Thanks for the warning!
I seriously appreciate it.Are you able to pick when you want to go? How bad are the winters? I'm used to the north full of freezing ice and piles of snow.
Combat Casualty Care Course (C4) Info
- Thread starter Homunculus
- Start date
Thanks for the warning!
I seriously appreciate it.Are you able to pick when you want to go? How bad are the winters? I'm used to the north full of freezing ice and piles of snow.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2008
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I had some leverage as to when I went to C4. Scheduled it smack dab in the middle of one of my Gen Surg rotations as an intern. It was a week long picnic with camping and hiking and ludicrous drills and lectures that have never been useful since....but it was fun. I went in Jan., our structure was heated but the heater broke essentially every other night. It was about 20 degrees outside, and by 3am it was 20 degrees inside. Luckily, they gave us sleeping bags rated to 40 degrees so I could feel every metal rod in my cot burning into my back. But you know what? I wasn't doing rectal exams or taking care of gastric bypass trainwrecks. So it was a win for the team.
UPDATE AS OF WINTER 2023:
Here was my experience and my advice. I'm a Navy dentist. I tried to update this list every night, but I was so exhausted I would forget.
Helpful items/review of what to bring or not bring:
Day 1:
Arrived to SAT airport, don’t exactly need to arrive on time. Talked to yellow vest taxi guy and he said none of the taxis are able to take us onto base today. JUST UBER TO THE FRONT GATE. Could’ve walked to C4 area, there’s signs leading there past the Eisenhower gate. The phone numbers on the window of the gate to reach the duty driver who will pick u up, they are really good at this so honestly just take UBER OR LYFT, don't deal with the BS of the taxis. Spiders all over the field and track. Showers are like prison showers and toilets. First day you get there, sign some paperwork, get changed in your hutments, about 5 bunk beds. We are separated into 3 platoons by color. Try to get bottom bunk, yes electricity but poor signal inside the hutments. Boxes of MREs for meals already in hutments, choose your favorite. Seabags on the beds are not taken, when you arrive grab one of the sea bags and empty it by 1600. Meet for grabbing gear, everyone guesstimates their sizes, then goes outside to try it all on. Get one chance to go back in and change sizes. Recommend getting knee pads even tho they optional. You pick up lots of stuff like helmets, gas masks, your sleeping bag (unless you want to bring ur own?), etc. Dump everything back in hutments then go to galley (DIFAC) for hot dinner, similar to navy galley from ODS. Take your gas masks with you with the head strap and a pen to dinner. After dinner, will go straight to a classroom across the street and will listen to an intro presentation and sign paperwork. Learn how to put gas masks on and tighten them. Then will leave for our hutments and be back to get ready for bed around 1915. Up to you if you want to bring your own pillow and blanket. The windows don’t have netting so no thanks on opening them. There’s portajohns for a little bit of privacy that are cleaned every other day. There’s 5 bunkbeds per hutment. I would recommend bringing magnetic hangers so you can hang things on your bunk bed frame. There’s laundry machines in the latrines that look pretty spanking new so bring some detergent if you would like. I personally went to sleep early around 2000 cuz I’m a baby and need my rest. Lights out at 2200. Some people’s flights were super late and they arrived at night. The latrines are heated are so are the hutments, well there’s a thermostat. In the summer I’m not sure about there being AC. I’m definitely very happy to be here in winter time.
Day 2:
Reverie at 0500, breakfast at 0545. Breakfast at DIFAC, bring with u ur backpack with pens, notebook, snacks, MRE, and tourniquet (in sea bag when arrived). Will head directly to the classroom auditorium which has bathrooms in the back! Classes are fun and interactive. You apply what you learn. I’m a dentist so we attend PHTLS (pre hospital training) while nurses attend NTCC, or if they’ve done that already, ATCC. Physicians go to ACTLS or something. We learn about triaging and trauma care, get to apply tourniquets on ourselves and others too. Lots of breaks. For the dentists we went to the PEX during our breaks as it was just across the street from the auditorium. It’s a loaded exchange where you can buy $4 pillow, blankets, gear, water, snacks, hot food like hot dogs and jimmy johns, etc. (except on weekends), and there’s a water buffalo to fill up ur water bottle. I didn’t trust it so I bought liter sized water bottles from the exchange and refilled my bottle from that. During lunch, we could eat the MREs, but most of us got hot food since during the field exercises we’d be surviving off of MREs. We ended our class around 1330 and had the rest of the day to ourselves. Some PT’d, some sat outside and talked, I laid in bed writing this info up since I’m an indoors typa person (why did I join the military? (Great question)). Meetup for headcount at 1600, and can grab dinner anytime before 1800 when the DIFAC closes.
