text:
Tactical Combat Casualty Care course delivers one standard to SOF medics
With more and more European partner nation Special Operation Forces (SOF) participating in ISAF operations, having medical personnel available to save the lives of wounded personnel in austere and sometimes dangerous environments is of critical importance.
By By Master Sgt. Donald Sparks SOCEUR Public AffairsAug 26, 2011
25 photos: Croatian SOF medics evacuate a simulated casualty to safety as a Hungarian Special Forces medic evaluates their performance as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, C
Photo 1 of 25: Croatian SOF medics evacuate a simulated casualty to safety as a Hungarian Special Forces medic evaluates their performance as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A U.S. Army Special Forces medical sergeant assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), observes a Romanian Special Forces medic conduct first aid on a simulated wounded troop.
Photo 2 of 25: A U.S. Army Special Forces medical sergeant assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), observes a Romanian Special Forces medic conduct first aid on a simulated wounded troop as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A team of multinational Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine hurries evacuates simulated casualties to a Croatian Mi-17 helicopter during a Field Training Exercise as par
Photo 3 of 25: A team of multinational Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine hurries evacuates simulated casualties to a Croatian Mi-17 helicopter during a Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces Medic provides security following an ambush as a Croatian Mi-17 aircraft flies overhead during a Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC)
Photo 4 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces Medic provides security following an ambush as a Croatian Mi-17 aircraft flies overhead during a Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks) Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Romanian Special Forces medic, left, wraps a bandage around the head of a wounded prisoner as a Hungarian Special Forces medic provides security during their Field Training Exercise as part of the T
Photo 5 of 25: A Romanian Special Forces medic, left, wraps a bandage around the head of a wounded prisoner as a Hungarian Special Forces medic provides security during their Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Romanian, left, and Lithuanian Special Forces Medic, right, debates over the best method to evacuate simulated casualties to safety during the Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat
Photo 6 of 25: A Romanian, left, and Lithuanian Special Forces Medic, right, debates over the best method to evacuate simulated casualties to safety during the Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Latvian Special Forces medic conducts first aid on a simulated casualty with limited visibility during the Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care course.
Photo 7 of 25: A Latvian Special Forces medic conducts first aid on a simulated casualty with limited visibility during the Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A team of multinational Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine undergo extreme stress inoculation from U.S. SOF medical personnel during their Field Training Exercise as pa
Photo 8 of 25: A team of multinational Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine undergo extreme stress inoculation from U.S. SOF medical personnel during their Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Lithuanian, center, and Croatian Special Forces medic, left, render first aid to a simulated casualty as part of a limited visibility scenario during the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course
Photo 9 of 25: A Lithuanian, center, and Croatian Special Forces medic, left, render first aid to a simulated casualty as part of a limited visibility scenario during the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Romanian Special Forces medic, left, and a U.S. Army physician assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group evaluates a multinational team of SOF medics as they render first aid to a simulat
Photo 10 of 25: A Romanian Special Forces medic, left, and a U.S. Army physician assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group evaluates a multinational team of SOF medics as they render first aid to a simulated casualty to safety as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer ���¢à photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, right, prepares a simulated casualty for aerial evacuation while a Romanian Special Forces medic, left, provides security as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care
Photo 11 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, right, prepares a simulated casualty for aerial evacuation while a Romanian Special Forces medic, left, provides security as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A team of Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine hurries across a field to take a simulated casualty to an awaiting aircraft during the Tactical Combat Casualty Care course
Photo 12 of 25: A team of multinational Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine hurries across an open field to take a simulated casualty to an awaiting aircraft during a Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces medic inserts a catheter into a simulated casualty as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia.
Photo 13 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces medic inserts a catheter into a simulated casualty as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A U.S. Army physician, right, assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group provides â?motivationnâ? to a Hungarian Special Forces medic as he renders first aid to a simulated casualty as par
Photo 14 of 25: A U.S. Army physician, right, assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group motivates a Hungarian Special Forces medic as he renders first aid to a simulated casualty as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks) Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, left, and a U.S. Army Special Forces medical sergeant assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), evaluates a multinational team of SOF medics as
Photo 15 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, left, and a U.S. Army Special Forces medical sergeant assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), evaluates a multinational team of SOF medics as they prepare to move a simulated casualty to safety as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces Medic, right, directs the evacuation of a simulated casualty to safety to his Romanian SOF medic counterpart during the Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Comba
Photo 16 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces Medic, right, directs the evacuation of a simulated casualty to safety to his Romanian SOF medic counterpart during the Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Croatian Special Forces Medic provides hand and arm signals to land a Mi-17 aircraft to pick up simulated casualties during a Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC
Photo 17 of 25: A Croatian Special Forces Medic provides hand and arm signals to land a Mi-17 aircraft to pick up simulated casualties during a Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks) Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, standing, evaluates a multinational team of Romanian, Latvian and Croatian SOF medics as they prepare to move a simulated casualty to safety as part of the Tactical C
Photo 18 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, standing, evaluates a multinational team of Romanian, Latvian and Croatian SOF medics as they prepare to move a simulated casualty to safety as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, right, prepares a simulated casualty for aerial evacuation as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care.
Photo 19 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, right, prepares a simulated casualty for aerial evacuation while a Romanian Special Forces medic, left, provides security as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
Photo 20 of 25: A Romanian Special Forces medic, left, wraps a bandage around the head of a wounded prisoner as a Hungarian Special Forces medic provides security during their Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Special Forces medic from Latvia obtains vascular access on a simulated casualty as part of conducting in flight medical aid during the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course.
Photo 21 of 25: A Special Forces medic from Latvia obtains vascular access on a simulated casualty as part of conducting in flight medical aid during the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces medic wraps a bandage around a simulated casualty to prepare for aerial evacuation as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S.
Photo 22 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces medic wraps a bandage around a simulated casualty to prepare for aerial evacuation as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, left, and a Romanian Special Forces medic prepare to render first aid to a simulated casualty as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbin
Photo 23 of 25: A Hungarian Special Forces medic, left, and a Romanian Special Forces medic prepare to render first aid to a simulated casualty as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A team of multinational Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine hurries evacuates a simulated casualty to a Croatian Mi-17 helicopter during a Field Training Exercise as par
Photo 24 of 25: A team of multinational Special Operations Forces medics from Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine hurries evacuates a simulated casualty to a Croatian Mi-17 helicopter during a Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
25 photos: A Croatian Special Forces medic provides first aid on a simulated casualty with limited visibility as an instructor â? from 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) motivatessâ? him on dur
Photo 25 of 25: A Croatian Special Forces medic provides first aid on a simulated casualty with limited visibility as an instructor from 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) motivatessâ? him on during the Field Training Exercise as part of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course held in Udbina, Croatia. U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of SOF medics from eight NATO and partner nations, but most importantly, to incorporate one recognized standard for managing trauma on the battlefield. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR Public Affairs Officer â? photo approved for public release by Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, SOCEUR PAO). Download full-resolution version
With more and more European partner nation Special Operation Forces (SOF) participating in ISAF operations, having medical personnel available to save the lives of wounded personnel in austere and sometimes dangerous environments is of critical importance. Medical personnel, regardless of nation, must be trained in and armed with the appropriate medical equipment and procedures corresponding to each level of care and perform to the same standards.
