U.S. physician teaches Steppe Eagle 19 medical participants to 'race the Reaper'
ILLISKY TRAINING AREA, Kazakhstan (June 21, 2019) -- Opening his classroom instruction to a room full of Kazakhstani, Tajikistani, and Kyrgyz Republic military physicians participating in exercise Steppe Eagle 19, U.S. Army physician, Maj. Michael Eiffert, M.D. told the attendees an intriguing quote, "An army of at-risk soldiers is susceptible to defeat. The defeated army is exceedingly vulnerable to large-scale disease and starvation." Using that mindset for his discussion, Eiffert taught a Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) and Health Service Support in Peacekeeping Operations class, June 20, to 25 military physicians from the Central and South Asia region. Five nations -- the United States, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the United Kingdom -- sent medical and non-medical participants for the 12-day Steppe Eagle 19 peacekeeping operations exercise. India, Turkey, and Uzbekistan also sent observers for the exercise. Many of the exercise's training scenarios involve medical care under fire, as well as hemorrhage control, which necessitates the TC3 class for partner nations.
