ARMY medics treated 'critically wounded' soldiers injured during a 'gun battle' exercise in Cumbria. 

The training exercise, staged at the rain-soaked Warcop Training Area near Kirkby Stephen, was simulated using actors and blank rounds. 

The test was part of a two week training course designed to examine and qualify the Army Medical Services’ first responders. Around 150 Combat Medical Technicians, nurses and General Duties Medical Officers from 2 Rifles, 1 Royal Anglian, 2 Lancs and other Regiments took part, all under the watchful eye of the examining unit, Lancashire-based 3 Medical Regiment. 

Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Meredith, Commanding Officer of 3 Medical Regiment, said: “The ‘care under fire’ scenario is designed to see how medics react whilst attending to a casualty in the middle of a fire fight. Soldiers must apply immediate first aid and then extract the casualty away from the battle, whilst the rest of the group gives covering fire. 

"It’s physically arduous because the wounded individual will usually have around 40kg of kit and equipment with them, and all of that must be carried too.” 

Other tests staged during the fortnight examined their ability to treat conditions as varied as chest infections and gunshot wounds, and to provide care for patients from nothing more than a tent. The overall aim of the exercise has been to ensure medics are ready to deploy anywhere in the world on military operations and exercises.