As a result, the U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) developed and conducted a Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) Train-the-Trainer course to enhance the SOF capability and interoperability of the participating nations, but most importantly, incorporate one recognize standard for managing trauma on the battlefield.
Over a two-week period in May at Zemunik Air Base at Zadar, Croatia, 17 medics from Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Ukraine received expanded medical and trauma care training from U.S. medical personnel from 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and 352nd Special Operations Group (SOG).
According to Lt. Col. Mark Ervin, SOCEUR Surgeon, after feedback from several multinational events and deployments that SOCEUR components participated in, it was clear that while all the participants were familiar with the principles taught as part of TCCC, there were differences in how those principles were applied.
"These differing standards led to less effective care when the injured combatant most needed rapid medical treatment," Ervin said. "
SOCEUR's goal in organizing the TCCC Train-the-Trainer course was to provide its partner nation SOF medics with the knowledge and skills required to instruct others in providing medical care in a combat environment following the guidelines and protocols of TCCC.
Although TCCC started as an initiative by U.S. Special Operations Command, it is now used by all services in the U.S. military, conventional as well as SOF community. It is also now used by most allied countries and has been credited as a major factor in U.S. forces having the highest casualty survival rate in our history according to United States Army Institute of Surgical Research.
"This event gave a multinational group of experienced combat trauma care instructors a common course of instruction approved by the official internationally recognized Committee on TCCC," Ervin said. "This regularly updated and reviewed program can now be used to bring all SOF operators and medics into compliance with an internationally recognized standard."
The initial proposal to conduct the course took place in October 2010 where members of the SOCEUR Medical Directorate briefed the Croatian Ministry of Defense on the concept of the TCCC and presented a formal request to conduct the event there. Over a five-month period, several planning conferences took place to gather input from the partner nations and to establish a common framework for the event.
"When we first starting discussing TCCC training with our partner nations, it became clear that certification from an internationally recognized body was critically important," Ervin said. "We entered discussions with the committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) which resulted in defined criteria for approval of international TCCC courses to be certified by the CoTCCC and the naming of two experience TCCC instructors based in Europe to serve as validating officials."
The CoTCCC's mission is to advise the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the Service Surgeons General about battlefield trauma care for wounded warriors. The committee is responsible for making changes and updates to the TCCC program. The training objectives of the SOCEUR-sponsored event centered on the three definitive phases of TCCC:
Care under Fire: Care rendered at the scene of the injury while both the medic and the casualty are under hostile fire. Available medical equipment is limited to that carried by each operator and the medic;
Tactical Field Care: Rendered once the casualty is no longer under hostile fire. Medical equipment is still limited to that carried into the field by mission personnel. Time prior to evacuation may range from a few minutes to many hours; and
Tactical Evacuation Care (TACEVAC): Rendered while the casualty is evacuated to a higher echelon of care. Any additional personnel and medical equipment pre-staged in these assets will be available during this phase.
Training objectives included tourniquet application/hemorrhage control, needle decompression, patient movement/splinting, nasopharyngeal (NPA) airway insertion, MEDEVAC request/9-Line and rotary wing/loading procedures. Also, the participants had to be able to evaluate each other, design their own scenarios and perform other instructor skills so that they would be able to return their own units able to teach on their own.
Ervin specifically highlighted the importance of having interoperable protocols for tactical field medical care as wounded personnel may likely be treated by medical personnel from a different nation.
"With the diverse coalition contributing to ISAF, it is possible that a casualty will be seen by a combat first responder, medic, CASEVAC crew and physician that all come from different countries," Ervin said. "A standardized protocol of field trauma care, such as TCCC, insures the injured combatant that despite the differences in language, everyone caring for him will be able to perform the most appropriate procedures and communicate using the 'language' of TCCC."
As a lead instructor of the event, MSgt. Will A. Ward, noncommissioned officer in charge of Medical Operations, 352nd SOG, used his prior TCCC training to bring an air of realism to the participants, especially including "stress inoculation" during the field training exercise (FTX). The concept of "stress inoculation" is derived from a common principle in TCCC which is, care on the battlefield is almost never under good conditions.
During the FTX the participants were exposed to stressful factors that could influence battlefield casualty care such as enemy fire (the number one factor that determines when and how much care can be provided), darkness, terrain, environmental factors, limited medical equipment, evacuation times and platforms (aerial) based primarily on the tactical situation at the time of the evacuation. They underwent several training lanes in which they were evaluated for their ability to make timely life care decisions under duress.
"Exposing students to a 'stressful' environment while making them follow the guidelines and theories of TCCC is the only real way to see if they can follow those guidelines while dealing with what could be a very difficult tactical situation," Ward said.
During the FTX, Ward's lane focused on rapid patient stabilization while breaking contact, hot landing zone selection, nine-line procedures, and loading and unloading patients from a helicopter. Ward highlighted that most battlefield casualty scenarios involve making both medical and tactical decisions very rapidly, so placing the medics in situations where their decisions would be the difference between life and death added to their stress level.
"I really wanted to focus on giving the partner nations the same quality and level of training that we get for our initial training," Ward said. "This includes the same intensity in the exercises. I remember the first time that I had to perform TCCC guidelines in the dark, in a room simulating aircraft sound, temperature controlled at 105 degrees, and with an instructor who was more than happy to 'hurry me along' if I was going too slow. Those lessons helped when I had to perform in theater, so I want to embark that on them."
As the host of the TCCC course, Maj. Mladen Gavrich, Chief of Medical Department, Croatian Special Operations Forces Battalion, was very impressed with the degree of training the medics underwent. Recognizing that regardless of the subject matter expertise and experience of his own nation's medics had prior to attending the course, Gavrich mentioned the TCCC brought a new dimension to causalty care training that the Croatians had never experienced.
"We've never trained like this before, especially placing our medics in stressful conditions," Gavrich said. "The training gave our medics a realistic picture of what could go right or wrong when treating a casualty on the battlefield – especially when taking fire with someone's life is depending on them to keep them alive."
