During his visit to Skövde Garrison on 29 March, the Minister for Defence, Sten Tolgfors, was given the chance to take part in a demonstration of qualified medical attention. The Logistics Regiment’s 1st Logistics Battalion, the unit that over the course of the summer and autumn will make the transition to becoming the Logistics Battalion in the Nordic Battlegroup, NBG, performed the demonstration on a bleak practice ground on the outskirts of Skövde.
In the field hospital, the Minister for Defence found himself in the thick of things as the wounded soldier was attended to by the surgical team.
“The first thing that happens is that it is assessed what level of prioritisation for continued care the wounded soldier should have, which is called Triage,” explains the medic Oscar Nilsson who figures as a surgeon in the demonstration.
Oscar is one of the conscripts in the Logistics Battalion who has chosen to continue in the NBG immediately after military service. His comrades Erika Palm and Axel Eriksson have the same plans and Erika explains that she feels secure and confident with the training she has received and that she hopes that the unit has the opportunity to perform a military operation abroad.
“What I’m most impressed by is the motivation of the soldiers, they really get stuck into the task,” says Sten Tolgfors candidly.
He also explains that the NBG has been completely central to the regeneration of the Swedish defence:
“What we learnt from NBG 08 is now the foundation, not only for NBG 11, but for the entire new armed forces with high availability, high adaptation and high competence,” says Tolgfors.
Lieutenant Colonel Niclas Wetterberg is the Commander of the Logistics Battalion:
“We have an eventful period ahead of us with a lot of training and exercises within fairly demanding personnel and time frames, but there is no doubt that when the period of preparedness starts in January 2011, the Logistics Battalion will be ready for action as a well-functioning resource in the Nordic Battlegroup,” says Wetterberg.
“It’ll be extremely important for both the soldiers in the NBG and their relatives that the chain of medical attention works. To have a resource such as this shows that we’re prepared to take risks in order to protect others,” concludes the Minister for Defence.