Practical applications give corpsmen’s training realistic feel

Photo By Cpl. Dalton Precht | Petty Officer 3rd Class David E. Martinez (left) of Columbus, Ga., a corpsman with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment’s Headquarters and Service Company, watches another corpsman go over the procedures to check the victim of a gunshot wound, for a collapsed lung as part of the Combat Life Saver course aboard Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz. April 16, 2014. Martinez is the lead instructor for the Combat Life Saver course that is taking place during the unit’s annual training event Talon Ex. The classes go over the basic procedures for saving a life during combat and break those procedures down to better understand the reason behind the way they do things.  

YUMA PROVING GROUND, AZ, UNITED STATES

04.16.2014

Story by Lance Cpl. Dalton Precht 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

YUMA, Ariz. - Marines and sailors from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division are training to improve their life saving skills while deployed for training at Talon Exercise at Yuma Proving Grounds, Yuma, Ariz. March 24 through April 23.

Petty Officer 3rd Class David E. Martinez of Columbus, Ga., is the Combat Life Saver class lead instructor.

“During this course people will learn about their selves and how to put other’s needs before their own,” said Martinez. “The training is going to make them tired and they will be pressured to perform under that added stress.”

Martinez said it is a humbling experience teaching your peers and with an open discussion forum rather than lectures.

Petty officer 2nd class Eric A. Dodson of Monroe, N.Y., the assistant lead petty officer for the Battalion Aid Station is overseeing the classes Martinez teaches.

Dodson said his job is to support the corpsmen in his command to the best of his ability and to ensure that what they are teaching and how they teach it is correct.

“I like to sit in on the classes and keep re-learning everything because it is all perishable knowledge,” said Dodson.

The classes and training are structured for Marines and sailors who already know the skills, but are attending to improve and also for those who have never learned the skills.

During this training the Marines and sailors enrolled in the course are with the unit during Talon Exercise and taking the available time to get the necessary training needed to be combat life savers.

“I support the corpsman the best I can make sure the day to day work is getting done and make sure the training is getting done,” Dodson said. “It is a big thing for me to see some take charge when normally they are not in a position to take charge. Efficiently and effectively teaching and training the content that is needed to be certified as a CLS Marine.”

• Date Taken: 04.16.2014
• Date Posted: 04.22.2014 11:25
• Story ID: 127069
• Location: YUMA PROVING GROUND, AZ, US