GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – At basic training, Soldiers are taught fundamental first-aid techniques that are essential to combat survival, but the training has its limits. On the battle field, certified combat medics are not always readily available when their specialized training is needed.
Due to this harsh fact, April 9, 2003, the Army implemented Army Regulation 350-1 to govern the training and certification of a new level of first-aid-trained Soldiers: Combat Lifesavers.
"Immediate, far-forward medical care is essential on a widely dispersed and fluid battlefield to prevent soldiers from dying of wounds," the regulation states. "The combat lifesaver is a non-medical soldier trained to provide lifesaving measures beyond the level of self-aid and buddy-aid," it adds.
A combat lifesaver can slow and possibly stop the worsening of a wound's condition until evacuation of a casualty is possible. However, performing combat lifesaver actions is always secondary to a Soldier's main mission.
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Ellis, non-commissioned officer in charge of medical evacuation needs for the Joint Troop Clinic, is Guantanamo's only combat lifesaver course trainer.
"CLS certification itself is for the war-time situation," Ellis said. He added that the practice of having more advanced medical training for non-medical Soldiers has been in place since World War II. However, the combat lifesaver course was reevaluated after the fighting in Iraq called for more overall training.
"You can't always have a medic on site," Ellis said. The combat lifesaver program was created to help cover more situations with appropriately trained Soldiers, he added.
"Basically, it's teaching you to put on a band-aid," Ellis said of the Army's traditional first aid training. With combat lifesaver certification, however, much advanced techniques and equipment are used and trained with.
For example, combat lifesavers are trained how to properly evaluate casualties, whether in or out of combat, and how to use both the emergency trauma dressing, better known as the Israeli Bandage, and the combat-application tourniquet which is compact enough to be applied with only one hand.
A highlight of the course is demonstrating – on another person – how to properly administer a saline lock and intravenous fluid drip, as well as demonstrating insertion of nasal airway tubes to give unconscious Soldiers a way to breathe.
On Guantanamo, combat lifesavers are needed in several instances, including the running of all weapons ranges and some training exercises, and many Moral, Welfare and Recreation sporting events. Though not an overall military requirement, Ellis said, Joint Task Force mandated the need.
"Commanders sign off on all risk assessments for training; whether they need a CLS, a [hospital] corpsman, or a trauma person," Ellis said.
Within the detention camps, combat lifesavers can save time for medical treatment if either a guard or detainee is injured or otherwise wounded, Ellis added.
Ellis conducts, at minimum, one combat lifesaver course per month, with each class lasting three full days. Ellis said he attempts to conduct classes without mixing units, needing about 12 Soldiers for a full class.
"I do it all by units," Ellis added. "I don't like mixing units. It keeps unit integrity."
Since October 2007, Army basic combat training sites have been certifying new entry Soldiers as combat lifesavers, Ellis said. Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., Ft. Jackson, S.C., Ft. Sill, Okla., and Ft. Benning, Ga., all have the combat lifesaver course in their standard plans for their basic training.
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