Day 3: (Saturday)
We mustered then grabbed breakfast under the pavilion and ate anywhere because of the DIFAC being closed on weekends. We headed to class and sat through lectures. We finished and took the exam before lunch. Some ate MREs and some had exchange food. We had the rest of the day to ourselves so I took a nap and went out to the field/obstacle course/track to go for a run. Then we met under the pavilion for hot dinner which was potatoes, pork, salad, chicken noodle soup, etc. We ate in the lounge behind the computer lab and played cards. Showered and went to sleep.
Day 4:
Woke up for breakfast and found out there’s a gym that previous classes has had full access to with private showers and stalls. But apparently the last class lost the key so they deem us “not responsible enough” and we don’t have access to the gym. But now I found out that it’s accessible via cac so maybe they don’t want to put our cac in the system to give us access. I'm not going to say anything more on it here, butttt ask previous classes *wink* *wink*. It’s pretty windy and cold today so we got out our all weather parkas or fleece liners and wore those with a beanie and gloves. We can do whatever we want for lunch so I got some yogurt and a frozen rice packet for lunch, some girls in my hut ate the MREs. At 1230 we re-convened and took TCCC classes until 1900 then got hot chow for dinner, it was outside in the pavilion. We ate and talked in the lounge until it was time to get ready for bed. I decided to do laundry now since I didn’t bring enough boot socks. I don’t think I needed 2 pairs of NWUs or 8 shirts, I could’ve just brought half of the above and washed it. 2 sets of laundry machines in the latrines. They don’t have a broom though, only a mop which is hard to sweep hair. Bedtime but it was super cold, idk why the AC turned on in the middle of the night. Woke up and someone set it to 57 degrees (my hutment was crazy, the girls fought over the thermostat every night cuz one girl would set it way down in the middle of the night and we'd wake up freezing).
Day 5:
Breakfast in the auditorium and our PI was playing a movie as we ate. Then we started TCCC/PHTLS until lunch time. After lunch you break and do other stuff. Some people went to computer lab, others worked out. I napped XD.
Day 6: got some wifi on the lanes. Wishful thinking - Butt pads would be nice for the drives in the morning, the road isn't always paved and definitely rattles ur brain. Thin tactical gloves with good grips are a good thing to have - I scraped my knuckles and hands picking up mannequins and dragging gear around. Bring ur own eye protection cuz provided ones are scuffed. Def grab the optional knee pads cuz you'll be kneeling/diving into the gravle sometimes.
Don’t leave casualties behind, even if they’re clinically dead and there’s enemy fire it’s okay to come back to them to at least bring their body home. These are more guidelines but have fun, make mistakes, this is the best time to learn. Going to have a 20 lb fake gun strapped to you along with a 10 lb Kevlar helmet and 20 lb plates almost all day which isn’t great.
Day 7:
Must run around a lot for POI, mass casualty. Got too lazy to finish this day, was super tired. These lanes got more exhausting.
Day 8: FINAL EXAM
POI: not as much running around as I thought and compared to day 6 and 7 on the lanes. It simulates night and you literally cannot see anything in front of you without a super bright light. Expect to feel suffocated with the CNBR masks on and people have panic attacks so step out if you need to. You'll be fully blind, deaf, and have difficulty breathing in this one. Sirens, shooting noises, and screams will be blaring on loudpeaker. Fog machine going on full blast. I couldn't see in front of me and would constantly run into the wall/fake plane/step on mannequins because I was fully blind and deaf. The PIs had to grab me at one point because I was lost in the warehouse. Snack all day do not eat an actual meal or else you will throw up at all of the situations. Role 2 you will have a long jog before going into the patient care room. MasCas/Triage: there’s a **** ton of running around, be prepared to be running up and down hills and lugging 150-200lb bodies. Tips for this one: whoever is triage officer, send all of your officers with all of the litters down the hill, don't "save" any officers in the tent with you.
Definitely wish I was more fit coming into this, there were times when I couldn’t hold the litter and had to hand it off to someone else which is hard when everyone’s exhausted and there’s more pts to save. I would say be prepared to do ~3mi on the lane days, lift heavy weights (fireman carry), do lots of squats, practice diving to the ground without injuring yourself. There's portajohns at each lane if you need to use it.
If you have any questions, send them my way! I'll try to answer them when I can. This is a summary of most of the things I wish I knew before going into TCCC/C4.
Here was my experience and my advice. I'm a Navy dentist. I tried to update this list every night, but I was so exhausted I would forget.
