Instructor: Blair Dell

Blair Dell HMCS (FMF/MCD/PJ) USN (Ret.) will the returning as the lead instructor for the MSTOA Tactical Medicine Tract. With over two decades of experience in Special Operations Medicine as a member of Marine Reconnaissance and Marine Special Operations Command through four combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan he brings a wealth of knowledge to the course. He has taught tactical medicine around the world and has extensive experience orienting topics towards what is most relevant to his students.

After retiring as a Senior Chief in the US Navy in 2016, he is now a member of the Washington State Patrol SWAT Team. He also works as a private consultant and instructor for several companies.

His exploits have recently been documented in the History Chanel’s series The Warfighters and his personal awards include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal (4 awards and ”V”), Combat Action Ribbon with gold star.

Instructor: Marc Reiswig

Leading this year’s new Medical Director Course is Marc Reiswig, MD. With over two decades of Emergency Medicine experience, Dr. Reiswig is a leading subject matter expert on Operational Medicine in the Pacific Northwest.

Currently serving as the Medical Director for the Washington State Patrol and lead medic for their SWAT team he deploys on missions as well as provides medical training and oversight. In addition to actively practicing in a local trauma designated hospital, he has served as the Medical Director for local EMS agencies. He also travels throughout the region providing training to law enforcement and other first responders. His training and consultant efforts cover the spectrum from point of injury care, through extended care as well as LE specific issues such as the development of functional Narcan programs for officers.

Dr. Reiswig started his career in Emergency Medicine in Louisiana in the mid-‘90s during a time when that area had the highest violent crime rate per capita in the country. He gained extensive experience treating penetrating wounds and other violence-related trauma. He also served as a Flight Physician where he was deployed to the field in helicopters to stabilize and treat the most seriously injured or ill patients and then transport them to the appropriate treatment centers. In addition to serving Louisiana in this role, his helicopter crew served the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico in a prolonged field care capacity.

The American Red Cross has awarded him the “Real Hero” award for specific lifesaving actions he has done. Dr. Reiswig has been regularly recognized by the state of Washington for his extensive volunteer efforts as well. His passionate and dynamic approach to bringing agencies and individuals together at multiple levels is a welcome addition to this year's training.

Marc and the rest of the MSTOA Medical Cadre are very enthusiastic to interact and work with the members of Mountain State Tactical and First Responder communities!

Instructor: Tyler Verhaar

Joining us this year as an assistant instructor for the Medical Tract of MSTOA is Officer Tyler Verhaar.

Currently serving as the EMS Coordinator for Seattle PD as well as a tactical medic on the US Marshal Violent Offender Taskforce, Tyler’s dynamic approach to training is parallel only by his passion to ensure all First Responders have the knowledge necessary to excel and keep names off the wall.

Having been a police officer for 10 years in the Pacific Northwest, Tyler started his career with Salem Police Department. While there, he worked as a Mobile Response Team operator, K9 handler, and created the Tactical Medicine Program for the department. Tyler lateraled to the Seattle Police Department in 2014 where he created and leads the Law Enforcement Casualty Care course. Tyler is also a pistol, rifle and tactics instructor on the Advanced Training Unit.

In 2012 Tyler was awarded the Salem Police Department Life Saving Award, Distinguished Service Award, Oregon Police Officers Association Life Saving Award, Distinguished Service Award, and the Oregon State Sheriffs Association Life Saving Award for heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty that resulted in the management of a kinetic threat while successfully treating a fellow officer who was shot in the torso.

Travelling extensively, Officer Verhaar excels at bringing reality-based training to police departments and fire departments alike. His recent efforts to develop Rescue Task Force Protocols throughout the region will be spotlighted and shared at MSTOA. He and the rest of the cadre look forward to the opportunity to work with the motivated members of the Mountain States Tactical and First Responder Community.

Operational Medicine

MSTOA

Mountain States Tactical Officers Association

Course Description:

Given last year’s success along with the overwhelming requests and input regarding this year’s event there will be three courses offered within the Medical Tract.

#1: Operational Medicine Course. This will be similar to last year’s course and will consist of a comprehensive didactic and hands on approach to the three phases of “Good Medicine-Bad Places”: Care Under Fire, Tactical Field Care and Tactical Evacuation Care. These phases will be presented in a method that crosses all spectrums of execution to include Law Enforcement, military, as well as the EMS/Fire interaction as it relates to the Rescue Task Force environment. This course is oriented to first time attendees of the MSTOA Medical Tract. There are no pre-qualifications to attend, rather we encourage a training environment that ranges from new team members with little to no medical knowledge all the way up to senior medics and staff as it creates exceptional peer oriented and relevant discussions that all will benefit from. There has been significant interest in this course, please reserve your seat early!

#2: Train the Trainer Course. This is available only to students who attended last year’s MSTOA medical tract that want to return and build their capability to build a similar medical training program within their own department. Students will work along with the standard course to brush up on their own skills. At several points they will break off and learn the principles of adult learning, how to build their own moulage as well as the ins and outs of procurement, grants, logistics and execution of solid operational medicine courses. At several points students will be coached and supervised as they provide evaluation in hands on exercises. NOTE: There will be a separate $50 fee for this course to cover the cost of moulage fabrication kits that the students will keep at the end of the course as well as any moulage they create.

#3 Medical Director Course. A first for this environment, MSTOA would like to encourage Medical Directors that currently oversee or are soon to take over a SWAT or other type of operational medicine/TACMED/TEMS program. The intent of this course is to provide the Doctors and Physician Assistants who fill these critical roles an opportunity to sit in on either of the above courses with several facilitated discussions and lectures with directors from around the country with very successful programs. Students in this course will be expected to participate in all practical application exercises to the level of their comfort and capability only. NOTE: If attendees do not possess the tactical equipment listed in the course outline and gear list please contact the lead instructor at no later than April 23rd to coordinate loaner equipment in your size (i.e. helmet, ballistic armor, etc.)

All of these sub courses of the Medical Tract will utilize facilitated discussions, drills and scenarios, oriented towards the unique challenges of providers and responders in an austere environment with prolonged evacuation times. Scenarios and practical exercises will be based on documented cases of real world events which will enable productive debrief points from all involved. Every one hour block of instruction will incorporate new material, lessons learned, class discussion and hands on evolutions.

Participants will be required to bring full tactical load out to every day of training, starting Training Day 1. This will include all gear you would respond to a call out with including (but not limited to) body armor, helmet, weapons (no ammo except on the range), standard communications/radios, personal medical kit (IFAK, blow out kit, etc.), as well as any advanced medical or rescue equipment you would normally respond with. The intent is to incorporate the tools you actually work with into your practical exercises while providing exposure to other options to consider new SOPs and techniques. Every opportunity will be seized to make this as realistic as possible. Be prepared for physically tiring training days and to incorporate your own hard earned experiences into team discussion formats.

The ultimate goal of this evolution is for all involved to walk away with a better appreciation of their capabilities in the event of a casualty, confident that they will have the means to be there for their team mates when it counts. Each participant will be challenged in their current methodology and will return to their agency ready to question the status quo and improve their capabilities as well!

The MSTOA Medical Cadre looks forward to seeing you at the training and welcome any questions you may have in advance to ensure you show up ready to maximize this opportunity.