FORT DRUM, N.Y. - When it comes to teaching combat lifesaving skills to her fellow New York Army National Guard Soldiers, 1st Lt. Christine Kalafut is passionate about it.
“I have seen many of these techniques save lives in the hospitals. I work in emergency medicine and I also ride as an emergency medical technician, and I have used almost every one of the techniques taught in CLS as an EMT,” said Kalafut, a physician assistant for the 369th Special Troops Battalion.
Kalafut, a resident of Mount Arlington, New Jersey, spent her Annual Training tour here Aug. 15-28, teaching a 40-hour Combat Life Saving (CLS) class to Soldiers of the 369th Sustainment Brigade.
Fellow instructor Sgt. Henry Qindara, an emergency care sergeant in the 369th Special Troops Battalion, is just as convinced that the training he and Kalafut provide pays off.
“I have seen situations where the first responder was a CLS-trained Soldier; they used the skills they learned in the class to manage the person’s airway,” said Qindara, who lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Kalafut and Qindara conducted two CLS courses during the brigades two-week training period.
These courses are provided to Soldiers regardless of their rank and consist of 40 hours of classroom training and practical training.
CLS classes can be taught in any type of environment. There are times where units don’t have a classroom available so being flexible is paramount, Kalafut said.
“We have taught everywhere, in armories, out in the field and in all sorts of situations,” she said.
Since Kalafut has been with the 369th Sustainment Brigade, she conducted over 20 CLS classes.
“Each class has 10-15 Soldiers, depending on the amount of my staff, I can do a class of 25,” Kalafut said.
“But I try to keep the instructor-student ratio down, so it is more hands on and they actually learn the material and they are doing it correctly,” she added.
CLS is a bridge between first aid training given to all Soldiers during basic training and specialized training given to combat medics. The course teaches Soldiers how to help a wounded comrade during what could be the most crucial moments after they are wounded, Kalafut said.
They gain the ability to help their fellow Soldiers until trained medical personnel arrive. Chances of recovery are increased if wounds can be treated quickly and properly, she said.
The CLS course ensures each Soldier is proficient in various basic aid techniques.
Soldiers learn how to:
• Insert nasopharyngeal airways — a plastic tube that allows a victim to breathe;
• Open a patient’s airway by tilting the head or lifting the chin;
• Control bleeding;
• Use the Army’s emergency bandage and how to improvise one;
• Treat an open chest wound using air-tight “occlusive dressings” and how to improvise one of those if needed;
• The proper way to apply the combat tourniquet and how to improvise one;
• Splint a broken bone;
• And finally how to transport patients in a litter or carry a wounded buddy.
“I think that the CLS class is extremely important because it can impact Soldiers out in the battlefield,” Kalafut said. “It can save a bunch of lives from basic steps.”
“The biggest thing I would like them to learn is how to control bleeding, because that is one of the things that cause the most deaths on the battlefield,” Kalafut emphasized. “Bleeding and airway are two of the most important topics they can learn in the CLS class.”
When CLS-certified Soldiers deploy they are issued a 23-item aid bag to carry with them. Their job is to provide immediate care before a medic gets to the wounded Soldier.
Quindara said the CLS class enables trained medics to share their knowledge with other Soldiers that have different jobs.
“It actually improves their survivability,” Qindara emphasized.
“The possibility of getting a deployment should not be the time to pay attention and listen to what is being taught in the class,” Kalafut said. “Soldiers need to pay attention because it is very important and I stress that a lot when I teach.”
One of the goals of the instructors who teach the CLS course is to change the mentality of the Soldiers, Kalafut said.
CLS has to be one of those courses where each Soldier is activity engaged in the tasks being taught.
“It’s not a check the box type of class,” Kalafut said. “It’s not a classroom instruction you sit in on and because you have to do it. It’s the type of instruction where you are going to understand what you are doing otherwise you are not going to pass the class.”
The battlefield is not the only place where Soldiers could find themselves needing to administer first aid. It is a skill that is used anywhere where someone is wounded needing medical assistance, she said.
Kalafut said Soldiers will see a need to apply first aid whether they are deployed or not. Soldiers get hurt all the time during training, she said.
They need CLS out on the range; they need CLS to do pretty much anything, she added.
There are units that are not fortunate enough to have medics and they will rely on their CLS individuals that are certified, Kalafut said.
“I think the biggest challenge in teaching the CLS class is to convey that even though this is classroom instruction Soldiers could be deployed and we are trying to make this as real world as possible and for the (Soldiers) to shift their thoughts from sitting in a classroom to getting out in the field and really doing it,” Quindara added.
“I am pretty adamant. If you don’t know what you are doing, I am not going to pass you. You need to prove to me that you know what you are doing,” Kalafut said. “I want to know that you know how to use (what you learn). I always tell the Soldiers that if it is me that goes down, I want to trust the person that I trained to take care of me.”