He added that with future deployments of the Croatian SOF in support of ISAF, the TCCC course provides a valuable resource and important skills for medics to be successful while conducting this type of medical care to wounded troops on the ground when needed.
But most importantly, Gavrich stressed the course lays a foundation for future medical training as the Croatians will implement their own TCCC course later this year, "taught with common standards and guidelines of the NATO community."
"The knowledge of what they gained here will allow us to develop better and quality training for our soldiers," Gavrich said. "I look forward to see how our instructors will train our medics with the skills that they take back from this training and I can say that the TCCC brings our combat medical care to a higher level."
Ervin agreed with Gavrich's conclusion on the importance of the TCCC in developing more qualified medics and added linking the event to the CoTCCC provides a continuity of updated training requirements that all the nations can maintain.
"This committee (CoTCCC) regularly updates the curriculum based on battlefield evidence from trauma casualties," Ervin said. "The NATO SOF Headquarters (NSHQ) Medical Advisors Office, who coordinated CoTCCC support for this event, is the link between these newly minted NATO TCCC trainers and the CoTCCC."
For one of the training participants, the TCCC course proved very beneficial. A Lithuanian Special Forces (SF) medic, with three combat tours in Afghanistan, mentioned that although his medical standards were similar to the Americans, it was very important to have one standard for all NATO countries serving together in a coalition capacity.
"If we start to train repetitiously according to the TCCC model, we will be able to better save lives," the Lithuanian SF medic said. "This course brings legitimacy to the direction we (Lithuania) want to go when developing our Special Forces operators and medics to perform the TCCC protocols to the international standard. We will also take those same standards to better develop our conventional forces."
He specifically stressed the importance of knowing what actions to take when taking fire.
"This course allowed me to think what my actions are when in combat and treating a casualty," the Lithuanian SF medic said. "All of my medics understand first aid, but they must be able to think quickly on when to engage the enemy on the battlefield and also be able to provide care while under fire. The TCCC qualification is something that we are going to look at for ensuring medics who deploy in the future have as part of their skill set."
Having met SOCEUR's short-term goal of providing an internal mechanism for partner nation SOF to train their own forces in the life saving battlefield skills to the level of the international standard, Ervin mentioned the way ahead for SOCEUR to maintain the momentum of the TCCC event.
"Long term, this is the first step in the development of an international cadre of TCCC instructors that will provide NATO SOF greater interoperablity in field trauma care," Ervin said. "Ultimately, we expect that the employment of the TCCC standard within NATO (and NATO partner countries) will drive the introduction of the best European combat trauma scientific research into the proceedings of the CoTCCC."
Germany interoperability Lithuania Ukraine NATO ready forces Hungary Croatia Tactical Combat Casualty Care U.S. Special Operations Command Europe SOCEUR medic Latvia Romania international cooperation Military-to-Military Engagement Program
Contracting team helped to make Jackal Stone 10 a success
Lithuanian president Grybauskaite visits Dragunu Batalionas during Jackal Stone exercise
Jackal Stone 10 SOF exercise concludes in Poland, Lithuania


text:
Home Uncategorized Athens, a mystery place
califoww
Athens, Greece is a prominent tourist destination with a great deal to supply to its site visitors. Even though Athens isn't the biggest European funding, there are still a whole lot to see as well as do and also selecting where to go and also how, can be complex.
On this short article you can locate directions to our choice of 20 prominent areas to go to in Athens. Together with information concerning just how to get there by public transportation, you can find extra directions via Google Maps by clicking the orange links, in addition to even more info about each area (opening hours, admission and so on) on their official internet site, when that is available.
So, outfit conveniently as well as join us for an excursion of Athens!The Acropolis of Athens and also the neighboring New Acropolis Gallery are the places every site visitor to the city need to most likely to. Not just a sign for the city, however, for the whole Greek human being as well.
The New Castle Gallery opened its entryways in 2009. Discoveries from the Acropolis, including figures from the Parthenon are shown in an advanced region planned by engineer Bernard Tschumi.
Film of Dionysus: Simply under the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionisus was where Greek misfortune was birthed and furthermore where old Athens' greatest organized festival, the Dionysia happened. More remediation of the website is anticipated in the future.
Odeon of Herodes Atticus: The unspoiled amphitheater was built throughout the Roman era and also today it holds songs shows and also other art efficiencies every summer during the Athens– Epidaurus Festival. The Ancient Agora of Athens is the most popular example of an antiquated Greek public square and furthermore is situated toward the northwest of Acropolis.
The Holy place of Hephaestus, dedicated to the old Greek god of blacksmiths, fire as well as volcanoes can be located inside the site of Ancient Agora. It is one of minority Greek temples to be nearly entirely maintained.
Stoa of Attalos: Developed by King Attalos of Pergamon during the Hellinistic period and furthermore rebuilded by American archeologists all through the 1950's, the appealing structure today houses the gallery of Old Agora. The National Archeological Gallery of Athens is one of quite possibly the most basic archeological galleries around the world, with antiques from around Greece. Among them the Artemision Bronze model of a Greek god just as the Antikythera component, the most seasoned simple PC ever found. The highest point of Lycabettus Hill is the zenith of fundamental Athens. From that point, you can have the absolute best perspective on the city, including the Acropolis and furthermore see as much as Piraeus and furthermore the Saronic inlet.
You can trek to the top by means of a number of courses around the hill or get up there fast through the funicular (cable car) railway that takes a trip up and down a minimum of every 30 ′ or much less when there is need (Athens transport tickets declined).
Benaki Museum goes back to 1930 just as holds an essential assortment of Greek craftsmanship from the ancient to the advanced occasions, a broad assortment of Eastern workmanship while it moreover coordinates routine displays of Greek and furthermore worldwide specialists. Simply under the Acropolis, the neighborhood of Plaka gives guests a sample of 'old Athens'. It is the fantasy land to walk or appreciate the local bistros just as cafés.
The Anafiotika area, built by customary Cycladic style, causes you to feel like you're on an Aegean island, away from the office of Athens. These are the 3 neoclassical structures on Panepistimiou street, made and furthermore incorporated in the nineteenth century by Danish architect Theophil Hansen. From left to right, it's the National Library, University of Athens just as the Academy of Athens.
Previous articleMt. Fuji. , A Must Visit Places
Next articlePrague, visit the old buildings
Stones Trip at Jeju Island

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
ETSformer: Exponential Smoothing Transformers for Time-Series Forecasting
August 23, 2022 • 10 min read
TL;DR: We developed a new time-series forecasting model called ETSformer that leverages the power of two frameworks. By combining the classical intuition of seasonal-trend decomposition and exponential smoothing with modern transformers – as well as introducing novel exponential smoothing and frequency attention mechanisms – ETSformer achieves state-of-the-art performance.
