Ironhorse soldiers conduct medical training

Photo By Sgt. Bailey Kramer | Spc. Sparks (right) and Spc. Jackson (left), both infantryman assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, practice basic medical skills taught in the Pegasus First Responder Course.  

CAMP BUEHRING, KUWAIT

04.14.2012

Story by Spc. Bailey Kramer 

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait – The 1st Cavalry Division has five core competencies throughout the division: physical fitness, marksmanship, maintenance, warrior tasks and drills, and medical training.

Because medical readiness is vital to the success of soldiers, in November 2010, the First Team commander, Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, enacted the Pegasus First Responder program to enhance medical training for all of his cavalry soldiers.

In order to maintain their readiness, soldiers of the Headquarters and Headquarters Troop of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division conducted four cycles of the Pegasus First Responders Course.

“In order to maintain the health and welfare of our fellow soldiers we must maintain medical readiness,” said Charleston, S.C., native, Sgt. 1st Class Kimberly Leonard, the medical operations non-commissioned officer in charge for the Ironhorse Brigade.

There are about 215 Hammer soldiers including only two medics, increasing the importance of basic first aid across the troop.
Throughout the four cycles, 83 soldiers have successfully completed the course.

“I learned a lot,” said Junction City, Colo., native, Spc. Daisy Reyes, of the Pegasus First Responder certified. “I learned how to stick someone with an [intravenous needle] and [insert] a [nasopharyngeal airway] to help them breathe.”

This four-day course included two days of instruction, a day of hands-on learning and a day of medical simulation training.

During the hands-on portion, soldiers were required to correctly wrap a splint, successfully stick another trooper with an IV and insert an NPA in their nose.

On the final day, the soldiers created teams and cleared a room of mannequins with missing limbs by successfully wrapping a tourniquet around the appropriate areas to stop bleeding.

“I ran into the room, it was dark and fake blood was all over the floor, it was crazy,” Reyes said about the simulation training. “The strobe lights were blinking crazy, and you had multiple mannequins on the ground you had to ‘save.’ It was very educational, helped give it a real life effect.”

Not only did it help soldiers to get a basic feel for experience, it helped give soldiers confidence that they would be able to perform the important steps of first aid, should the need arise.

“The course makes soldiers more confident and comfortable in responding to emergencies,” Leonard said.

Soldiers do not practice first aid skills on a daily basis, and is important to the well-being of fellow comrades.

“It’s the simple things that save lives,” Leonard concluded. “Applying tourniquets is a life-saving event.”

• Date Taken: 04.14.2012
• Date Posted: 04.22.2012 11:40
• Story ID: 87142
• Location: CAMP BUEHRING, KW
• Hometown: CHARLESTON, SC, US