Moulage enhances realism during base exercises

  • Published
  • By Carl Grusnick
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Kirtland Air Force Base, NM --  You don't have to be a Hollywood film producer to understand that if you want a convincing production, the setting has to look genuine. As any movie fan will quickly add, the scene has to look realistic; otherwise, it's a yawner.
Although Kirtland AFB is not Hollywood, that same sense of realism is required, and is present, during base exercises to enhance role-play and urgency for emergency responders.
With more than 15 years of emergency medical technician experience under his belt, Tech. Sgt. Carlos Rios has responded to many incidents requiring life-saving medical skills, both real and practice. Actual incidents are real enough, he said, but for exercises, graphic supplements are always welcome.
"I've done exercises where a victim has a 3x5 card placed on him detailing the injury. You go, "OK," and get to work treating the injury. But when you arrive on-scene and the victim has been 'moulaged' with the visual impact of a real injury, "You feel your heart start to pump faster and get that quick-pulse adrenaline rush, like the real thing. You focus and treat the simulation like an authentic injury."
The genuine feeling of the real thing extends beyond the EMT to the mock patients and the other responders. The moulage produces exercise realism by heightening the stress load in the responders nearer to that of the real thing.
"You can even see the excited looks in the eyes of the Security Forces personnel and others that are on scene," Sgt. Rios said.
The concept of moulage, applying mock injuries for training emergency response teams, is common. It may be a simple as applying pre-made rubber/latex "wounds" to otherwise healthy "patients" or as complicated as using complex theatrical makeup techniques to give a higher level of realism to the exercise and responders.
The concept of using makeup for emergency simulation is not new. Dating to at least the Renaissance period, and probably having roots in the first face paint applied to our rock-tossing ancestors, who used it to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies.
Having been a moulage artist in addition to his EMT duties, Tech Sgt. Rios takes special pride in recreating the real thing, adding a realistic stress load to the exercise role players.
"Moulage really brings the exercise to life," he said.