Army National Guard Medical Readiness Training Exercises in Southern Command

摘要

Medical Readiness Training Exercises (MEDRETES) are conducted by military medicalunits in a field environment, where US military personnel conduct medical evaluation, treatment, and health education for persons who are not health care beneficiaries of the US government. The primary mission of these exercises is the training of military personnel. The Army National Guard (ARNG) has actively pursued these training opportunities which provide training in environments which closely approximate what they might experience in times of conflict. Over the past ten years the bulk of this training has occurred in the Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of responsibility. In 1987, the ARNG established a Field Medical Training Site in Pan a which provided the process and infrastructure for medical units to deploy to Central or South America on 2-3 week annual training (AT) periods to participate in MEDRETES. The ARNG MEDRETE program in SOUTHCOM provides an excellent case study showing how reserve component forces, while in an AT status, can serve as a vital resource to a CINC's peacetime strategy, as well as when mobilized in time of war. SOUTHCOM, Medical readiness training exercise, MEDRETE, Army 139 National Guard (ARNG), Military civic action, Humanitarian assistance, Civic action.