Photo By Staff Sgt. Rachel White | Spc. Mya McClintock, a behavioral health specialist assigned to Headquarters and...... read more read more
CENTCOM - Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard, nicknamed the “Red Bulls,” and the 396th Field Hospital out of Washington state are sustaining readiness by teaching and certifying soldiers through Combat Life Saver (CLS) training while deployed to the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility.
The 396th Field Hospital Forward Detachment 1, 2nd Medical Brigade, 807th Division has already conducted three CLS classes in theatre, certifying 57 graduates from 14 different units, and with the help of the Iowa Red Bulls, they will have graduated fifteen more students. The 40-hour training gives non-medical soldiers the skills they need to provide lifesaving care at the point of injury until higher-level medical support can arrive.
“CLS is the most important training we need to be focused on,” said Staff Sgt. Travis Wersky, combat medic assigned to 396th Field Hospital and the main instructor for the course. “There’s not always going to be a medic there. There’s not always going to be a doctor there. CLS, out of all the tiers of Tactical Casualty Combat Care, is usually the least trained on or used.”
The tiers of Tactical Casualty Combat Care range from tier one, the basics each soldier is trained in, up to tier four, combat paramedics. CLS, which falls under tier two, fills the gap between a soldier’s basic aid and the advanced interventions of medical professionals.
During the course, students learn to treat the three leading causes of battlefield death: massive bleeding, airway obstruction, and tension pneumothorax. They also practice evacuation procedures and how to communicate effectively with leadership to ensure patients are moved quickly to the right level of care.
“Most of the time, all we are doing is plugging holes and getting them to a higher level of care,” Wersky said. “Surgeons can take care of those holes.”
Sgt. Joe Seydel, a combat medic specialist from West Branch, Iowa, assigned to Charlie Company 334th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Iowa Army National Guard volunteered to instruct a portion of the class.
“This is my third time teaching CLS,” Seydel said. “I did it on my last mobilization to Poland. I taught it again before we left Fort Polk, and now I’m teaching it here.”
Seydel emphasized that CLS raises the standard of care a soldier can provide and strengthens unit survivability.
“CLS bridges the gap between all servicemembers and (combat medic specialists),” Seydel said. “They can’t quite do medical interventions, but they can get close. Whereas all a servicemember can do is apply a tourniquet, head tilt, chin lift. These guys are trusted more with hemorrhage control items. They are trusted with more airway interventions. They are trusted with chest seals.”
The instructors recognize the challenge of condensing lifesaving training into four days, but stress the value in ensuring soldiers have practical, hands-on skills.
“The most challenging is that (the course) is forty hours. It’s a lot of information in 40 hours,” Wersky said. “Retaining the knowledge is going to be the hardest.”
Still, both instructors believe it’s worth it.
“The options for hemorrhage control is the most critical skill students will take from this course,” Seydel said. “Massive hemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable death for service members in combat zones.”
By training soldiers as CLS, these medics are ensuring that lifesaving care is a priority.
| Date Taken: | 09.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.05.2025 09:18 |
| Story ID: | 547299 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Hometown: | WEST BRANCH, IOWA, US |
| Web Views: | 149 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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