ARMY medics have been honing their skills during a huge training exercise.

The Colchester soldiers practised setting up a medical centre under pressure.

The medics, from 19 Medical Squadron, 16 Medical Regiment, were tested to the limits of their capabilities, and supplies, at the Army Medical Centre in York.

The unit is designed to be transported by air and medics treated simulated casualties for injuries, ranging from gunshot wounds to infected insect bites.

Soldiers were tested with additional pressures including dealing with unexpected power cuts and chemical spills with the exercise culminating in a mass casualty incident designed to test how the medics reacted when there were more patients than it was possible to treat.

Commanding officer major Steve Wignall said: “On operations our role is to provide lifesaving care to casualties from the point of injury and give ongoing treatment until they can be evacuated back to larger and more capable hospitals.

“This exercise is about ensuring our skills are up to speed so that we are ready to deploy.

“Our medics have gone through very thorough training to prepare and have to work within the NHS to keep up their clinical qualifications, train on their military medical role and keep up their soldiering skills.

“We’ve seen the fruits of that training in the dedicated, professional and competent way they’ve handled all that’s been thrown at them.”

The exercise aimed to confirm soldiers were ready to deploy with the army’s rapid reaction team, the Air Assault Task Force.

Combat medical technician private Marcus Preston, 20, worked with the squadron’s ambulance troop, bringing simulated casualties into the treatment facility.

He said: “We’ve been under pressure but I felt well prepared and proud of how I’ve done my job.

“I’ve worked for about six weeks in an NHS hospital over the last year, in both A&E and on wards, and that experience of dealing with real casualties has given me confidence if we do deploy on operations.”

The training exercise took place last week.