129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Story by Spc. Joseph Bungert

RAPID CITY, S.D. – More than 600 Soldiers are scheduled to receive instruction in valuable medical lifesaving skills by attending the combat lifesaver course offered as a training opportunity to units participating in the 25th Golden Coyote training exercise taking place from June 6-20, in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Three classes with around 200 students in each rotation will take place throughout the exercise. In order to certify this many students in two weeks, the Golden Coyote coordination staff recruited an instructor package of 40 Soldiers from the 320th Medical Company, Combat Support Hospital from Greensboro, N.C.

Maj. Timothy Dayton, officer in charge and lead instructor with the 320th, said they usually teach 20-student classes. "This is the first time dealing with classes this size, and it's amazing the students are getting and retaining the information we are providing."

Sgt. Kiley Scott from Raeford, N.C., a combat medic with the 320th, said this is the first time she's helped teach more than 200 Soldiers at one time.

"It's definitely a new experience that has taught me a lot about medical supply procedures, time management and how to use it wisely," said Scott.

Scott is responsible for keeping the clinical rotations running smoothly, setting up the different stations, and making sure the instructors and students have the supplies they need during practical exercises.

Providing medical equipment and supplies to the instructors and students is placed in care of the 145th Medical Logistics Battalion from Seagoville, Texas.

Part of their training at Golden Coyote is to take the materials purchased prior to the course, inventory it and issue supplies to the instructors as needed.

The goal of the instructors and others involved in putting on the CLS course is providing the students with the training and skills needed to help someone survive a medical emergency.

Soldiers are taught how to start an I.V., do chest compressions, how to control bleeding with the use of a tourniquet, and apply dressings, especially to the chest where the patient may have a sucking chest wound that may impair breathing.

"The combat lifesaver course is an advanced course in first-aid. Sort of like a first responder to potentially fatal injuries," Dayton said.

He explained in the scheme of medical care, the combat lifesaver could be the first responder giving buddy aid, or first-aid, to an injured individual, stabilizing them until the patient can get to more advanced medical care.

According to Dayton, the combat lifesavers purpose is to prolong the casualty's life until more advanced care arrives. "Take, for example, a wound to an extremity like a severed limb. If someone is there and can apply a tourniquet, you've saved a life."

He said in past times without combat lifesaver training a severely injured Soldier would not have survived.

"When we got this mission we really didn't know what to expect, said Dayton." Now that the first rotation is just about over, it's good to see the fruit of the work we've done over the past nine months preparing for this.

"There is a good feeling among the instructors that they are able to impart their knowledge on someone else," said Dayton. "All the work is paying off. These folks are getting the information, they're enthusiastic and if there is one life saved on the battlefield, then we've accomplished something here."

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