CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. – The 27th Special Operations Medical Group hosted the 2012 Emergency Medical Technician Rodeo, Sept. 22, at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M.
This year marked the sixth consecutive year for the competition which featured various EMT scenarios ranging from EMT Jeopardy to child delivery.
Added to this year’s competition was a water extraction challenge where EMTs rescued a patient from water, performed a litter-carry until they reached land and implemented other medical skills.
“The EMT Rodeo focuses on EMT skills – the life-saving skills that we get trained on,” said Tech. Sgt. Pamela Warren, 27 SOMDG specialty flight NCO in charge.
“The biggest difference in this year’s challenge is not only the type of skills, but the skills needed for each challenge, such as water extraction, which is one of the newest challenges we added,” she continued.
Nine teams from different military bases all over the world competed in this year’s competition.
“We traveled a full day from Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, to get to Clovis,” said Senior Airman Sarah Root, 86th Medical Squadron aerospace medical technician. “The pressure of the competitive environment is something I think all EMTs thrive in. We are trained to respond in an emergency situation. Your adrenaline gets going and you have to maintain that calm demeanor and keep a clear head so you know what you’re doing at all times.”
Airmen utilized knowledge from their day-to-day jobs, while experiencing physical strain low-crawling through mud and carrying litters during the Commando challenge.
“The hardest part of this whole competition was the Commando challenge; it’s not something everyone gets to do,” said Airman 1st Class Carlee Garza, 17th Medical Squadron medical technician, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas. “The competition was awesome. We, as EMTs, got to hone our skills more; we got to meet new friends, and we had teams from everywhere.”
According to Warren, the event was a success and the 27 SOMDG hopes to improve it annually.
