MMCCMultinational Medical Coordination Centre/EMCEuropean Medical Command and MILMED COECentre of Excellence are wargaming together

The Multinational Medical Coordination Centre/European Medical Command (MMCCMultinational Medical Coordination Centre/EMCEuropean Medical Command), established two years ago, is making its civil-military medical service expertise and wargaming capabilities available to the Budapest-based Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine (MILMED COECentre of Excellence) for the Casualty Move - Vigorous Warrior 2022 (CMVW `22) exercise.

Zoom

During the main planning conference in Budapest, planned by the MILMED CoE as host taking place from 20 to 21 october 2021, both entities set the framework and goals for next year's event. "I am glad that the conference, despite the large number of participants, 64 from NATO and partner nations, worked smoothly and in accordance with the specifications," said the Dutch planning officer of the MILMED CoE, Lieutenant Colonel Jos Schepers.

A partnership where 1+1 makes more than 2

In his opening remarks, MILMED CoE Director Surgeon General Dr. Klagges said he was pleased "that conducting a tabletop exercise led us to look for partners who were specifically knowledgeable about this format, and that we were able to partner with the MMCCMultinational Medical Coordination Centre/EMCEuropean Medical Command to host this event. There is no better example of synergy in the NATO medical field than our partnership, where 1+1 certainly makes more than 2."

Patient Tracking and Management in the NATO Alliance Case

From 28 March to 9 April 2022, exercise participants will coordinate and administratively manage patients and their transport from the time they are wounded to their respective home countries in an alliance case scenario under Article 5 of NATO's North Atlantic Treaty. Core challenges, according to Col. Juergen Muntenaar, MMCCMultinational Medical Coordination Centre/EMCEuropean Medical Command deputy director for NATO affairs, will be the systematic flow of patient tracking because "the systems and procedures were known 30 years ago. We as NATO are currently in the process of rediscovering them".

Caring for our wounded is paramount

Surgeon General Dr. Stefan Kowitz, the director of the MMCCMultinational Medical Coordination Centre/EMCEuropean Medical Command was equally positive and focused: "I am pleased that we can bring our wargaming expertise to such a large exercise. But in the end, it's all about improving processes and getting the best care for our wounded." The next step in planning will be to further refine the individual exercise sections that have been roughly outlined so far. In renewed joint conferences in Budapest and Koblenz, the results of the planning teams will be optimised by next April.