Army medics practice a surgical operation on a mannequin at a temporary field hospital at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. Some 200 reserve soldiers deployed to Germany to build the hospital from Army pre-positioned stock, which had never been done in Europe before. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)

BAUMHOLDER, Germany — U.S. Army medical professionals had spent four years planning an exercise in which reserve soldiers based stateside deploy to Europe and build a temporary field hospital with supplies already stored on the Continent.

Over the past week at Baumholder Army Airfield in rural southwestern Germany, they put those plans into practice, pulling off what organizers said was a first in the process.

“Setting up a hospital isn’t unique, but the ability to do this quickly and thoroughly with modern equipment, the ability to project this power thousands of miles away from where we live, that’s what makes this unique,” said Col. Saul Weinreb, commander of the 810th Hospital Center.

Private 1st Class Walker Bobo tests equipment during a hospital exercise at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. The exercise was part of Defender 24, a series of field training and live-fire exercise in Europe that began in February and has included tens of thousands of American and allied troops. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)

Army medics work with mannequins and live patients during a multi-day hospital exercise at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, in May 2024. Reserve soldiers who practiced life-saving techniques also built the temporary field hospital they worked in. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes )

Earlier this month, some of the roughly 200 reservists conducting the exercise with soldiers from supporting units took three dozen shipping containers of building supplies and medical equipment from a storage facility in Dülmen, moved them by road 100 miles south to Baumholder and, with the remaining reservists, constructed the 32-bed tented facility in under three days, officials said.

The reservists are from various southeastern states and Kansas. They are supporting the 75th Field Hospital, a subordinate of the 810th Hospital Center, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Most arrived in Germany on May 11.

The facility is equipped with an operating room, an X-ray room, an intensive care unit, a blood bank and other amenities to help troops injured on the battlefield.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has highlighted the importance of the exercise, officials at the field hospital said Friday, adding that military medics are drawing lessons from the ongoing conflict.

During a surprise visit on Friday, Maj. Gen. Ronald Ragin, head of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, the lead organization for Army logistics support in Europe, said the war in Ukraine has provided a sobering snapshot of the conditions U.S. military medics may have to face in the future.

“We have to come to terms that large-scale conflict is not easy. It’s messy; it’s lethal,” Ragin said. “And professionals like you have to give our military the best chance of survival.”

Spc. Ny-Kendra Mattox acts as an injured 14-year-old girl during a hospital exercise at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. For the exercise, some 200 reserve soldiers deployed to Germany to build a field hospital from Army pre-positioned stock, which had never been done in Europe before. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes )

The game Operation sits on a shelf at a field hospital at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. Army reserve soldiers built the tented facility in under three days. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and)

U.S. Army medics expose plastic organs during a surgical operation on a mannequin at a temporary field hospital at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)

Medics have worked with mannequins and soldiers acting as live patients during the exercise.

The ability to rapidly deploy U.S.-based soldiers who can construct a field hospital with local supplies and start providing care within days is an important asset for the European theater, according to Col. Anthony King, commander of the Army’s 30th Medical Brigade, based in Germany.

“It builds confidence in those who we support,” King said. “It gives them a will to fight, knowing that we are going to take care of them if they’re ever injured in the field. And it can help them get back to the fight.”

Spc. Jessica Henderson, left, and 1st Lt. David Cooper provide medical care to a mannequin during a hospital exercise at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. The nurses were among roughly 200 reserve soldiers supporting the 75th Field Hospital who deployed from the U.S. to Germany to build a temporary hospital from Army pre-positioned stock. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)

Soldiers secure the perimeter of a temporary field hospital at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)

Operating nurse Capt. Ashley McDaniels identified one challenge related to the supplies pulled from the pre-positioned stock site in Dülmen. “Everything was brand new, still in wrappers, and the issue we had was figuring out where and how things were packaged to open them up in a timely matter,” McDaniels said.

Deconstruction work is scheduled to start Sunday, with the supplies set to return to the Dülmen site. The cost of building the hospital was $2.2 million, according to Army figures.

The hospital exercise is part of Defender 24, a series of field training and live-fire drills in Europe that began in February and has included tens of thousands of American, allied and partner troops.

“You better believe that in the Kremlin, in Moscow, they are paying attention to it. They’re watching us all across the theater,” Ragin said. “I applaud each and every one of you for what you’re doing and the signal that you’re sending back: Don’t mess with NATO.”

Maj. Gen. Ronald Ragin, head of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, speaks to soldiers at Baumholder Army Airfield, Germany, on May 17, 2024. Ragin told the soldiers, who were participating in a hospital exercise, that lessons could be learned from the war in Ukraine. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)