controlling activity over the radio . Surrounded by the distinct smells in the air of diesel vehicles , cookhouse stew and people who have been living in a tent for 2 weeks .
2 x personnel from ARRC Med Branch assisted in the Exercise Organisation of Ex VW as part of the team representing the higher headquarters to the exercise troops . This was a useful position to be situated to best learn the frictions of working a multinational medical system . Language considerations , equipment interoperability and differences in policy and procedure all played a part in adding complications to the end goal , providing high-class medical care to the patient . The benefit and importance of making the
connections with military medical services of other NATO and partner nations through working together in this manner was clear . Learning best practice from each other , testing methods to work around national differences in policy and procedure and establishing links to key personnel within other medical organisations all build upon preparation for such a scenario in real life in future .
The multinational HICON team
8 SUMMER 2024 the imjin