HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- When Staff Sgt. Chad Stricker developed an idea to improve patient care training, it was not to compete in an Air Force innovation contest.
Instead, the 66th Medical Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of education and training was focused on improving the way Tactical Combat Casualty Care courses are taught.
“Throughout my career, I noticed inconsistencies in Tactical Combat Causality Care courses,” said Stricker. “It got me thinking about how to facilitate a more consistent and realistic training program.”
The result was STRIKE-MED, a kinetic medical training platform designed to connect classroom instruction and combat reality through virtual reality technology with physical movement and a performance-based assessment.
The concept simulates real-world stress by pairing augmented reality devices with physical training, allowing users to move, react and make decisions in immersive operational scenarios to generate objective, artificial intelligence-driven human performance metrics.
“My goal is to train our medics, and other career fields, in a way that simulates patients getting the care they need while in dangerous situations, such as a hostile force firing at them,” said Stricker. “The VR headset would provide the virtual environment needed to increase realism and create a level of stress they may not otherwise experience during training.”
The concept has attracted attention beyond the classroom. Earlier this year, STRIKE-MED was selected as a quarter finalist in the AFWERX Spark Tank 2026 competition.
According to AFWERX, Spark Tank is an annual pitch competition designed to encourage innovation across the Department of the Air Force by accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies and empowering Airmen and Guardians to solve operational challenges.
Staff Sgt. Juan Melendez Caballero, 66th Medical Squadron NCO in charge of preventative dentistry, participated in early trials and provided feedback on his experience using a prototype of the concept.
“The virtual reality-based training was engaging and an innovative way to apply critical-thinking and decision-making skills in realistic combat causality scenarios,” he said.
During a training environment held earlier this year, 14 operational medics across multiple career fields, ranging from airman 1st class to captain, tested the concept.
“The results were significant,” said Stricker. “We saw a 13.7 percent increase in TCCC cognitive confidence under stress, and 92.8 percent of the testers explicitly recommended formal adoption of the platform.”
STRIKE-MED integrates emerging technologies to create a training environment that forces medics’ bodies and minds to train together.
As development continues, Stricker is seeking military-connected partners with engineering or software development experience to help move the project forward.
“I am a medic by trade,” he said. “I am not a software engineer, but I love technology and I am always willing to learn. I just want to get this off the ground and help out our force.”