thedrifter
10-22-07, 06:22 AM
Born without legs, I’m ‘doing my part’
By Gidget Fuentes - gfuentes@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 29, 2007
SAN DIEGO — As the infantry patrol slowly steps through the quiet village, an ear-piercing blast spits an orange-and-black ball of fire and bits of shrapnel into the air. From the edge of a building echo the piercing screams of a female Marine crawling hand over hand, grasping dirt in hopes of getting to safer ground.
Seconds pass before another Marine and a Navy corpsman rush to the bleeding woman, only to find that a rocket-propelled grenade cut off her legs at the knees.
“Help me!” she screams. “I don’t want to die!”
For a moment, the rescuers freeze, taking in the bloody, chaotic scene, as the loud, staccato firefight rages around them.
“Is it clear?” one Marine yells, then more Marines rush to her side, placing her on a dirty-carpet-turned-makeshift-gurney before carrying her to a nearby house.
“You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine,” the first Marine reassures her. The corpsman quickly applies battle dressings to her shattered legs as she continues to cry out.
However, the wounded woman is an actress, hired as a role player for urban-warfare training exercises at a San Diego movie studio lot designed as a mock Middle Eastern village.
But she’s not just any actress. Johannah Copeland, 23, was born without her legs below her knees. The California brunette has portrayed wounded female civilians as well as insurgents in military training exercises in the region.
Several times that day, Copeland replayed the role, tailoring and adjusting her part as different Camp Pendleton-based platoons moved through the scenario, developed and scripted by Strategic Operations Inc.
Strategic Operations is a tactical training company owned by Hollywood producer Stu Segall. It runs military and law enforcement training it calls “hyper-realism,” combining visual and sound effects into combat tactical training environments.
Recently, the company expanded its services and innovative tactical training sets, at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and other military bases.
Expert trainers, many of them skilled in Hollywood effects and makeup artistry, use simulated wounds to add more stress and realism to the storyline. Bright-red blood spurts through hidden tubes from torn limbs and traumatic wounds. Chipped bones stick through scarred, burned skin.
In Copeland’s case, her stunted legs are hidden by tan camouflage trousers, torn apart to reveal fake, damaged limbs that, at close range, seem like real wounds.
Some Marines and sailors rushing to her aid begin treating her very quickly; others fumble as they try to figure out how to apply dressings or tourniquets to stem the bleeding. Sometimes, she has slipped out of their arms as they struggle to carry her away from the kill zone.
“You don’t know how they’re going to react to it, so every scenario is like a new experience,” said Copeland, catching a short break during a platoon rotation.
Some are taken aback at seeing her “fake” wounds. “It’s really hard to watch that,” she said.
But she’s learned to assess someone’s initial reaction quickly. “You have the veterans who’ve been deployed have flashbacks, and that’s hard to see,” she said.
Once, she said, a corpsman ran to her aid but froze when he saw her injury. She learned later that one of the first real combat casualties he faced in Iraq was a double amputee. Realizing the predicament, she quickly adapted her role to get him to refocus on his immediate task of treating her, she said.
“You have to keep it real,” Copeland said. “It’s always hard. I’m always upset because I understand the guy’s upset.
“Every time I do it, I’m nervous, because you don’t know how the people you’re training are going to be affected by it,” she added.
Still, Copeland said she believes such realism helps prepare Marines and sailors for the realistic stresses of war, despite some strong reactions to her role. “This is as real as you can make it,” she said.
The actress said her role is important to help get Marines and sailors better readied for war.
“I was brought up without legs. This is my way of doing my part,” she said. “I love the Marine Corps, I really do.”
Her role-playing,” she added, “gives me a sense of purpose.”
Ellie
By Gidget Fuentes - gfuentes@militarytimes.com
Posted : October 29, 2007
SAN DIEGO — As the infantry patrol slowly steps through the quiet village, an ear-piercing blast spits an orange-and-black ball of fire and bits of shrapnel into the air. From the edge of a building echo the piercing screams of a female Marine crawling hand over hand, grasping dirt in hopes of getting to safer ground.
Seconds pass before another Marine and a Navy corpsman rush to the bleeding woman, only to find that a rocket-propelled grenade cut off her legs at the knees.
“Help me!” she screams. “I don’t want to die!”
For a moment, the rescuers freeze, taking in the bloody, chaotic scene, as the loud, staccato firefight rages around them.
“Is it clear?” one Marine yells, then more Marines rush to her side, placing her on a dirty-carpet-turned-makeshift-gurney before carrying her to a nearby house.
“You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine,” the first Marine reassures her. The corpsman quickly applies battle dressings to her shattered legs as she continues to cry out.
However, the wounded woman is an actress, hired as a role player for urban-warfare training exercises at a San Diego movie studio lot designed as a mock Middle Eastern village.
But she’s not just any actress. Johannah Copeland, 23, was born without her legs below her knees. The California brunette has portrayed wounded female civilians as well as insurgents in military training exercises in the region.
Several times that day, Copeland replayed the role, tailoring and adjusting her part as different Camp Pendleton-based platoons moved through the scenario, developed and scripted by Strategic Operations Inc.
Strategic Operations is a tactical training company owned by Hollywood producer Stu Segall. It runs military and law enforcement training it calls “hyper-realism,” combining visual and sound effects into combat tactical training environments.
Recently, the company expanded its services and innovative tactical training sets, at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and other military bases.
Expert trainers, many of them skilled in Hollywood effects and makeup artistry, use simulated wounds to add more stress and realism to the storyline. Bright-red blood spurts through hidden tubes from torn limbs and traumatic wounds. Chipped bones stick through scarred, burned skin.
In Copeland’s case, her stunted legs are hidden by tan camouflage trousers, torn apart to reveal fake, damaged limbs that, at close range, seem like real wounds.
Some Marines and sailors rushing to her aid begin treating her very quickly; others fumble as they try to figure out how to apply dressings or tourniquets to stem the bleeding. Sometimes, she has slipped out of their arms as they struggle to carry her away from the kill zone.
“You don’t know how they’re going to react to it, so every scenario is like a new experience,” said Copeland, catching a short break during a platoon rotation.
Some are taken aback at seeing her “fake” wounds. “It’s really hard to watch that,” she said.
But she’s learned to assess someone’s initial reaction quickly. “You have the veterans who’ve been deployed have flashbacks, and that’s hard to see,” she said.
Once, she said, a corpsman ran to her aid but froze when he saw her injury. She learned later that one of the first real combat casualties he faced in Iraq was a double amputee. Realizing the predicament, she quickly adapted her role to get him to refocus on his immediate task of treating her, she said.
“You have to keep it real,” Copeland said. “It’s always hard. I’m always upset because I understand the guy’s upset.
“Every time I do it, I’m nervous, because you don’t know how the people you’re training are going to be affected by it,” she added.
Still, Copeland said she believes such realism helps prepare Marines and sailors for the realistic stresses of war, despite some strong reactions to her role. “This is as real as you can make it,” she said.
The actress said her role is important to help get Marines and sailors better readied for war.
“I was brought up without legs. This is my way of doing my part,” she said. “I love the Marine Corps, I really do.”
Her role-playing,” she added, “gives me a sense of purpose.”
Ellie