CJTF-HOA, Tanzania People's Defense Force practice patient evacuation at exercise Justified Accord 2025

MSATA, Tanzania-- U.S. Army soldiers with the East Africa Response Force (EARF), assigned to Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), U.S Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) and the Tanzania People's Defense Force (TPDF) practiced hot and cold loads during day four of multinational exercise Justified Accord (JA25) at the Msata Military Training Base in Msata, Tanzania, Feb. 14, 2024.



By Master Sgt. Andrew Satran Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Msata Military Training Base in Msata, Tanzania Feb 17, 2025
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MSATA, Tanzania-- U.S. Army soldiers with the East Africa Response Force (EARF), assigned to Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), U.S Army  Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) and the Tanzania People's Defense Force (TPDF) practiced hot and cold loads during day four of multinational exercise Justified Accord (JA25) at the Msata Military Training Base in Msata, Tanzania, Feb. 14, 2024. 

During the training, the combined teams practiced securing an area and litter carry for a hot and cold load. 

A hot load refers to a situation where a casualty needs to be medically evacuated in a combat, care-under-fire scenario, where teams must communicate and move together with a sense of urgency in order to get the casualty to a mode of transportation for evacuation. 

Team members must safely, and properly prepare a litter to carry the casualty out of the immediate threat area and get to a safe location to be evacuated. It takes deliberate actions by all the team to coordinate this movement without causing further injury to themselves or the one they are evacuating. 

A cold load differs from a hot load, where a team has more time due to the situation being less volatile; the casualty is not in critical condition, and/or are not in immediate danger with enemy forces. With a cold load, the team has more time to coordinate the movement safely.

While teams practiced securing an area, other teams were tasked to perform the hot or cold load. They worked together, communicating with their partners, the casualty, and eventually flight crew to load the casualty onto a U.S. Marine Corps VM-22 Osprey for safe transport. 

Though there are lots of moving parts to performing these loads, the teams were successful in executing the loads safely and effectively. As JA25 continues to build on capabilities, the communication and teamwork has also been strengthened through the shared purpose of working as one team.

JA25 is the premier U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) exercise in East Africa, designed to enhance multinational combat readiness, strengthen crisis response capabilities and empower allies and partners in the region. Led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) and hosted in Kenya, Djibouti and Tanzania, JA25 integrates high-intensity training scenarios that sharpen warfighting  skills, increase operational reach and enhance the ability to execute complex joint and multinational operations. The exercise runs from Feb. 10–21,  2025. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael Knight)

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