Photo By Mark Abueg | Cassandra Reed, administrative assistant for the 579th Engineer Detachment (FEST-M),...... read more read more
VICKSBURG, Miss. – Medic! I need a medic! These are words you may have heard in the movies, but certainly not words you want someone calling out for you in real life.
What if there was no combat medic nearby? What if all you had was your battle buddy whose specialty was being an engineer? What could he or she do for you?
Army figures show that severe bleeding from an arm or leg, tension pneumothorax, and airway obstruction continue to be the most preventable causes of death in modern combat. If this is the case, it is imperative that your battle buddy have some type of training to provide immediate care that can save your life.
Soldiers and civilians of the 579th Engineer Detachment (Forward Engineer Support Team - Main) learned to treat injured personnel on the battlefield during a Combat Lifesaver course here for the past three days, Feb. 8-10.
They received the proper training to offer lifesaving measures as a secondary mission to their primary duties.
Spcs. Jomichael D. Sanchez and Cassandra H. Dutkiewicz, combat medics for the 46th Engineer Battalion based out of Fort Polk, La., taught the CLS course, which Sanchez described as combat oriented first aid skills training.
“For individuals deploying, it’s a method or just kind of a mindset or order of how things should be done to get the best results from … non-medical personnel in a combat environment,” he said.
According to provided CLS training data, around 90 percent of combat deaths occur on the battlefield before the casualties reach a medical treatment facility. The harsh reality is that most of these deaths are inevitable because of injuries such as massive trauma and massive head injuries.
It has been estimated that proper use of self-aid, buddy-aid, and combat lifesaver skills can reduce battlefield deaths by 15 to 18 percent, according to the training data.
“If there’s someone right there who can give them basic first aid, it makes our job easier,” Dutkiewicz said.
The FEST-M may encounter harsh conditions during their overseas contingency operations, which is a fact that makes this training much more important.
“We don’t know what we’re going to encounter and in case something does happen, one of us is going to have to actually perform these life-saving skills and actually put to use this training we just received,” said Sgt. 1st Class Candido Aguilar, FEST-M senior construction supervisor.
Even though the FEST-M won’t be on the ‘battlefield,’ the chances of an injury happening is a very random, sporadic event, said Sanchez about his personal deployment.
“This last tour we had more people died on the FOB (forward operating base) just going about their normal business than we had combat deaths out on field, out on patrol, out on missions, so it’s a very, ‘you don’t know what could happen when,’ and often times the medics are in a completely different area, unavailable or probably the ones injured.” Sanchez said.
The Army recognizes that combat medics cannot be everywhere at one time. The combat lifesaver is an important aspect of providing additional first aid to injured personnel.
“That kind of mindset is really what a lot of the training focuses on is not exposing yourself, but also just exposing that information on how you can treat these injuries we might not necessarily be able to get to before you can,” Dutkiewicz said.
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2010 05:45 |
| Story ID: | 59972 |
| Location: | VICKSBURG, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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