Before diving into our main discussion, let's review a couple of important concepts that are at the core of our work. (For a review of other key terms, see our Glossary.)
Time-Series Forecasting
Time-series forecasting is concerned with the prediction of the future based on historical information, specifically for numerical data collected in a temporal or sequentially ordered manner. The accurate forecasting of such data yields many benefits across a variety of domains. For example, in e-commerce, the accurate forecasting of sales demand allows companies to optimize supply chain decisions, and create better pricing strategies.
AIOps is another important domain where forecasting plays an essential role. IT operations generate immense amounts of time-series data, and analyzing this trove of information with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning can greatly boost operational efficiency.
Two AIOps tasks that benefit from more accurate forecasting are anomaly alerts and capacity planning:
Detecting anomalies and trigger notifications in IT operations is important because it allows us to quickly detect any faults and take immediate remedial action. Many proactive anomaly detection tools rely on accurate forecasting models, by creating alerts when the actual measurements deviate from the forecasted values by a large amount.
Capacity planning is another critical task in IT operations. By leveraging accurate forecasting models, smart algorithms can dynamically allocate cloud resources to active tasks, ensuring high availability to customers while minimizing the costs associated with these resources.
Time-Series Prior Knowledge: Exponential Smoothing & Decomposition
Exponential smoothing is a family of methods motivated by the idea that forecasts are a weighted average of past data (observations), and the weights decay (decrease) exponentially as we go further into the past (older data).
In other words, more recent data get weighted more highly than older data, reflecting the view that the more recent past should be considered more important or relevant for making new predictions or identifying current trends – a reasonable assumption.
Time-series data can contain a wide variety of patterns, of which trend and seasonality are two distinctive categories or components that many real-world time series exhibit. It is often helpful to split time-series data into such constituents, and this is known as time-series decomposition.
Decomposition of a time series into trend and seasonality components has played a key role in the development of forecasting methods – it allows us to analyze each component individually, leading to more accurate predictions, rather than having to analyze the raw time-series, which would otherwise be too complex.
This decomposition, along with an exponentially-weighted decay, are examples of incorporating prior knowledge of time-series structures into forecasting models, and the benefits of doing so are clear, given the popularity and forecasting prowess of these methods.
Problem: Time-Series Forecasting Methods Ignore Prior Knowledge
Now that we know why time-series forecasting is so important, you may be wondering: how do we actually forecast the future? In the age of big data, where we have access to copious amounts of time-series metrics (for example, minute-level measurements from a data center across the span of a year), simple statistical models no longer cut it. Instead, we look towards powerful machine learning and deep learning models, which can ingest these large amounts of data, learn the salient patterns, and make accurate long-term forecasts.
However, time-series data is usually noisy and fluctuating (non-stationary). In addition, existing approaches are too general and do not incorporate the proper prior knowledge about time-series structures (such as trend and seasonality). Existing approaches, such as general machine learning methods, may incorporate some form of prior knowledge, but it's not time-series specialized. All of this can lead to suboptimal modeling of temporal patterns and inaccurate long-term forecasts.
Our Solution: Exponential Smoothing Transformers (ETSformer)
To address the limitations of existing methods, we propose a new method for time-series forecasting called ETSformer. You could think of our approach as "exponential smoothing transformers" – our model is essentially a transformer, extended with extra capabilities designed to tailor it to processing time-series information. Inspired by classical exponential smoothing methods, ETSformer combines their power with that of transformers to achieve state-of-the-art performance.
Since our new approach combines elements of two powerful techniques, the name embodies this fruitful combination: "ETS" comes from the extension of exponential smoothing methods to consider state space models (Error, Trend, and Seasonal) – and can also be thought of as an abbreviation for ExponenTial Smoothing – while "former" comes from transformer.
ETSformer in a nutshell: Transformers, Transformed
Our new approach:
Brings the time-tested ideas of seasonal-trend decomposition and exponential weighting into the modern transformers framework. Seasonality and trend are critical components of time-series data, and ETSformer bakes these time-series priors into the architecture of a transformer model.
This leads to forecasts that are a composition of human-interpretable level, growth, and seasonality components.
The result: a deep learning model that's effective, efficient, and interpretable.
Deep Dive: How ETSformer Works
Generating Forecasts: Inspired by classical ETS methods
Figure 1 provides a visual overview of how ETSformer generates its forecasts:
Step 1: ETSformer first decomposes the input time-series into Seasonal and Trend components – the latter being a composition of the Level and Growth terms. The reason for this step: extracting intermediate representations lets us extrapolate (see next step) on a more granular level than the raw input, which ultimately results in more accurate forecasts.
Step 2: ETSformer now extrapolates the two intermediate components into the future. The Seasonal component extracts salient periodic patterns and extrapolates them. The Trend component first estimates the current level of the time-series, and subsequently adds a damped growth term to generate trend forecasts. (The damping is used to avoid overestimating future growth – in other words, to avoid being overly optimistic and assuming a trend will continue unabated.)
Step 3: The last step generates a final forecast through the composition or recombining of the (now-extrapolated) Seasonal and Trend components.
Figure 1. An overview of how ETSformer generates forecasts: first decomposition (red down-arrow) of input data into Seasonal and Trend patterns, then extrapolation of these two metrics, and finally composition (red up-arrow) recombines them into a final forecast horizon.
System Architecture: Transformer at its Core
Our system's architecture is essentially a transformer, consisting of an encoder and a decoder, each of which plays a key role in the three main steps:
Decomposition: The encoder is responsible for taking in the time-series, and extracting the level, growth, and seasonality components from this input time-series.
Extrapolation: These components are then passed on to the decoder, which extrapolates them into the future.
Composition: Before exiting the decoder, these extrapolated components are fused into a single forecast of the future.
Figure 2: How ETSformer's components operate. A lookback window (graph, bottom-center) is processed by the encoder-decoder transformer architecture (dark gray box) to produce a forecast (graph, upper right). The encoder comprises multiple layers; each performs seasonality, growth, and level extraction via our novel Frequency Attention, Exponential Smoothing Attention, and Level modules. The decoder comprises multiple G+S stacks; each performs extrapolation on the seasonality and growth components, via the Frequency Attention and Growth Damping modules (lower right).
The encoder performs seasonality, growth, and level extraction:
Seasonality Extraction via Frequency Attention: The encoder first extracts seasonality via our novel frequency attention mechanism, transforming the time-series representations into the frequency domain, where the salient frequencies corresponding to the seasonality present in the time-series are extracted.
