What We Do
The uniforms we wearCadets wear real Navy uniforms and are expected to wear them to the Navy's standards.
Cammies/CUUsThese are Camouflage Utility Uniforms, more commonly known as Cammies or CUUs. They are NOT BDUs! BDU is the term coined by the Army when they wore them and stands for Battle Dress Uniform. These are not considered any kind of dress uniform by the Navy, so the term is not correct.
This uniform is the same for males and females. The Ben Moreell Battalion wears these uniforms for most drills, except in cases where dress uniforms are required. UtilitiesThese are Utilities. They used to be the standard utility uniform of the Navy, but the Navy has switched to the new NWUs (Navy Working Uniform), also called blue digis. Sea Cadet units across the nation are slowly transitioning to the NWUs, but it's a costly change that our unit has yet to make. They are not called Dungarees; those were the precursor to the utilities. They were of a similar design, but made of tougher material with bell bottom jeans.
The uniform is generally the same for males and females, except female utilities button and zip up the opposite way. Military creases will be ironed into these uniforms. Look on the Uniform Resources page for information on how to iron these types of creases as they are different than standard creases. Training ship Nicholas Anderson wear's the utilities for most drills, except those requiring dress uniforms. Dress BluesThe Dress Blue Uniform is worn for occasions requiring formal wear or for most public events. Blues are worn during the colder months, dates determined by region. They can be authorized to be worn year round.
Male cadets wear the standard jumper, neckerchief, dixie cup and thirteen button pants. They are ironed inside out to create "inboard" creases. Female cadets wear the jacket, neck tab, combination cover and slacks. The slacks have standard fore and aft creases in them. Dress WhitesThe Dress White Uniform is worn for summer occasions that require formal uniforms.
This uniform consists of a jumper, neckerchief, cover, and pants. These uniforms are pressed inside out to create "inboard" creases. These uniforms will NEVER have creases down the front of the pants! The male and female uniforms are almost interchangeable, with the only noticeable difference being the covers worn. The females wear their combo covers while the males stick with their dixie cups. |
Some of the activities we doMass Casualty!On January 7th, the Ben Moreell Battalion and T.S. Nicholas Anderson had a class on Combat Life Saving techniques, taught by two active duty Navy Corpsman, HM1(FMF) Falu and HM3(SCW) Alinsunurin. The cadets had a ball learning about the basics of combat medical care and applying the techniques and principals they learned.
The day started out with the standard medical classes, where the cadets learned about pain and the kinens that cause it. After they understood why pain occurs, they moved on to learn how to treat it. The cadets now know how important it is to assess the scene before they rush in to treat the wounded; it is after all, a COMBAT life saver class. Even though the class was based off of material taught to deploying service members, the principles of scene assessment still apply to situations like car accidents and most other scenes where traumatic injuries take place. Next they learned about the acronym DCAPBTLS, which stands for deformities, contusions, abrasion, punctures/penetrations, burns, tenderness, lacerations and swelling. Theses are the different kinds of trauma you look for when assessing a patient. Some of these are worse than others and that is an essential thing to know when conducting basic triage on-the-go. No need to treat someone who is only suffering from road rash before you treat someone with a gaping gut wound! Once they learned how to identify a wound, they learned how to treat it with the basics of direct pressure, elevation, pressure points, or tourniquets. After all of this classroom time teaching the basics, it was time to get some hands on training. Thanks to HM1 and HM3, the cadets were provided with CLS bags (worth roughly $400 each!) full of the same medical supplies issued to personnel in-country. After breaking the bags open and learning about all of the components, cadets partnered up and raced to correctly apply head wraps, pressure bandages, and tourniquets to each other. The pair that finished the fastest won a chance to do something special! After lunch, the cadets started practicing different kinds of carries and learned that the fireman carry, while well-known is NOT the best method for transferring patients as it causes too much trauma to the victim's organs, and is seldom used by corpsmen. They learned about carrying patients on stretchers, two-man carries and buddy drags. After learning the basics they went outside and got a chance to try out all of the carries. Now that the cadets had a good grasp on all of the basics, scene assessment, medical gear, on-scene care, bandage and tourniquet application, and transporting patients, it was time to put it all together. And how better to do that than a mass casualty! With the group divided into two, one half went outside to play the casualties and the other half waited inside while HM1 briefed the "wounded". In order to make things as realistic as possible, Doc instructed them to hold nothing back; they were not to make it easy on the medical personnel, as real trauma patients rarely did. When the group providing medical care rushed out of the classroom to the MAS CAS, the air was filled with screams for help, groans of pain and final gasps of air. All theatrics, of course. Immediately the would-be attendants were struck with what seemed like a stressful reality and dove in to help. There were as many, if not more wounded than combat lifesavers, and most of the patients suffered from several major wounds, ranging from missing feet to gun shot wounds to the buttocks. They assessed patients, treated them, and raced 50 yards back and forth to get them back to safety at the casualty collection point. All in under eight minutes. Both teams had a chance to try and tackle the MAS CAS, and they both came out physically tired but mentally pumped at the end of each round. Everyone did well but learned how important it is to truly understand the aspects of trauma care. The final class of the day was the prize for the two lucky winners of the bandaging contest. PO3 Wagner and cadet Allen were both fortunate enough to win the chance to administer IVs to the instructors! Both got a good stick the first try, nobody got sick from the blood and both instructors got a good does of lactated ringers to beef up their blood! All in a day's work. The cadets of Ben Moreell Battalion and T.S. Nicholas Anderson got a good dose of what Seabees and FMF Corpsmen do during this drill. I wonder what will be on the books for next drill? |