Helpful items/review of what to bring or not bring:
- Toothbrush/toothpaste
- Chargers - long cords in case you get top bunk
- Towel
- Scissors
- Defogging solution for gas mask
- Moleskin
- Hand warmers
- Hand sanitizer
- Wipes
- Tactical gloves
- Night light - buy the most expensive high tech one possible it’s so dark, this will literally save ur life.
- Pillow case/pillow, but they sell pillows at the postal exchange so you don't have to bring a pillow if you don't want to, you can just buy one for $4.
- Can sleep in pjs but easier to sleep in pt gear; if you're not in uniform you're in PT gear. Can’t wear civvies outside of the hutments
- SHOWER SHOES
- Eye mask if you’re an early sleeper or want to take a nap during the day/free time, lol me
- Watch
- U can bring ur own sheets if u want for the beds they don’t do room checks
- Water bottle - doesn’t have to be military ones! Ppl had hydro flasks
- Don’t need: blanket, parka (just bring the liner), too many civvies, just do laundry since theres washers and dryers in the head), seabags
- I'M PUTTING THIS HERE AGAIN IN CASE YOU FORGET: Headlamp super useful to walk around at night and for trainings. Basically mandatory to have one that has red light feature and is super bright or else you’re working in pitch black darkness and fog)
- Don’t need ur sea bags, just bring suitcases cuz it’s hard to lug around a sea bag in the airport
Day 1:
Arrived to SAT airport, don’t exactly need to arrive on time. Talked to yellow vest taxi guy and he said none of the taxis are able to take us onto base today. JUST UBER TO THE FRONT GATE. Could’ve walked to C4 area, there’s signs leading there past the Eisenhower gate. The phone numbers on the window of the gate to reach the duty driver who will pick u up, they are really good at this so honestly just take UBER OR LYFT, don't deal with the BS of the taxis. Spiders all over the field and track. Showers are like prison showers and toilets. First day you get there, sign some paperwork, get changed in your hutments, about 5 bunk beds. We are separated into 3 platoons by color. Try to get bottom bunk, yes electricity but poor signal inside the hutments. Boxes of MREs for meals already in hutments, choose your favorite. Seabags on the beds are not taken, when you arrive grab one of the sea bags and empty it by 1600. Meet for grabbing gear, everyone guesstimates their sizes, then goes outside to try it all on. Get one chance to go back in and change sizes. Recommend getting knee pads even tho they optional. You pick up lots of stuff like helmets, gas masks, your sleeping bag (unless you want to bring ur own?), etc. Dump everything back in hutments then go to galley (DIFAC) for hot dinner, similar to navy galley from ODS. Take your gas masks with you with the head strap and a pen to dinner. After dinner, will go straight to a classroom across the street and will listen to an intro presentation and sign paperwork. Learn how to put gas masks on and tighten them. Then will leave for our hutments and be back to get ready for bed around 1915. Up to you if you want to bring your own pillow and blanket. The windows don’t have netting so no thanks on opening them. There’s portajohns for a little bit of privacy that are cleaned every other day. There’s 5 bunkbeds per hutment. I would recommend bringing magnetic hangers so you can hang things on your bunk bed frame. There’s laundry machines in the latrines that look pretty spanking new so bring some detergent if you would like. I personally went to sleep early around 2000 cuz I’m a baby and need my rest. Lights out at 2200. Some people’s flights were super late and they arrived at night. The latrines are heated are so are the hutments, well there’s a thermostat. In the summer I’m not sure about there being AC. I’m definitely very happy to be here in winter time.
Day 2:
Reverie at 0500, breakfast at 0545. Breakfast at DIFAC, bring with u ur backpack with pens, notebook, snacks, MRE, and tourniquet (in sea bag when arrived). Will head directly to the classroom auditorium which has bathrooms in the back! Classes are fun and interactive. You apply what you learn. I’m a dentist so we attend PHTLS (pre hospital training) while nurses attend NTCC, or if they’ve done that already, ATCC. Physicians go to ACTLS or something. We learn about triaging and trauma care, get to apply tourniquets on ourselves and others too. Lots of breaks. For the dentists we went to the PEX during our breaks as it was just across the street from the auditorium. It’s a loaded exchange where you can buy $4 pillow, blankets, gear, water, snacks, hot food like hot dogs and jimmy johns, etc. (except on weekends), and there’s a water buffalo to fill up ur water bottle. I didn’t trust it so I bought liter sized water bottles from the exchange and refilled my bottle from that. During lunch, we could eat the MREs, but most of us got hot food since during the field exercises we’d be surviving off of MREs. We ended our class around 1330 and had the rest of the day to ourselves. Some PT’d, some sat outside and talked, I laid in bed writing this info up since I’m an indoors typa person (why did I join the military? (Great question)). Meetup for headcount at 1600, and can grab dinner anytime before 1800 when the DIFAC closes.
