Last week about 40 of us received medical training in the Combat Lifesaver course. Combat Lifesaver (CLS) is a level of medical training that is somewhat advanced but not as medically educated as a Medic.
Since the American Civil War, combat medicine has advanced by light years. Back then if a soldier was shot, there was a really good chance he would have that leg or arm amputated or he would die from infection. Since then the Army has made a concentrated effort to improve the chances of surviving battlefield injuries.
Your U.S. Army is one of the few, if not the only, country in the world that actually dedicates helicopters and vehicles to serve as ambulances so casualties can be evacuated quickly. We train a great number of soldiers in advanced trauma care. And we have the most advanced aid stations and combat hospitals in the world. Our Surgeons are real Surgeons and our Doctors are practicing Doctors. It’s something our country takes for granted but your soldiers are the best cared for troops in the world. Very few soldiers actually die from wounds sustained in combat. Think about it. In 5 years of a very violent war just over 4,000 have been killed. That is very tragic but without this kind of care the numbers would be much higher.
Since the American Civil War, combat medicine has advanced by light years. Back then if a soldier was shot, there was a really good chance he would have that leg or arm amputated or he would die from infection. Since then the Army has made a concentrated effort to improve the chances of surviving battlefield injuries.
Your U.S. Army is one of the few, if not the only, country in the world that actually dedicates helicopters and vehicles to serve as ambulances so casualties can be evacuated quickly. We train a great number of soldiers in advanced trauma care. And we have the most advanced aid stations and combat hospitals in the world. Our Surgeons are real Surgeons and our Doctors are practicing Doctors. It’s something our country takes for granted but your soldiers are the best cared for troops in the world. Very few soldiers actually die from wounds sustained in combat. Think about it. In 5 years of a very violent war just over 4,000 have been killed. That is very tragic but without this kind of care the numbers would be much higher.
CLS is part of that. Every soldier learns a certain amount of first aid training in basic training. The basic first aid training amounts to how to stop bleeding, patch a hole, and stabilize a patient. That’s already more than some countries train soldiers. At CLS we learn those skills plus how to assist breathing, apply special bandages, dressings and splints and a few other tricks. Additionally, we learn to use some specialized tubes and needles that helps a wounded soldier breath.
In a nutshell, we learn how to take a serverely wounded soldier, patch him, stabilize him and care for him until he can be evacuated to higher level of treatment.
Most people have heard of the Army’s Medics, right? The Navy and Marines call them Corpsmen. Medics are very highly trained soldiers. They actually go to schools that are months long to learn field medicine. Many of them are EMTs, work in hospitals back home or are going to school to get nursing or medical degrees. These guys and gals are sharp.
Every convoy we send out has to have at least one medic with his/her aid bag. The aid bag has all kinds of dressings, bandages, tubes, patches, tapes, splints, saline bags, etc, etc. It’s their equivalent of the old time Doctors Black bag but this thing weighs about 40 pounds.
When Medics are assigned to a Convoy Escort Team (CET) they get to know the soldiers they are responsible for. After awhile they form a bond. You know they are getting tight when their soldiers start referring to them as DOC. I once worked with a Medic that I noticed was having a really good day. He was all happy and smiling. I asked him, “How’s it going?”
He said, “Great, my boys just called me Doc.” He was really proud that day. And he was a damn good Medic so I know he deserved it. The Medics get very protective of their platoons and CETS. Its really a wonderful thing to see. I’ve seen some of these guys performing very traumatizing feats under incredible pressure and they do it so well. They have my trust.
Back to CLS….The Medics are the ones who teach the course. One of the final things we learn is the stick. That is, properly inserting an IV needle into another person’s arm. It is a bit unnerving and it’s the last thing the course tests. We all have about 4 days to anticipate this. It is very unnatural, and in most cases illegal, to stick something foreign into another person.
Well, on the last day we summon up the courage and stick another person in the class. You find a vein, prepare it, watch the other person get really nervous, then insert it. Its really simple and relatively painless (or not very painful). We all survive. Some of us still have bruises on our arms to prove it, but we’ve completed the task to become a certified Combat Lifesaver. We aren’t Marcus Welby or Hawkeye Pierce…but in our own small way we medically proficient.
Hopefully we will never have to use our newly-learned skills, but if we do have to…there are plenty of us around to help each other out.
SABER 02
Out.
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