First aid training continues for infantry Soldiers, even during redeployment

Courtesy Photo | Chief Warrant Officer 3 Douglas Dombrowski, battalion maintenance officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and a Gatesville, Texas, native, practices applying a tourniquet on a fellow Soldier June 27 during a combat lifesaver recertification at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq. (Photo by: Capt. Orlando Guzman)  

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IRAQ

06.27.2010

Courtesy Story

103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

Story by: Capt. Orlando Guzman

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq — Soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) recertified their combat lifesaver qualifications June 27 here.

The training—extending the Soldiers’ certifications and renewing confidence in their skills—is being conducted on Saturdays and Sundays through mid-July at the 28th Combat Support Hospital at COB Adder.

Staff Sgt. Napoleon Solis, senior medic with HHC, 3rd. Bn., 141st Inf. Regt. and a Pharr, Texas, native, said the one thing he wanted all his students to take away from the class was the knowledge of how to save another person’s life.

“Medical information and techniques for treatment are constantly being improved and changed and every Soldier must be frequently refreshed and re-taught to keep up with the latest trends,” he said. “Just like anything else, [medical] skills are perishable and must be maintained.”

Solis instructs his classes by reading various scenarios from handouts, doing hands-on practical exercises and then having his classes take a group examination.

Spc. Gilberto San Pedro, a supply specialist from HHC, 3rd., Bn., 141st If. Regt. and a San Benito, Texas, native said he enjoyed the class because the instructor was realistic, basing the training off of combat scenarios that actually occurred.

San Pedro also said it is good to stay proficient in medical training because anything can happen at any time.

The ten specific lessons that are being covered in the class for the Soldiers to stay recertified included how to request a medevac, apply a combat application tourniquet to an extremity, treat an open chest wound and perform a needle chest decompression.

“The training is vital, imperative and important enough that everyone on COB Adder should attend, because someday somebody might have to save your life,” said Sgt. Salvador Mendez, administrative noncommissioned officer with HHC, 3rd., Bn., 141st If. Regt. and a San Juan, Texas, native.

At the end of the classroom instruction and examination, each Soldier walks away with his or her certificate of training and is a certified combat lifesaver for another year.

• Date Taken: 06.27.2010
• Date Posted: 07.10.2010 08:46
• Story ID: 52645
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