Saint Louis Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills: A Collaborative Air Force–Civilian Trauma Skills Training Program

Lethal weaponry and tactics used by enemy forces in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have resulted in complex multisystem injury patterns among US allied military personnel engaged in combat operations. Military medical personnel deployed in support of these campaigns have had to maintain a high degree of clinical skill to effectively render care to wounded combatants, a necessity that has been challenged by a lack of training opportunities within the military health care system. Medical components across the military have formed partnerships with civilian institutions to form programs such as the Saint Louis Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, in which medical personnel from active and reserve components are able to obtain and build skills needed to respond to contingencies that may arise both abroad and within the homeland.