Moulage provides realistic training for Wolf Pack

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jonathan Fowler
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  The 8th Fighter Wing began its first exercise of the new year, Beverly Midnight 13-1, Jan. 13. The Wolf Pack strives to make the exercises as realistic as possible to ensure personnel will respond to scenarios appropriately.

Part of what makes that happen, is having skilled moulage artists such as Staff Sgt. Jennifer Lively, 8th Medical Group.

Lively uses clay, putty and various paints to make realistic simulated wounds. These are applied to 8th FW role players for various scenarios. The realistic look of the wounds allows base personnel, such as members of the 8th Security Forces Squadron, to identify and treat wounds as if they were real.

"The moulaged wounds are very helpful in training and preparing our defenders for real-world situations and allowing us to assess their skills more accurately," Master Sgt. Robert Hollenbaugh, 8th SFS installation security superintendent. "It helps them practice self-aid and buddy care in a more realistic manner."

Creating the realistic wounds takes a lot of effort and skill and requires various types of training.

"It took a lot of on-the job-training," Lively explained. "It was a couple of months before I got the hang of it. Moulage is not as easy as it looks."

"Realistic wound reproductions improve training retention, recognition of specific injury types, reaction and treatment times. Moulage is an invaluable tool for training military medics," said Lt. Col. Ginger Miller, 8th Medical Group deputy commander .

Moulage artists work days and nights to ensure the wound effects are accurate, including having spurting blood. This is just one of the many tools the Wolf Pack uses to create realistic and accurate exercise scenarios.