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    Life Saving Lessons

    FORT CARSON, CO, UNITED STATES

    10.21.2019

    Story by Sgt. James Geelen 

    4th Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade

    FORT CARSON, Colo. – According to Staff Sgt. Bliss M. King, senior medic, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, the Combat Lifesaver (CLS) course is a bridge between the first aid training given to all Soldiers during basic training and the medical training given to combat medics. The CLS certified Soldier can assist the combat medic in providing care and preparing casualties for evacuation when they have no other combat duties to perform.
    “Rough Riders” from 4th SB, 4th Inf. Div. recently completed the 40-hour course that consisted of both classroom work and a trauma scenario for Soldiers to apply what they learn. The skills that the Soldiers learn in the Combat Life Saver Course are enhanced versions of the first aid training that he or she had in their basic training.
    “The goal is to teach the units that are getting ready to deploy how to perform basic lifesaving measures,” King said. “We teach them M.A.R.C.H., (meaning) massive bleeding, airway, respiration, circulation, and hypothermia. They have to learn those steps in order, because the wrong intervention at the wrong time can kill someone.”
    The class did not just focus on physical injuries, as the brigade chaplain also discussed about suicide awareness.
    “Suicide awareness is vital in today's Army because we are increasingly in danger of losing our most valuable asset, the Soldier,” said Chaplain Edward W. Wright, brigade chaplain, HHC, 4th STB, 4th SB, 4th Inf. Div. “My hope and intent in doing Suicide Prevention/Awareness training is to aid in preventing another suicide, and to get the Soldiers to recognize that having a suicidal thought is somewhat normal, especially when Soldiers are going through so much stress in their life. But I also want to bring the many resources to their attention and remind them that there's always another day; there's always hope.”
    Pvt. Dashad Morton, human resources specialist, 22nd Human Resources Company, 4th STB, 4th SB, 4th Infantry Division, believes the course will benefit all Soldiers.
    “I think this class will help because a lot of things happen when Soldiers are both on and off duty,” Morton said. “The medics are teaching you things that might seem crazy but you’re going to be know how to help safe another person’s life.”
    At the end of the weeklong training, the Soldiers conducted CLS certification drills under stress to best test their ability to use the techniques to prepare them to apply the methods in a real-world scenario.
    “I cannot sit back and be gentle, I have to add the pressure so that way we know they’re capable of performing when they’re getting shot at,” said Sgt. Alexander Jimenez, clinic medical sergeant, HHC, 4th STB, 4th SB, 4th Inf. Div. “I think that CLS is way more important than a medic, because you’re not always going to have a medic right there with you. The nearest medic could be 10 or 15 minutes away and without immediate care, the wounded would not survive that scenario.”
    -30-

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 10.21.2019
    Date Posted: 08.05.2020 15:09
    Story ID: 362824
    Location: FORT CARSON, CO, US
    Hometown: COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, US
    Hometown: MANSFIELD, PA, US

    Web Views: 10
    Downloads: 0

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