Soldiers test equipment manual for Chemically Protected DEPMEDS

Mark Morse (second from right) explains how the CP DEPMEDS low pressure alarm works to soldiers training at RTS-Med. (Photo by Rob Schuette)

CP DEPMEDS will provide environmentally controlled collective protection to a Combat Support Hospital (CSH). This capability allows a CSH to sustain medical operations in a chemical and biological contaminated environment for up to 72 hours.

The CP DEPMEDS TM validation was held at the Regional Training Site-Medical (RTS-Med) at Fort McCoy from July 16-28.

The RTS-Med Site provided tents and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) shelters to supplement the CP DEPMEDS Training Set. RTS-Med Site personnel supported representatives for the Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM) Natick, Mass., SBCCOM-Rock Island, Ill., and SBCCOM-Edgewood, Md., personnel.

According to the SBCCOM fact sheet for the CP DEPMEDS, the system includes the Army's M28 Collective Protection Equipment (M28 CPE).

In addition to the filters and tent liners, the modular M28 CPE system has motor blowers to move the contaminated air through the filters, through a chemically and biologically protected environmental control unit and then into the tents and shelters.

The water distribution system, latrines, and electrical supplies that serve the facility also are protected.

According to Janet O'Callahan of SBCCOM at Natick, the equipment allows members of the medical community to operate in a chemical or biological environment for up to 72 hours without wearing Mission Oriented Protective Posture gear.

"Commanders must make the decision as they are setting up the DEPMEDS if they will need this equipment and what sections need to be protected," she said. "It can only be installed during setup."

Mark Morse, the Logistics manager for the CP DEPMEDS from SBCCOM-Natick, said before the CP DEPMEDS can be issued to units, soldiers must help validate the technical manual.

"The purpose of the validation is to make the language in the technical manual understandable to the soldiers," he said.

Chuck Day of the SBCCOM-Rock Island said the logistics support section at Rock Island has technical responsibility for the CP DEPMEDS.

"The TM must be completed before the equipment can be fielded," Day said. "The TM cannot be published without having the soldiers use the manual to set up the equipment."

The next step in the process is to hold new equipment training for the RTS-Med staffs at Fort McCoy, Fort Gordon, Ga., and Parks Reserve Forces Training Area, Calif., O'Callahan said. The training is expected to occur in the October to November time frame at McCoy after the TM is completed. The equipment will be fielded to the RTS-Meds, selected units and be pre-positioned to serve deploying troops.

Tricia Weiss, the project officer for the M28 CPE from SBCCOM-Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., said the equipment first was available for use, in an untested form, during Operations Desert Shield/Storm.

"It makes sense to have soldiers set up, operate, maintain and take down the equipment," Weiss said. "It's been interesting to get their reactions. They've given us a lot of good input."

Weiss said the RTS-Med staff also gave the SBCCOM good support to test the TM.

Allen Reese, the RTS-Med Training supervisor, said RTS-Med quickly stepped in to support the validation test when another site was unable to provide the support.

Soldiers from the 344th Combat Support Hospital in New York and the 352nd Combat Support Hospital in California provided the soldiers to validate the process.

"Different soldiers were chosen every day so they were unfamiliar with the process and the TM and had to use the manual to construct the equipment," Reese said.

RTS-Med provides DEPMEDS training to all Army Reserve medical units, Reese said. Staff members are looking forward to having the new equipment fielded to provide valuable training to soldiers that will support their future deployments.