SAMCEE
San Antonio Mass Casualty Exercise & Evaluation
October 15, 2025
The San Antonio Mass Casualty Exercise & Evaluation (SAMCEE) is our community’s largest disaster preparedness drill, bringing together hospitals, EMS agencies, and emergency response partners from across the region. Its purpose is simple but critical—to practice and strengthen how we work together when lives are on the line.
SAMCEE began in 2008 as an emergency exercise at the San Antonio International Airport. What started as a focused airport drill has grown into a region-wide event involving dozens of agencies and hundreds of participants. Each year, the exercise provides a realistic, hands-on scenario that tests communication, coordination, and patient care under the intense conditions of a simulated large-scale emergency. The scale of SAMCEE and its participants reflects our community’s shared commitment to readiness—ensuring that if disaster strikes, we’re prepared to respond quickly, effectively, and together.
Exercise Components
EMS
EMS agencies are tasked with triaging large numbers of simulated patients under real-world conditions. Crews provide on-scene treatment and coordinate patient transport as they would during an actual mass casualty incident. This includes challenging decision-making for Transport Officers, who must select appropriate hospital destinations and load balance patients across facilities to prevent overwhelming any single hospital. The EMS component ensures that frontline responders can refine their skills, test communication systems, and practice critical coordination with hospitals and other agencies—helping ensure our region is ready when every second counts.
Hospital
Hospitals across the region play a critical role in SAMCEE by receiving and managing mock patients just as they would during a real emergency. Upon arrival, patients are triaged and treated according to their condition, allowing hospital teams to practice handling a sudden influx of patients far beyond normal capacity. This includes managing diverse patient needs—such as pediatric and adult care, hazardous materials decontamination (DECON), and critical trauma interventions. The hospital component tests surge protocols, strengthens coordination between departments, and ensures staff are prepared to deliver effective care even under the most demanding circumstances.
Moulage Artist
- All volunteers will be provided breakfast and lunch
- All volunteers will be required to sign a Liability and Photo Release Form
- To sign up to Volunteer, you must be 18 or older
- All volunteers, regardless of their role, will arrive and depart from the exercise location.
Important: This role requires a higher time commitment prior to the exercise
Moulage is the art of creating realistic-looking injuries and medical conditions using makeup, prosthetics, and special effects. It’s often used in emergency training exercises to make scenarios more lifelike for responders. From cuts and burns to fractures and bruising, moulage helps create an immersive environment that challenges participants to respond as they would in a real emergency.
As a Moulage Artist, you’ll be part of the creative team bringing our mock patients to life with realistic injury makeup. Volunteers will attend one of five offered classes before the event to either learn moulage techniques or refresh their skills. On exercise day, you’ll arrive early to the venue, set up equipment and supplies, and join a team briefing to review the day’s operations. You’ll then work with each mock patient volunteer to create injuries that match the details on their triage tag and scenario description.
This role is fast-paced, hands-on, and full of chaotic (but fun) energy as you help prepare hundreds of participants for the drill. Before signing up, it is REQUIRED that you read and fully understand the DISCLAIMER section for this position.
This is not a guaranteed volunteer role. Spots are limited and priority will be given to those who have served as Moulage Artists in previous exercises. If you are not selected for this position, please know that Mock Patient roles are always available so you can still participate in the exercise.
Requirements for this Role:
- Attend one of five training classes to learn or refresh moulage techniques.
- If you sign up for a moulage class, you are required to participate in SAMCEE on October 15th.
This is a rewarding but fast-paced and high-intensity role. If you’re not comfortable working in this type of environment, we encourage you to sign up as a Mock Patient instead.
The Art Of Injury Simulation
Join our expert-led classes and learn to create lifelike wounds that enhance your medical training and simulations.
Basic:
- 8/22, Fri | 0900-1600
- 9/12, Fri | 0900-1600
- 9/19, Fri | 0900-1600
- 10/10, Fri | 0900-1600
Intermediate:
- 9/26, Fri | 0900-1600
Cost:
- FREE, with commitment to participate in SAMCEE Exercise on October 15th
Prerequisites:
- Basic Class – ALL welcome!
- Intermediate – Must attend Basic course prior to this class
One refresher Moulage class is required for anyone wishing to participate in SAMCEE. Even if you’ve taken the course in the past, a refresher is still required for this event.
These classes are offered for free to ensure SAMCEE can run properly, if you cannot commit to participating October 15th, please plan to attend a course offered at a different time of year.
Mock Patient
This is a great opportunity for students interested in emergency management, healthcare, public safety, or related fields to observe and participate in real-world response operations.
- All volunteers will be provided breakfast and lunch
- All volunteers will be required to sign a Liability and Photo Release Form
- To sign up to Volunteer, you must be 18 or older
- All volunteers, regardless of their role, will arrive and depart from the exercise location.
The Mock Patient volunteer role offers a unique opportunity to be part of a large-scale emergency preparedness exercise. Volunteers will check in at the venue, receive professional moulage to create realistic injuries, and be assigned a scenario to act out. Depending on their role assignment, they will either be transported to a local hospital to simulate treatment in a real healthcare setting or remain on-site to participate in a mass casualty simulation where EMS crews will triage and treat patients in the field
Moulage is the art of creating realistic-looking injuries and medical conditions using makeup, prosthetics, and special effects. It’s often used in emergency training exercises to make scenarios more lifelike for responders. From cuts and burns to fractures and bruising, moulage helps create an immersive environment that challenges participants to respond as they would in a real emergency.
- Check in and receive moulage injury makeup and a patient scenario card.
- Board a bus for transport to a participating healthcare facility in the San Antonio area.
- Portray the assigned injuries and symptoms while interacting with medical staff.
- Participate in the facility’s patient triage and treatment processes.
- Stay in character until the hospital part of the exercise is complete.
- Return to the venue by bus at the conclusion of the hospital portion.
- Check in and receive moulage injury makeup and a patient scenario card.
- Be placed in a designated area to simulate a large-scale emergency scene.
- Act out your assigned injuries and symptoms during the drill.
- Be triaged, treated, and possibly moved by EMS crews as part of their training.
- Stay in character until the EMS portion of the exercise is complete.
- Fill out the request form above
- Download this Volunteer Sign-Up Roster
- Fill out all volunteer information
- Specify instructors who will be attending as observers & NOT participants (if applicable)
- Submit to SAMCEE@strac.org by NO LATER than September 18th
Liability forms will be sent to each volunteers email through DocuSign for signature once submitted.
If you do not have signed liability forms submitted, you will NOT be allowed to participate on the day of the drill
- Fill out the request form above
- Once you receive the Moulage Class sign-up link, select a date
- Attend a Moulage Class
- Stay informed on Exercise updates and participate October 15th!