Growth Extraction via Exponential Smoothing Attention: The deseasonalized time-series is passed to our novel exponential smoothing attention, which extracts the growth component.
Level Extraction via Level Module.
The decoder then performs extrapolation into the future:
Seasonality Extrapolation via Frequency Attention - Using our frequency attention mechanism, the extracted seasonality representations can be extrapolated into the future, as visualized in Figure 3.
Growth Extrapolation via Growth Damping - One key assumption in time-series forecasting is that growth may not persist linearly into the future, especially when forecasting across long time periods, which can lead to unrealistic predictions. The growth damping module addresses this, ensuring that growth can taper off in the future. The growth damping module learns from data whether to taper off or not, so the module gives the model the option to let growth forecasts taper off further into the future.
Combining two different approaches into a new method that yields new insights or benefits is a time-honored technique in science, but what about this particular domain? Now that we've described the different components of ETSformer, and how they tie together, we'd like to show that our approach is not just a good idea in theory. Does combining classical exponential smoothing techniques with a transformer architecture actually show good performance via measurable results, proving the efficacy of our approach?
We're happy to report that the answer is Yes! ETSformer proves the efficacy of its approach by achieving state-of-the-art performance over six real-world time-series datasets from a range of application domains – including traffic forecasting, weather forecasting, and financial time-series forecasting. Our method beats baselines in 22 out of 24 settings (based on the MSE – mean squared error – metric) across various real-world datasets, and across different forecasting lengths (how far ahead into the future the model forecasts). See our research paper for a more detailed explanation of our empirical results and comparisons with competing baselines.
Another positive result: ETSformer achieves interpretable decompositions of the forecasted quantities – exhibiting a clear trend and seasonal pattern, rather than noisy, inaccurate decompositions. As shown in Figure 3, given a time-series and the true underlying decompositions of seasonality and trend (we have this information on synthetic data), ETSformer can reconstruct these underlying components better than a competing method. ETSformer successfully forecasts interpretable level, trend (level + growth), and seasonal components, as observed in the trend and seasonal components closely tracking the ground truth patterns. In contrast, the competing approach, Autoformer, struggles to disambiguate between trend and seasonality.
Figure 3. Visualization of time-series forecasts on a synthetic dataset by ETSformer, compared to a baseline approach (Autoformer) and ground truth. Top: seasonality & trend (the two components combined, non-decomposed). Middle: trend component (decomposed). Bottom: seasonal component (decomposed). In all three cases, ETSformer matches ground truth better than Autoformer.
ETSformer's state-of-the-art performance provides evidence that combining ETS techniques with a transformer-based architecture can yield real-world benefits. Combining other classical methods with the power of transformers might bring equally good (perhaps even greater) benefits, and would seem like a fruitful avenue to explore in future research.
It's also important to note that ETSformer generates forecasts based on a composition of interpretable time-series components. This means we can visualize each component individually, and understand how seasonality and trend affects the forecasts. This interpretability is a key feature because, in general, we want the decisions or results of AI systems to be explainable to the greatest extent possible.
Time-series forecasting is the prediction of future values based on historical information, and has important implications across a wide range of scientific and business applications.
However, it's a difficult task, due to the properties of time-series data. Two key issues: the high amount of noise, and fluctuation (non-stationary values) across time. Another common issue in modern forecasting architectures: not incorporating time-series structures as prior knowledge; this is a missed opportunity, since such knowledge can be useful for generating forecasts.
With our new method, ETSformer, we propose to rectify this latter issue by combining two great ideas in one: introducing the time-tested concepts of time-series decomposition and exponential smoothing into the modern, powerful framework of transformers.
ETSformer performs three main steps (decomposition, extrapolation, composition) to generate a final forecast. ETSformer's encoder and decoder transform input data into output forecasts – extracting and extrapolating the level, growth, and seasonality components along the way.
ETSformer can construct interpretable, seasonal-trend decomposed forecasts, and proved its efficacy by achieving state-of-the-art performance across a range of time-series forecasting applications and datasets.
We have released our code to facilitate further research and industrial applications of ETSformer for time-series forecasting.
Salesforce AI Research invites you to dive deeper into the concepts discussed in this blog post (see links below). Connect with us on social media and our website to get regular updates on this and other research projects.
Learn more: Check out our research paper (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2202.01381.pdf), which describes our ETSformer work in greater detail.
Contact us: gwoo@salesforce.com.
Code: Check out our code on GitHub: https://github.com/salesforce/ETSformer.
Follow us on Twitter: @SalesforceResearch, @Salesforce
Blog: To read other blog posts, please see blog.salesforceairesearch.com.
Main site: To learn more about all of the exciting projects at Salesforce AI Research, please visit our main website at salesforceairesearch.com.
Gerald Woo is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Industrial PhD Program at Salesforce Research. His research focuses on time-series modeling with deep learning.
Chenghao Liu is a Senior Applied Scientist at Salesforce Research Asia, working on AIOps research, including time series forecasting, anomaly detection, and causal machine learning.
Donald Rose is a Technical Writer at Salesforce AI Research. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science at UC Irvine, and specializes in content creation for multiple projects — such as blog posts, video scripts, newsletters, media/PR material, tutorials, and workshops. He enjoys helping researchers transform their work into publications geared to a wider audience and writing think pieces about AI.
AIOps - Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations, the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and analytics to enhance the IT operations.
Anomaly detection - Identification of rare events or occurrences in an environment, or dataset. An anomaly can be defined as an observation which rarely occurs, or is inconsistent with the rest of the dataset.
Auto-scaling - A method used in cloud computing to dynamically adjust the amount of computational resources (physical machines, virtual machines, pods, etc.) assigned to a computational task.
Exponential smoothing - a family of methods motivated by the idea that forecasts are a weighted average of past data (observations), and the weights should decay (decrease) exponentially as we go further into the past (older data). In other words, more recent data should get weighted more highly than older data, reflecting the view that the more recent past should be considered more important or relevant for making new predictions or identifying current trends – a reasonable assumption.
Seasonality - A characteristic of time-series data. A time-series is said to contain seasonality if it has repeating patterns which occur at regular intervals. Example: temperature fluctuations in regions with continental climate (dropping in winter, rising in summer).
Transformer: a neural network that encodes an input sentence (sequence) into a vector, then decodes that vector into a different sequence. The overall effect: an input sequence is "transformed" into an output sequence. Note that the transformer can attend to previous states (refer to and use previous inputs) to help ensure optimal results of the transformation. Used most often in NLP applications. Transformer examples: T5; BERT.
