Training and Education Command

 

Training and Education Command

United States Marine Corps

Quantico, VA
Depot ATCs earn recognition in national awareness month

By Lance Cpl. Brian Kester | | March 5, 2004

MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- National Athletic Trainers Month, an event created to bring awareness to the profession, will kick off with a new theme this month, Injury Treatment: Early care speeds recovery.

With a theme that supports the military lifestyle and Depot Certified Athletic Trainers in speeding the recovery of recruits and permanent personnel alike, promoting awareness is a welcome acknowledgment for those involved in this profession.

According to the National Athletic Trainer's Association Web site, www.nata.org, ATCs are unique healthcare providers who specialize in the prevention, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses that occur among athletes and anyone who is physically active.

Most service members will need help from an ATC at one time or another. With one ATC for 4th RTBn. and two more splitting duty between 1st, 2nd and 3rd RTBns., the recruit training regiments and any permanent personnel have access to the services of these preventative and rehabilitative medicine specialists.

"What we do as athletic trainers here is not that much dissimilar from what is done in the traditional setting," said Anne Curry, certified athletic trainer attached to 4th RTBn. Aid Station. "I will say that the setting is different, but the goals and the outcome are the same. [Anyone with] muscular skeletal injuries is sent to the athletic trainers and we evaluate, treat if necessary, and consult with the battalion medical officers. That is very similar to what we do in the high school or collegiate training rooms."

As the role of athletic trainers grows in importance, so should the awareness, according to NATA.

"Athletic trainers are almost a secret profession in a way," said Al Green, the Chair of Public Relations for NATA. "We have already seen improvement through [past] efforts. It is really a grass roots campaign, where we are educating people one by one through local programs."

However, the ATCs' techniques are no secret to the Marine Corps. They are commonplace amongst the aches and pains associated with the rigorous physical strain of recruit training.

"During the [recruit training] cycle, if you are broken then you come here," said Vincent A. Mancini, 3rd Battalion Aid Station and Special Training Company Certified Athletic Trainer. His  job deals with most of the recruits and permanent personnel who are in need of specialized care, such as, the Physical Conditioning, Medical Rehabilitation, Basic Marine and Evaluation and Holding Platoons.

"We let them know what is going on with their bodies," said Mancini. "We describe it to them in terms that they can understand. They think it is the end of the world because it only happens to them, but we let them know that we've seen it before and we know how to treat it."

With all of the possibilities of injury associated with physical activity, ATCs are essential in this constant training environment. They get the service members back in action and physically ready to take on all that is required of them.

"We work on health-related fitness and combat-related fitness," said Tim Bockelman, physical fitness advisor. "Marines are warrior athletes and they need to be in shape to do combat-related tasks."

Getting Marines ready for those kinds of activities means training, and the ATCs are there to find ways to optimize that training to keep it aggressive and robust, while decreasing the risk of injuries, said Bockelman.

"We assist in primary prevention," said Curry. "The ATCs will attend and observe physical training sessions. The point being so they can relay to the drill instructors what preventative steps can be taken to reduce the number of injuries that are occurring."

As important a job as it is to anyone who has experienced physical injuries, it is still a hidden profession to most. That lack of awareness is the focus of National Athletic Trainers Month.

"We have been called waterboy and towelboy," said Mancini. "This helps recognize who we are and what we do. Athletic trainers have been around since the 70s and have been fighting ever since to be recognized as qualified people."