RAPID CITY, S.D., - All Soldiers in combat should know basic lifesaving skills so that they can help others return home alive.
Non-medical Soldiers, such as truck drivers, military police and journalists, must learn the medical techniques that will help them to save their fellow comrades’ lives in combat. These techniques are learned during a special training class called Combat Lifesaver Course.
The 399th Reserve Combat Support Hospital, an Army Reserve unit headquartered in Bedford, Mass., taught a four-day Combat Lifesaver Course to about 100 Soldiers during South Dakota’s 26th annual Golden Coyote training exercise here at Camp Rapid June 15-18.
Roughly 90 percent of combat deaths occur before the casualties can reach a medical treatment facility. Most of these deaths are untreatable.
However, some conditions, like bleeding from a wound on an arm or leg, chest wounds and airway problems, can be treated on the battlefield by non-medically trained Soldiers, explained 1st. Lt. Jason Proulx, a combat lifesaver instructor.
“The Army is trying to get every Soldier certified as a combat life saver,” said Proulx. “The Soldiers who are out on the battlefield are the ones who are there side-by-side to administer aid and save their buddy’s life.”
During the course, Soldiers were shown and tested on how to apply a tourniquet to control bleeding, how to clear an obstructed airway and how they should treat chest trauma.
Once Soldiers have treated the casualty, they need to know the exact steps to evacuate the casualty from the battlefield.
A 9-line Medevac request is a tool used to communicate with medical personnel over a radio and conveys several important pieces of information. Grid coordinates, radio frequency and call sign, number of patients, special equipment needed and whether or not the patient can walk or needs to be carried on a litter, are several of the pieces of information on the 9-line Medevac request.
Without this precise information, medical personal are not able to pick up and transport the Soldier to the hospital, said Proulx.
“Everyone should have basic medical knowledge, especially in combat situations,” said, Spc. Chris Stansel with the 399th. “It takes a lot of stress off of the medics, especially if there is a mass casualty situation. A medic can’t be everywhere at once so having combat life saving skills is important.”
Stansel has seen the benefits of teaching the Combat Lifesaver Course while on deployment in Afghanistan.
“A few months after we certified a unit, they went out on a mission where there was a 90 percent chance they would get hit,” said Stansel “The Soldiers did get hit and were able to save their buddies’ lives because of the skills they learned in class.”
Stansel’s example is proof the CLS class techniques work and are effective in making sure each Soldier deployed to combat has the tools they need to return home alive.
“If a certified combat lifesaver can save the Soldiers on the battlefield, and get them to us in the hospital, we have a better chance of getting the Soldiers home alive,” said 1st Lt. Michael Douglass, a combat lifesaver instructor with the 399th. “That is what combat lifesaver is all about…saving lives.”