Photo By Master Sgt. Jennifer-Rebecca Williams | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Trick (center) of Inverness, Fla., the brigade medical...... read more read more
Subscribe
BAGRAM, Afghanistan – “Bang, bang, bang, bang! You’re under attack! Get down! Get down!” a voice breaks through the morning quiet, sending soldiers diving and scattering.
Screams and groans quickly follow as injured Soldiers call for a medic.
“All right, CLS, where are you? What are you looking for right now?” shouts U.S. Army Spc. Jessica Williamson, a medic with the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade’s Aviation Consolidated Aid Station.
Luckily, soldiers of Task Force Falcon, 10th Mountain Division, are not literally under attack; this simulated ambush, complete with mock injuries, tests the soldiers going through the lanes of the Combat Lifesaver Course here July 1.
“We received a lot of after action reviews saying that soldiers wanted more hands-on training during CLS class. So, we felt that the lanes were a great way for them to get this training,” explained Williamson, a Long Island, N.Y., native. “It’s their first real-life, so to speak, experience in the sense that they’re under pressure, they have to treat a wound that they see- the moulage that we’ve created on the patient- so, they see it, it’s there, [...] and they have to act on it quickly and aggressively in order to control the injury.”
According to Williamson, the realism of the ACAS CLS lanes drives home the significance of the course and ultimately ensures the students react appropriately in the event of a casualty.
“The interventions that we teach these soldiers can prevent the most common causes of death on the battlefield - blood loss and chest wounds,” said Williamson. “By showing them how to treat them and stop those conditions from killing the soldier, the injured soldiers’ chances for survival increase very significantly.”
Her fellow medic and lanes instructor, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Trick, the brigade medical operations non-commissioned officer in charge and native of Inverness, Fla., agreed.
“CLS is definitely echelon one care, where the rubber meets the road,” said Tick. “This is where the most lives can be saved, honestly. Even if every soldier can just learn how to effectively use a tourniquet; tourniquets can greatly increase a soldier’s expectancy to live by about 60%.”
Williamson and Trick developed the lanes together, creating scenarios to highlight the interventions most needed to save a life. They group the soldiers in patrol-sized elements, pulling a few of the soldiers aside to place a moulage [simulated injury device] under their uniform. The group heads down the lane, comes under attack, and reacts to the different injuries presented, all under the watchful eyes of Williamson and Trick who elevate the situation by yelling out their critiques of the students’ actions and decisions.
“These lanes really help out by putting a lot of pressure on the students and showing them how tiring it can actually be and how sweaty and how unforgiving CLS can actually be,” explained Trick.
“I think that every soldier in the Army should be trained 100% on CLS,” added Williamson. “I think these skills are good skills for everyone to have, should something happen on the battlefield or just walking down the street. You have the ability to help that soldier or treat that person.”
The 10th CAB commander, Col. Pedro Almeida, shares that belief and directed every soldier in the brigade to complete the course. While an enormous task, Trick said the commander’s goal is nearly met.
“Right now, out of roughly 4,200 soldiers, we are at 75-percent certified.”
More importantly, Trick continued, there’s an increased chance of saving an injured soldier.
“I think 100% across the board is a great thing because you never know who’s going to be injured and you never know who’s going to be around when that person gets injured,” he said.
That’s something that Trick knows first-hand. Back in 2007, Trick was injured while on a patrol with his infantry squad. He was the sole medic.
“I wasn’t fully able to treat myself. But since everyone in my squad was 100-percent CLS certified by me, they all knew what to do. They worked with me before through the CLS lanes and knew exactly what they needed to do to help me out and to make sure I stayed alive.”
Students going through the lanes echoed this sentiment, saying they felt better prepared for a bad situation.
“I would hate to be that guy who saw an accident and wasn’t able to help,” said U.S. Army Capt. Royal Atwood, officer-in-charge of the air defense airspace management cell for the 10th CAB. While Atwood, who hails from Fort Drum, N.Y., feels all soldiers should go through the CLS course, he also feels the lanes in particular drive those lessons home.
“This is not my first CLS class I’ve been to, but this is the best hands-on class. The classroom portion was adequate, but it was the hands-on portion that I believe was really well put together. I got a lot out of it and I think the other students got a lot out of it, too.”
For Pfc. Joy Odom, an aviation operations soldier completing her first deployment with the 10th CAB, the lanes reinforced the need to focus in an overwhelming situation.
“Overall, it was kind of crazy but good hands-on training,” the Portsmouth, Va., native admitted. “The lanes were awesome with the casualties and different aspects of how they were hurt. But it’s how you can expect things to go in real life and how to treat it, not to treat it the wrong way, but the right way. I’m confident that I can actually help that person.”
It’s that sense of confidence that keeps Williamson and Trick teaching the course and running their nerve-wracking, action-packed, realistic lanes every two weeks.
“For soldiers to understand how to how to treat the more severe, life-threatening injuries, in order to save their battle buddies’ life is why we do this,” Williamson stated.
| Date Taken: | 07.18.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2011 06:07 |
| Story ID: | 73940 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 203 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Medics’ realistic training drives home life-saving skills, by MSG Jennifer-Rebecca Williams, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
