80 troops, based at Merville Barracks in Colchester, recently took part in Exercise Scottish Serpent, a winter training exercise used to train medical personnel in the particular challenges of providing medical care in extreme cold weather and at altitude.
16 Medical Regiment are part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, who will be deploying to Afghanistan towards the end of this year, and these skills will be critical to providing medical support to the brigade.
While this will be 16 Air Assault Brigade's third tour of Afghanistan, it will be their first operating in the harsh Afghan winter.
Major Steve Harmer commands 23 Air Assault Medical Squadron, part of 16 Medical Regiment. The squadron, supported by a large number of Territorial Army personnel from 144 Parachute Field Ambulance, will be responsible for the delivery of medical care in Afghanistan's forward locations.
He described the aims of the exercise:
"The participants received instruction in military skills from Royal Marine Mountain Leaders, who are experts in arctic warfare. After learning to use crampons and ice axes, and an introduction to ice climbing on an indoor ice wall, they completed an ascent of Ben Nevis.
"Temperatures plummeted to -18 degrees C, providing excellent opportunity to prove the effectiveness of the issued clothing and equipment.
"Further training required the participants to navigate tactically between checkpoints, where simulated medical scenarios focused on the recognition and treatment of hypothermia and both freezing and non-freezing cold injuries."
Major Harmer emphasised the importance of the exercise:
"You don't realise how hard it is just to think in extreme cold, let alone operate in a highly technical role. Injuries cannot be assessed through layers of clothing, so shelter must be provided to protect against exposure.
"Fluids must be warmed before they can be administered, as otherwise core temperatures can fall dangerously low.
"The exercise was very successful, demonstrating the squadron's ability to deliver medical care in an extreme cold weather environment."