Combat Life Saver training aboard USS San Diego

Photo By Lance Cpl. Jeremy Laboy | Cpl. Chance Dollar, an infantryman with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit's (MEU) Headquarters and Support Company, applies a tourniquet to a simulated casualty during a Tactic practical application aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD 22), Nov. 17,2017. The Marines and Sailors of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and America Amphibious Ready Group participate in medical courses to learn procedures to stabilize a patient. USS San Diego is deployed with the America ARG and 15th MEU to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.  

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

11.15.2017

Courtesy Story

15th Marine Expeditionary Unit

Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and America Amphibious Ready Group participated in Combat Life Saver (CLS) course aboard USS San Diego (LPD 22), Oct. 5, 2017. CLS ensures Marines are proficient in medical skills necessary to stabilize a patient until they can be transferred to a higher echelon of care.

“It is a three-day course we offer to Marines to teach the basic combat lifesaving skills on the battle field,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Travis Gregoire, a Combat Life Saver course instructor. “In CLS they [the Marines] will learn how to insert an IV, nasal phalangeal airway, needle thoracentesis, and treat massive hemorrhaging as well as treating airways and respiratory distress. Lastly, they are tested with a final application putting all the material they learned to the test.”

The course is divided into multiple segments starting with classroom instruction and culminating with a practical application portion. The course progresses in a way for Marines to build the fundamentals of medical care so during the final practical application, they can treat patients while undergoing fatigue, stress and other environmental factors they may face in a combat situation.

Day one and two consisted of learning how to apply a tourniquet to understanding how to conduct an in-depth examination, explained Corporal Love, a Marine in Combat Logistics Battalion 15.
The classes and hands-on instructional training during CLS are taught by Navy corpsmen, and use a curriculum that builds up the confidence of the students to ensure proper techniques are used and knowledge is retained.

Day three the Marines went into the well deck of the ship carrying a full combat load, consisting of flacks and bullet-resistant plates, to conduct a series of exercises giving them the sense of fatigue they would feel in a combat or high-stress situation, said Love.

After heart rates rose and breathing grew heavy, the students in CLS had to treat Marines spread throughout the area who were acting as casualties with different symptoms to mimic an inactive battlefield.
“Some of the instructors added stress to the environment by yelling and pulling at us to simulate the chaos in a firefight. The point was for us to keep calm and show what we learned in the course,” said Love.

Navy corpsman closely watched Marines during the evaluation as they perform techniques they learned throughout the course ensuring they followed proper procedures and steps to life-saving care while showing they can be calm and rational in an extremely stressed environment.
“The purpose of the practical application is to evaluate the Marines on what they learned throughout the course and applying these lifesaving measures under extreme stress; these stressors add a sense of chaos and confusion, simulating as close to a combat situation as we can,” said Gregoire.

By the end of the course, Marines gained the proficiency to provide medical treatment in high-stress scenarios. Whether they are logistics, administration, riflemen, or any other military occupational specialty, they are life-savers by the end of CLS.

“I honestly think everyone in the armed forces should go through some type of Combat Life Saver training, because you never know when you could be put into that type of situation,” said Love.

• Date Taken: 11.15.2017
• Date Posted: 12.25.2017 14:34
• Story ID: 255922
• Location: MEDITERRANEAN SEA