Day 3: (Saturday)
We mustered then grabbed breakfast under the pavilion and ate anywhere because of the DIFAC being closed on weekends. We headed to class and sat through lectures. We finished and took the exam before lunch. Some ate MREs and some had exchange food. We had the rest of the day to ourselves so I took a nap and went out to the field/obstacle course/track to go for a run. Then we met under the pavilion for hot dinner which was potatoes, pork, salad, chicken noodle soup, etc. We ate in the lounge behind the computer lab and played cards. Showered and went to sleep.
Day 4:
Woke up for breakfast and found out there’s a gym that previous classes has had full access to with private showers and stalls. But apparently the last class lost the key so they deem us “not responsible enough” and we don’t have access to the gym. But now I found out that it’s accessible via cac so maybe they don’t want to put our cac in the system to give us access. I'm not going to say anything more on it here, butttt ask previous classes *wink* *wink*. It’s pretty windy and cold today so we got out our all weather parkas or fleece liners and wore those with a beanie and gloves. We can do whatever we want for lunch so I got some yogurt and a frozen rice packet for lunch, some girls in my hut ate the MREs. At 1230 we re-convened and took TCCC classes until 1900 then got hot chow for dinner, it was outside in the pavilion. We ate and talked in the lounge until it was time to get ready for bed. I decided to do laundry now since I didn’t bring enough boot socks. I don’t think I needed 2 pairs of NWUs or 8 shirts, I could’ve just brought half of the above and washed it. 2 sets of laundry machines in the latrines. They don’t have a broom though, only a mop which is hard to sweep hair. Bedtime but it was super cold, idk why the AC turned on in the middle of the night. Woke up and someone set it to 57 degrees (my hutment was crazy, the girls fought over the thermostat every night cuz one girl would set it way down in the middle of the night and we'd wake up freezing).
Day 5:
Breakfast in the auditorium and our PI was playing a movie as we ate. Then we started TCCC/PHTLS until lunch time. After lunch you break and do other stuff. Some people went to computer lab, others worked out. I napped XD.
Day 6: got some wifi on the lanes. Wishful thinking - Butt pads would be nice for the drives in the morning, the road isn't always paved and definitely rattles ur brain. Thin tactical gloves with good grips are a good thing to have - I scraped my knuckles and hands picking up mannequins and dragging gear around. Bring ur own eye protection cuz provided ones are scuffed. Def grab the optional knee pads cuz you'll be kneeling/diving into the gravle sometimes.
Don’t leave casualties behind, even if they’re clinically dead and there’s enemy fire it’s okay to come back to them to at least bring their body home. These are more guidelines but have fun, make mistakes, this is the best time to learn. Going to have a 20 lb fake gun strapped to you along with a 10 lb Kevlar helmet and 20 lb plates almost all day which isn’t great.
Day 7:
Must run around a lot for POI, mass casualty. Got too lazy to finish this day, was super tired. These lanes got more exhausting.
Day 8: FINAL EXAM
POI: not as much running around as I thought and compared to day 6 and 7 on the lanes. It simulates night and you literally cannot see anything in front of you without a super bright light. Expect to feel suffocated with the CNBR masks on and people have panic attacks so step out if you need to. You'll be fully blind, deaf, and have difficulty breathing in this one. Sirens, shooting noises, and screams will be blaring on loudpeaker. Fog machine going on full blast. I couldn't see in front of me and would constantly run into the wall/fake plane/step on mannequins because I was fully blind and deaf. The PIs had to grab me at one point because I was lost in the warehouse. Snack all day do not eat an actual meal or else you will throw up at all of the situations. Role 2 you will have a long jog before going into the patient care room. MasCas/Triage: there’s a **** ton of running around, be prepared to be running up and down hills and lugging 150-200lb bodies. Tips for this one: whoever is triage officer, send all of your officers with all of the litters down the hill, don't "save" any officers in the tent with you.
Definitely wish I was more fit coming into this, there were times when I couldn’t hold the litter and had to hand it off to someone else which is hard when everyone’s exhausted and there’s more pts to save. I would say be prepared to do ~3mi on the lane days, lift heavy weights (fireman carry), do lots of squats, practice diving to the ground without injuring yourself. There's portajohns at each lane if you need to use it.
If you have any questions, send them my way! I'll try to answer them when I can. This is a summary of most of the things I wish I knew before going into TCCC/C4.
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