The Final Cut

By Charlene Williamson

In the cold, icy and snowy conditions of Tekapo Military Training Area, 12 trainee New Zealand Defence Force medics worked towards their last assessment following two and a half years’ training and study.

Exercise Last Cut provides a physically and mentally challenging task-focused environment for the medics and tests their ability to manage trauma emergencies in the field.

Defence Health School, Chief Instructor Major Neil Corlett said scenario based training is important as it links closely to what a medic might face in their career.

“By putting them through this training we are acclimatising them to the competing demands of battlespace pressures and confirming their clinical decisionmaking ability is up to task if and when they are faced with it for real,” he said.

This type of training helps to provide competent medics, who are capable of dealing with casualties as soon as they graduate. MAJ Corlett said the training confirms what they have been taught over the past two and a half years – stay calm, communicate, manage and treat casualties, all under challenging time and environmental pressures.

“New Zealand Defence Force medics are considered world class, and this is not a reputation earned without significant effort.”

It is important that medics demonstrate and maintain the highest level of competence and credibility to ensure the trust of the personnel they are responsible for.

“It is not an easy course, and as these individuals form the core of our New Zealand Defence Force health system, they have a very important job from day one of graduating,” said MAJ Corlett.