Trend - A characteristic of time-series data. A time-series is said to contain trend when there is a long-term pattern of increasing or decreasing values. More complex trends are possible, such as an increase, followed by stagnation. Trend can be further broken down into level and growth components – where level is the average value over a time period, and growth is the change in value over that time period.


Expertise performs a significant position in business. The dimensions and scope of the business agency and its structure, management, and possession, broadly analyzed in the idea of the firm Usually, a smaller business is extra versatile, while bigger businesses, or these with wider ownership or extra formal constructions, will often are typically organized as companies or (much less typically) partnerships.
As industries around the globe have develop into more specialised, more and more people are mustering the braveness to start out their very own businesses. Boutique consulting firms supply organizations highly specialised recommendation that addresses particular issues or aspects of a business.
Now, what I am about to suggest is just not one thing as drastic as promoting companies to inner customers but an entire thoughts turnaround to the way in which departments are run. A business is an organization, shop, or organization that makes and sells items or provides a service.
Massive companies will usually buy out small potential competitors to prevent future competitors and then spend enormous sums of cash to prop up the business for look sake for the larger firm, when the market doesn't justify the funding. The truth is high overheads, because of expensive space and web site upkeep prices, can drive you out of business very quick, as a result of the golden rule for the success of any business is to maintain overheads low especially at first up time.
Unknown (2007) 80% of Small-to-Medium Sized Firms Worry a Safety Risk. A majority of these businesses are: (1) Sole Proprietorship, (2) Corporation, and (three) Restricted Legal responsibility Firm.
Weddings, birthdays, and parties happen on a regular basis. Most start up businesses fail, not because they're missing out on a product that is in demand or an excellent location where potential clients exist. Many purchasers have requested us to present them examples of 'good' business necessities. 2. (Commerce) an industrial, business, or skilled operation; purchase and sale of goods and services: the tailoring business.
There are wholesalers who provide merchandise in bulk which you would promote on the market or on a automobile boot sale. Since B2B entrepreneurs goal solely other businesses, they have significantly more targeted markets than B2C entrepreneurs. Tip: Attempt to obtain extraordinary business success by simply enhancing business practices of the existing business, relatively than making an attempt your hand at pioneering a brand new product.
At one level we could need to decide the dimensions of business. The uncooked supplies is used to find out the scale of the business where corporations are producing comparable merchandise. In addition, the combined company will rank fourth in deposit market share in Texas with $19.6 billion in whole deposits and 326 full-service banking offices.
One way or another, these institutions work together with companies on their growth journey and provide all types of assets to assist them, together with funding and physical work areas (workplaces), professional help, advice and mentoring, tools and frameworks, technique improvement and operations effectivity, and access to important networks in the business ecosystem.
Lawn care business house owners at all times speak about how efficient 'phrase of mouth' advertising and marketing will be however not many of them understand how they'll totally maximize the advantages of this idea. Undeniably, business growth is a vital part of a firm's success – the alternatives cast in the present day will outline what the corporate is doing on tomorrow. It's always advisable to hire the services of a lawyer and an accountant to debate your personal involvement in the business, with respect to assets and even the taxation.


text:
William Dolby: a life's work
Chinese Culture Series
Mainstream Publications
Alternative Works
Published Articles/Essays
Republished Works
News, updates and views on the development of the William Dolby bookshop and on our progression towards obtaining sufficient funding to enable the republication of all 33 volumes of the 'Chinese Culture Series'.
An updated 1997 version of 'A History of Chinese Drama' found
Whilst trawling through what amounts to over 95,000 files (admittedly some appear to be duplicates) I came across one titled 'adapthistheatre'. Now it took me some time to realise that this was indeed an edited and refurbished edition of Bill's well known 'A History of Chinese Drama.
Upon reading this file further and looking at when it was created, and indeed Bill's own notes on the matter, it transpires that this file is an edited and invigorated version dated 1997, twenty years after the original publication.
I seriously wonder if there is any demand for a reprint of this newer version? Any publisher out there who would like to republish it (?), noting that the original work of 1976 is still an enourmous authority on the subject.
Print Publication of Lasting-life Palace-hall by Hong Sheng (1654-1704)
I am pleased to say, after burnīng the midnight oil, that we have managed to publish our first print publication. This is of course 'Lasting-life Palace-hall' by Hung Sheng (1654-1704) as translated, introduced and explained by William Dolby.
This wonderful play, also known as 'Palace of Eternal Life (Youth)' or 'Abiding-life Palace-hall' was written by Hung Sheng, commonly known as Hong Sheng. This particular translation is possibly Bill's largest work (No29 of his 'Chinese Culture Series') and so we have spilt the print version into two paperback volumes. The first volume contains Bill's original Introduction and Translation, and the second volume contains his numerous appendices and explanations.
The book has been published as 'print on demand' and is available to purchase through Amazon. Some common locations follow:
Volume One, Lasting-life Palace-hall, The Translated Play - at Amazon UK or USA
Volume Two, Lasting-life Palace-hall, Appendices and Endnotes - at Amazon UK or USA
We will also maintain a small stock for those who cannot access Amazon - so please do feel free to contact us to order a copy direct.
We hope you enjoy this amazing play.
The digital version is also available here as one single publicatíon.
No29: Lasting-life Palace-hall by Hung Sheng (1654-1704)
At last, a mountain has been climbed. Perhaps it was only a hill but never-the-less we have finally finished editing a further volume. A translation of an immense play:
The edit of this amazing work has taken some time to complete but despite our limited resources, kids screaming and spare time only, my wife and I have managed to create a single PDF file that contains Bill's full translation, his original introduction and copious footnotes and some further mini-translations and poems that tie into the play's intro.
We note the various English titles used for other trasnslations of this particular play: Bill initially titled his translation "Abiding-life .." rather then "Lasting-life .." . However, we feel that his translation will only add to the choice and scope available and thus we leave the title as he saw fit to work.
We hope this work finds value in the outside world. Certainly, now that it is in presentable condition we would be grateful for any comments or advice on how to find a mainstream publisher for it. We would even welcome your thoughts on a qualified foreword for the Play, as entered into by one of Bill's peers perhaps?
This PDF file will shortly be made available for FREE to all kind donors.
Next up? Christmas I say! So we will see in January what volume will be next for us to work. Also, I'm not sure about everyone else but I am still a fan of paper books - contrary to popular belief 'real' books are not about to dissapear from the planet. Therefore, I also intend to turn this latest work in to a Print-on-Demand edition (perhaps two volumes due to it's size) and I will provide an update again when it becomes available (and where).
