Saturday, May 11, 2019

Filipino soldiers undergo trauma management training under British experts

From the Manila Bulletin (May 10, 2019): Filipino soldiers undergo trauma management training under British experts

Officers and enlisted personnel from the Philippine Army’s Light Reaction Regiment, First Scout Ranger Regiment, Special Forces Regiment (Airborne), 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division, 6th Infantry Division, and the 11th Infantry Division, participated in a Trauma Risk Management Training (TRiM) to help train Army personnel on operational stress management.

Philippine Army (PA) Spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon P. Zagala, said the TRiM, which began on April 24, concluded at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, on Thursday, May 9.



(PHILIPPINE ARMY / MANILA BULLETIN)

He said a total of 16 officers and 18 enlisted personnel participated in the two-week long training.

Zagala said the TRiM was made possible through the assistance of the British Royal Marines as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government of the Republic of the Philippines and the government of the United Kingdom of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland which provides joint training, exchange of trainees and instructors, and information on training related matters.

He said the activity is a series of training for the members of the PA launched in September last year. It covered three phases namely: Policy Formulation Phase, Pilot Training Phase and Trainer’s Training Phase.

Zagala said the request for the training stemmed from the Marawi siege and other previous conflicts that happened in the country.

“This cooperation between the Philippines and the United Kingdom aims to empower our soldiers to help fellow soldiers in need,” Zagala said in a press statement.

“This (cooperation) will benefit those who face personal challenges after a conflict so they may be able to return to their normal lives,” he added.

Zagala said the PA earlier extended an invitation to Col. Mike Page, the British Attaché to the Philippines, to train Army personnel on operational stress management after experiencing the five-month Marawi siege in 2017.

The Marawi siege, it was recalled, was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, that started on May 23, 2017, between military and police forces against militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf Groups.

Marawi City was later recaptured by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on October 23, 2017. More than 1,000 government troops, militants and civilians were killed as a result of the conflict.

He said acting as instructors and subject matter experts, British marine and navy service members trained selected officers and enlisted personnel of the PA in order to assist them in the conduct of the TRiM.

The British Royal Marines explained that the TRiM was a psychological support tool of the Operational Stress Management that deals with potential stressors the military face in the line of their duty.

Included in the stressors are the high-intensity operations, unpleasant role such as body handling, involvement in previous trauma, threat of injury or death to self, high-frequency deployments, constant bombardment and death of colleague.

“The Philippine Army aims to capacitate its troops to apply peer-delivered combat stress assessment in helping the early identification of soldiers at risk of combat trauma thus designating them with appropriate professional help as soon as possible,” Zagala said.

Zagala said in the previously concluded Phase III of TRiMP, a debriefing was conducted by the British Royal Marines where they tackled the challenges the trainees faced as they applied what they learned in Phase II of the training program.

Phase III of the training, according to Zagala, also discussed the areas of improvement the TRiMP teams need to face so they can deliver the best trauma risk management to soldiers.

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