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Camp Pendleton ‘docs’ train ahead of deployment to Australia

December 13, 2025

With conflicts in the future anticipated to be more likely along island chains in the Indo-Pacific, one of the things Camp Pendleton corpsmen are training for is to be prepared to have to keep their patients alive in more remote locations until more help arrives.

A fictional drone attack this week during the I Marine Expeditionary Force’s Steel Knight exercise, all part of preparations for an upcoming deployment to Australia, had the Marine “docs” training on techniques for mass casualty situations where they would need to care for and evacuate a large number of patients. The two-week Steel Knight, held across multiple military installations in California and Arizona, has included units from the Navy and the Air Force and involved training for amphibious invasions, protecting embassies, evacuating hostages and other scenarios.

U.S. Sailors with 4th Medical Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, and Airmen with 920th Rescue Wing, transport a simulated patient as part of a joint mass casualty training event involving U.S. Marines, Sailors, and Airmen during exercise Steel Knight 25 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Dec. 6, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Nikolas Mascroft)

“In the past, as corpsmen, we were taught to keep the patient alive for an hour,” said Hospital Corpsman Second Class Claudia Estelle, who helped oversee planning for the exercise. “Now, we don’t know how quick we can get them out.”

If there is fighting in the Indo-Pacific, smaller units will likely have to navigate dense jungles, access island chains and face survival challenges in a maritime area with limited expectations for supply chains. In prior conflicts, such as the Middle East, Marines had a robust infrastructure and air superiority, allowing helicopters and aircraft to more quickly assist, Marine officials said.

The corpsmen, who are attached to Combat Logistic Battalion 5 and will deploy with hundreds of Marines to Australia early next year, helped Marines evacuate the fictional wounded, all the while working through protocols for treating combat casualties and ensuring critical life-threatening injuries are addressed first.

“It makes sure we’re not missing injuries, so we can catch things early on,” Estelle said.

U.S. Marines and Sailors with Combat Logistics Battalion 5, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, and U.S. Navy corpsmen with 4th Medical Battalion, 4th MLG, load a litter with a simulated patient onto an MV-22B Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 364, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, during a simulated mass casualty training event as part of exercise Steel Knight 25 on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Dec. 10, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Ryan Ramsammy)

The mass casualty scenarios also included pilots and crew from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, who trained to fly patients out of the combat zone, while the corpsmen treated patients in-flight.

Injuries simulated everything from missing limbs and concussions, Estelle said.

“On the birds, we had two to three corpsmen treating the patients and making sure they had everything they needed to stay alive on the flight until they got to a bigger hospital setting,” Estelle said.

One larger care setting was simulated at the Camp Pendleton Air Station; the second was at North Island, Coronado, which mimicked being on the USNS Mercy, a hospital ship with a much greater capacity for care.

“The most challenging part during a mass casualty is to not get tunnel vision,” said Hospital Corpsman Second Class Isabel Maldanado, of San Diego, who has been in the Navy for 11 years. “There’s so much going on around you, especially when triaging patients, and you have to make tough choices on who you’re going to save and who you have to let go.”

“Nothing can prepare you for that,” she added, “but having a good team around you can help you stay focused and grounded.”

Lt. Col. Dan Katzman is the Combat Logistics Battalion 5 commanding officer and will oversee the Marines and sailors when they deploy as part of the 5th Marine Regiment’s Marine Air Ground Task Force to Australia’s base in Darwin in early 2026.

The unit is tasked with all things logistics, including transportation, supply, maintenance and health support. In addition to training with partner nations, the deployed Marines would also respond to natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes.

The mass-casualty event depicted in this week’s training was a “worst-case scenario.” More typical are day-to-day needs like a twisted ankle or routine health issues, he said, in which corpsmen or a Navy doctor assist Marines in the field.

Also, the Marines and sailors deploying to Darwin are there for crisis response should a conflict arise.

“If something happens, we’re the most ready element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force to respond to potential adversaries,” Katzman said. “Unless there’s a Marine Expeditionary Unit out there, we’re the closest to respond to whatever the crisis is.”

Simulated casualties board a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 364, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, during a simulated mass casualty training event as part of exercise Steel Knight 25 on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Dec. 10, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Ryan Ramsammy)

That’s why, before deployment, Katzman said the Marines and sailors are trained and certified to ensure they can perform in a realistic, challenging environment.

“We have to make sure if we had to move from Australia to a response at another location in Australia or somewhere in the Indo-Pacific, that we can pick up and get the medical capability established and provide care as quickly as possible,” he added. “So, the better trained they are, the more they exceed expectations for those standards for that certification, the better the chance that if something happens, they’ll be able to save lives.”

Camp Pendleton ‘docs’ train ahead of deployment to Australia Orange County Register

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