Ieuan and Chin Ling
Little Sister Reed and a Bibliography of Chinese Metaphors
As we work through the various discs and files my wife and I are continually amazed at what we come across. The reach of Bill's work was immense - not sure where/when/how he had the time to research and write it all down.
Anyway, as we have said before, if any researcher is interested in looking at what we have, or indeed anyone would like any particular topic to be located, then please do let us know.
Much of the work we have found requires charachter insertion but below are two works that might be of interest to some:
1. Bibliography of Chinese Metaphors
2. Little Sister Reed, A Heilungkiang folk-story - translated by William Dolby, date unknown
For both of these works the date of translation/compilation/research is unknown but I would suggest around 2000 - 2005. Please feel free to download them and use them freely.
Plenty more where they came from.
Update on our progress, Easter 2016
An anecdotal tribute from a PHD Student
Merry Christmas and potential book donations to libraries in Hong Kong and China
No.27 Chinese Myths and No.28 Chinese Allusions as PDF's


The application for the USTA Pacific Northwest Glenn Lovett College Scholarship is now available. The section scholarship was renamed last year in honor of former USTA Pacific Northwest Secretary-Treasurer Glenn Lovett who passed away in November of 2007. Glenn was an avid tennis player and volunteer who contributed critical advice, a positive attitude and good humor during his tenure on the USTA Pacific Northwest Board of Directors.
• Current membership in the USTA Pacific Northwest Section (USTA/PNW).
• Participation as a tennis player in the USTA/PNW.
• Personal character, strong values, community involvement and good sportsmanship.
High school seniors graudating in 2009 are encouraged to apply. Please click here to view and print the USTA college scholarship application form. Please click here to view and print the 2009 college scholarship application directions and information.
NOTE: By completing and submitting this scholarship application to the USTA/PNW office, you will be considered for the USTA Pacific Northwest Glenn Lovett College Scholarship as well as the USTA Serves (formerly known as the USTA Tennis & Education Foundation) college scholarships that you choose to select on your application (please see descriptions of each below). There is only one (1) application that is used for all scholarships.
All applicants will assemble and submit, in one envelope, the application, required supporting documentation, and a current photograph. All endorsements and transcripts must be submitted in sealed envelopes with the endorser's or guidance counselor's signature over the seal.
Please click here to view a chart that lists the specific qualifications for each of the above scholarships. You can also refer to the 2009 USTA Serves College Scholarship Program information sheet for a complete description of each the scholarships that are available.
Applications for both the USTA/PNW Glenn Lovett College Scholarship and USTA Serves college scholarships must be postmarked by February 9, 2009.
If you have any questions during the application process please feel free to contact USTA/PNW Communications Coordinator Hillary Moore by email at moore@pnw.usta.com or by phone at (503) 520-1877, x21.


text:
Smartsheet helps Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Kraken stay ahead in the fast-moving sports and entertainment industry
Marketing and sales teams successfully manage hundreds of concerts and sporting events with Smartsheet and Brandfolder by Smartsheet during their inaugural year
BELLEVUE, Wash., September 21, 2022 – Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR), the enterprise platform for dynamic work, today shared new details about the role Smartsheet played in helping the Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Kraken successfully navigate a record-breaking first year with a more powerful, flexible collaborative work management platform.
Climate Pledge Arena opened in October 2021, making history as the first net zero–certified venue in the world, powered exclusively by renewable energy. The Sports Business Journal named Climate Pledge Arena Facility of the Year in 2022. The arena is also home to the National Hockey League's newest team, the Seattle Kraken, who played their first season in 2021. As a sports and entertainment startup creating a new brand and arena experience from the ground up during a global pandemic, the organizations needed a powerful yet flexible technology platform that could move and adapt as quickly as they were asking their teams, partners, and vendors to.
"Smartsheet gives us the insight we need to easily track every concert and sporting event to make sure it's all on schedule," said Rosie Selle, vice president of marketing at Climate Pledge Arena. "It gives us all of the event information, such as key dates and ticket sales, in one place for multiple departments to access at any time. We recently announced five shows and put them all on sale, with 18 assets for each show. That process was very smooth because of Smartsheet."
Prior to adopting Smartsheet, many of the arena's teams relied on traditional spreadsheet software and email to manage events and communicate with each other. Now teams across both organizations use Smartsheet to create flexible, customized processes for managing their work. For example:
Using Smartsheet, Climate Pledge Arena marketing has streamlined and automated its event management and ticket sales processes. Smartsheet organizes all event information in real time, manages event schedules, helps the team collaborate to keep projects on track, and creates a single source of truth for tracking the many moving pieces of events hosted at the arena.
The Seattle Kraken sales and ticketing team takes advantage of Smartsheet to manage its premium suite ticket inventory, including schedules, availability, food ordering, suite donation, and primary contacts. The team is also using custom reports in Smartsheet to save 4-5 hours per week previously spent manually building ticketing reports. During events, the Smartsheet mobile app enables vital, real-time communication about suite customers' needs, creating a better guest experience for their most discerning clientele.
Arena marketing employees also use Brandfolder, Smartsheet's award-winning digital asset management platform, to store all arena and event branding assets, such as the arena's digital media kit.
Climate Pledge Arena is now exploring rolling out Smartsheet to additional departments to drive new efficiencies for the organization as a whole.
"The Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena achieved so much in their first year, and we're proud of the role our platform played in helping them create new, better ways of working so they could move faster towards their goals," said Andrew Bennett, chief marketing officer at Smartsheet. "Smartsheet runs on the belief that we can empower anyone to drive meaningful change, and it's been amazing to see our mission come to life with these two incredibly innovative organizations."
In addition to being a key technology provider, Smartsheet is also an official presenting partner for Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Kraken and the title partner for the Community Rink at Kraken Community Iceplex in Seattle. The strategic five-year partnership recognizes both organizations' shared values in changing the way the world works and plays.
About Smartsheet
Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR) is the enterprise platform for dynamic work. By aligning people and technology so organizations can move faster and drive innovation, Smartsheet enables its millions of users to achieve more. Visit www.smartsheet.com to learn more.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements that are based on our management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about Smartsheet's expectations regarding possible or assumed business strategies, channel and partner strategies, potential growth and innovation opportunities, new products, and potential market opportunities.
Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by terms such as "believe," "continue," "could," "potential," "remain," "will," "would" or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: our ability to achieve future growth and sustain our growth rate, our ability to attract and retain talent, our ability to attract and retain customers (including government customers) and increase sales to our customers, our ability to develop and release new products and services and to scale our platform, our ability to increase adoption of our platform through our self-service model, our ability to maintain and grow our relationships with channel and strategic partners, the highly competitive and rapidly evolving market in which we participate, our ability to identify targets for, execute on, or realize the benefits of, potential acquisitions, and our international expansion strategies. Further information on risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from forecasted results is included in our filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2021 filed with the SEC on September 8, 2021. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons if actual results differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.


Whether you're planning a cruise, need a rental car or looking for vacation lodging or rentals in our great state of Maine, across the country or overseas, The American Legion offers it members some of the best travel discounts around.
NOTE: For up-to-the-minute information about these and other benefits, please visit National's Benefits page .
Legion members and their families can get the best available discount on travel including air fare, hotel stays, rental cars, vacation packages, cruises, and more. Visit the link above or call 1-866-691-5109 to sign up and create a free account to start saving now.
Veterans Holidays is a Free membership club that provides affordable resort vacation rentals. Choose from thousands of rentals in over 100 countries around the world. For more information, visit the link or call 1-877-772-2322 and mention American Legion.
Save 20% off the "Best Available Rate" at thousands of participating locations throughout the world. Participating hotels include Baymont, Days Inn, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, Howard Johnson, Knights Inn, Microtel Inn & Suites, Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge, Wingate by Wyndham, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Garden, Wyndham Grand Call 1-877-670-7088 and give your American Legion/ SAL ID Number 8000000307 or visit the link above.
Members save up to 20% off standard time and mileage rates at participating locations worldwide. Mention BCD# T756500 when reserving through your agent or call Budget at 1-800-455-2848 or click the link to visit them online.
Members get unlimited mileage and year-round discounts off National's rates at locations in 72 countries across the globe. For information and reservations, call your travel agent, visit them online or call 1-800-CAR-RENT®. Be sure to request Contract I.D. Number 5176669 at time of reservation.
American Legion members can save up to 15% off your car rental in the U.S. and around the world. Be sure to include CDP#1821951 to receive your special savings. For more information visit www.hertz.com or call 1-800-654-2210.
American Legion and SAL members receive a 15% discount at any of the 1,100+ pet-friendly Motel 6 locations in the U.S. and Canada. To make your reservation, call 1-800-4-Motel 6 and provide the code CP565474 to receive the discount or book online at www.motel6.com.


Taxi 8 places. Sncf train station. Geneva airport, Lyon airport.
Taxi in the village, different distances: village centre, Supermarket Carrefour Market and other shops. Grand Massif Express lift and around the village.
Medical transport also, with electric wheel-chair, reserved in advance.


Wow! I still can't believe that 2015 has come and gone and we are already halfway through the first quarter of 2016!
As many of you know, we have our annual Inaugural Dinner in January each year. It's when we announce the new Board of Directors, thank the outgoing board and chairs for their hard work and dedication, and discuss our plans for the New Year. For those that attended the Inaugural Dinner, it continued to be one of the premier events of the year. We thank the attendees and sponsors for their continued support of TCJAX.
As we patiently await warm weather and the beginning of Spring, we look forward to the calendar of events that TCJAX has planned for 2016. We are excited to host our Spring Golf Outing at Hidden Hills Country Club next month. This will be an opportunity for our members to network and invite clients to play on an outstanding private course here in Jacksonville! Do you think you have what it takes to get a hole in one? If you do, it will be your opportunity to win a brand new 2016 Chevrolet Silverado courtesy of Nimnicht Chevrolet.
In April we are going to have our annual family friendly event watching the Jacksonville Suns take on the Braves of Mississippi in the Palm Tree Pavilion with an all-you-can-eat buffet of burgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken sandwiches, salads, sides and sodas! This is a great event to bring your family, customers and friends.
We will continue to update you with additional events as the details become more available. In true TCJAX fashion, 2016 is going to be action packed with events, socials and networking opportunities!
As a reminder, ALL memberships for TCJAX run from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 each year. If you have not paid your membership dues (which are only $50 annually) please renew or join today! Our members and their paid memberships are vital to the success of the club and allowing TCJAX to continue supporting Feeding Northeast Florida, Farmshare and Harvest Time International, as well as providing annual scholarships to UNF's Transportation and Logistics program.


text:
Recent clippings from Space tour 2019
https://www.constantiabergbulletin.co.za/news/astronaut-presents-hope-33242591
https://www.netwerk24.com/ZA/Distrikspos/Nuus/recounting-space-travel-wonders-20190904-2
Astronaut on 2019 Space Tour to inspire Mars generation
Astronaut on 2019 Space Tour in South Africa to inspire Mars generation
I-Innovate brings 400 Gauteng Learners and a NASA Astronaut together
https://www.netwerk24.com/ZA/Tygerburger/Nuus/astronaut-inspires-mars-generation-20190917-2
https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/astronaut-inspires-cape-pupils-not-to-give-up-on-their-dreams-33073747
https://www.iol.co.za/ios/news/yaaaaahoooooo-veteran-astronaut-recalls-his-first-moments-in-space-32912967
https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/nasa-spaceman-to-deliver-an-out-of-this-world-talk-to-cape-flats-children-32865305
Interview on Cliff Central July 2016
http://vonsildskole15.blogspot.dk/
https://sites.google.com/site/todayincomputerclass/7-c
Very proud to be a coach for the UCT Upstarts 2015
Living Maths works closely with Kahoot in Norway and we featured on Finnish TV
And we featured in a conference in Norway too
Mr S was part of a panel discussing Global Cardboard Challenge
A blog post written about World Space week involving Living Maths
Lovely blogpost in Afrikaans about the Living Maths Olympiad
Kahoot visits Cape Town to work with Mr S
Mr Mcnulty's class joins the Camps Bay Maths evening
Mr S does another interview…
Mr S did a mystery Skype session recently
Mr S watched classes do presentations in the USA and sent them feedback over Google Forms
Mr s had one of his photos used on the CNN Website
Living Maths gets a mention in Kahoot's blog http://blog.getkahoot.com/post/98309232987/serious-kahoot-session
Denmark took part in our Maths Olympiad last year http://www.vonsildskole11.blogspot.dk/
Mr S spoke to a School in Newtown, PA
https://sites.google.com/site/todayincomputerclass/7-a
Mr S chats with a teacher in Argentina http://mariacolussa.blogspot.com.ar/
http://mtnsciencentre.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html
http://www.thepositiveapproach.info/steve-sherman-making-great-use-of-the-global-classroom/
http://www.standrewsprep.co.za/thinking-outside-the-box/
http://blog.getkahoot.com/post/100070089652/global-classroom-discussion-at-oslo-innovation