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| Iraq |
| Combat Lifesaver Course Saves Marine Lives |
| 2007-02-06 |
| HADITHA, Iraq (Feb. 2, 2007) -- When Sgt. Nathaniel Tatum heard a loud “Boom” while on a security patrol through the windswept streets of this Euphrates River city, he didn’t think about how to react to the improvised explosive device (IED) blast – he simply “let the training take over.” After two Marines were wounded in an IED blast, Jan. 18, 2007, Tatum and fellow Marines along with the squad corpsman, who the Marines call “Doc”, provided immediate medical attention to the injured Marines who would have been in “bad shape” without immediate attention, according to HM1(FMF/CAC) Patrick W. Horgan, independent duty corpsman with the Hawaii-based 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. While providing life-saving medical attention is business-as-usual for U.S. Navy corpsmen, the medical experience for the average U.S. Marine is often limited to the basic first-aid courses received in recruit training. However, Tatum and a group of approximately 100 Marines from the Battalion attended a Combat Lifesaver Course (CLC) while training in California, June, 2006. In the CLC, corpsmen teach the Marines how to handle a casualty until a corpsman or medical officer is able to tend to the wounded. Throughout the course, Marines were taught how to apply a tourniquet, treat various wounds, administer an IV, recognize and treat shock, control blood loss and the anatomy of ballistic injuries. “This [Combat Lifesaver Course] is probably some of the most important training a Marine can receive before deploying to a combat zone,” said HM3 Philip Oppliger, corpsman with Echo Company 2nd Battalion. “Ideally a corpsman is always going to be there when someone goes down, but that’s not always possible.” Each squad of 10 to 14 Marines employs a corpsman, but when the squad has multiple casualties the Marines often give each other initial medical care, according to Tatum. When Tatum saw two Marines injured after an IED detonated, he knew the corpsman needed help treating the wounded Marines, he said. Within seconds of the blast, Tatum was applying a tourniquet and assessing the wounds of one of the wounded. By the time the squad corpsman was able to reach the wounded Marine, Tatum had already checked the Marine’s vital signs and applied a tourniquet to the Marine’s leg and stopped the bleeding. “All I saw was a Marine in my squad, my friend, laying on the ground,” said Tatum, who received a concussion in the blast. “The first thought I had wasn’t if he was OK or not, it was to get a tourniquet on him and stop the bleeding. There wasn’t really time to think, the training just took over.” While the corpsman continued to treat the wounded Marine, Tatum ran over to the other wounded Marine who was being treated by a fellow Marine. “I was a little dazed after the blast, but when I saw (the wounded Marine), I ran over to him and applied a tourniquet on his leg as fast as I could,” said Lance Cpl. William R. Hussey, infantryman and 19-year-old from Baltimore. While both Marines sustained significant injuries, the immediate medical treatment from fellow Marines and the corpsman likely saved their lives, according to Horgan, a 36-year-old from Aurora, Colo. “The treatment these Marines received at the scene in the few minutes following the blast was crucial,” said Horgan. “When we (corpsmen) can rely on Marines to provide effective medical treatment when a corpsman is unavailable it makes our job easier, but more importantly it increases the survivability of the Marines.” When a Marine or Sailor is wounded in combat, a chain of events is set in motion designed to get the wounded service member as stable as possible while getting him to a medical facility where he can be thoroughly treated as fast as possible. This window of time is seldom more than 10 minutes. “Usually we only have five to seven minutes to work on him before he gets CasEvac’d (Casualty Evacuation - put on a helicopter bound for the nearest medical facility),” said Horgan. “Sometimes it can get kind of chaotic.” The list of treatments performed by corpsmen in their five to seven minute window is staggering; stop the bleeding, clear the airway and regulate breathing, apply IV’s, assess multiple wounds, apply bandages and splints and provide medication among numerous other tasks. With so many things to accomplish in such a short period of time, someone who’s never seen a corpsman in action might assume this process would be hectic. To the contrary, the “Docs” are trained to keep their cool under pressure. “When things go down, you’ve got to pause and take a breath and quickly evaluate the situation,” said Oppliger, a 22-yaer-old from Bend, Oregon. “You say to yourself, ‘OK, we’re taking fire from this direction, I’ve got my bag (medical supplies) and there’s the patient.’ Then you start running.” “Keeping cool” is one of the most important tools in the corpsman’s bag for a couple reasons, according to Horgan. “If you’re calm and collected about the situation, it creates a calmer environment,” said Horgan. “You’re able to provide better care when you’re calm and everything just runs a lot smoother, which ultimately increases the survivability of the patient.” The other reason according to Horgan is that “keeping cool” is contagious. The other Marines and onlookers see their calm and collected reaction and it instills confidence that everything that can be done is being done. While the corpsmen are trained in medical procedures from the time they enter the U.S. Navy, they “feel safer” knowing if they should become a casualty, Marines like Tatum who have gone through the CLC are on hand to provide medical care, according to Oppliger. “Making sure the Marines know some combat medical stuff is our way of saving our own lives,” said Oppliger. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #16 OIF 3 21B, Broadhead6 is a Marine, and he's going back shortly. Oh, and welcome! :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-06 22:26 |
| #15 I saw that coming. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-02-06 21:44 |
| #14 Ship - yep. Broader sense, they're all my people. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-02-06 21:31 |
| #13 BH 6, What kind of Det are you in? I would assume you are the Det commander? If so, and you are in a deployment window, I would strongly encourage you to try to push your CLS-certified numbers to 25%-33% or so. 10% is not near enough to ensure that there is one around when you really need one. |
| Posted by: OIF 3 21B 2007-02-06 21:31 |
| #12 10% of my Det is CLS qualified. It is way beyond basic medical care learned at Recruit Training i.e. - stop the bleeding, start the breathing, protect the wound, treat for shock, etc. The new courses take into account the newest injuries often associated w/IED threats, etc. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2007-02-06 20:50 |
| #11 This is a lot more than CPR and basic first aid. It's about an extra 3 to 5 days of training, with the highlight being that everyone administers an IV with a saline-type solution. Every Soldier, and I would assume every Marine, has to demonstrate proficiency in First Aid as part of initial entry training, and must be retrained and retested on this periodically. CLS is way above and beyond that. CLS includes being issued an extra bag, complete with IV + needles, latex gloves, burn ointment, flexible splint material, J-tube for insertion into the larynx (intubation or something like that). It's a fairly rigorous course with a fairly tough exam. Hard part is that pretty much everyone has to give and receive an IV - that right there washes out a lot of the wimps. My unit had about a quarter of all personnel CLS qualified - this is in addition to the medics. CLS guys are really medics-lite as an additional duty, since the medics can't be everywhere, and someone has to be able to treat the medic if he gets hit. Since being a CLS is big promotion points for the Army, and you need someone who is going to get the job done under pressure, I usually sent only volunteers to the course, and selected those who weren't squeamish and had proven themselves. Usually team leaders/junior NCO/squared-away up-and-comers. |
| Posted by: OIF 3 21B 2007-02-06 20:42 |
| #10 The US Army National Guard has really been pushing the CLC since 9/11. A friend of mine went through it in 2003, and got set for a refresher at the end of 2003 since his NG unit was scheduled for Iraq. The Oregon National Guard has been pushing all NCOs to have taken and passed this course. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-02-06 15:53 |
| #9 We have had this in the Army for a number of years now. It is much more than bacic CPR and first aid. Each squad went through it and had refresher training. We had one aid bag per squad. The impressive thing was his off handed comment about seven minutes to medevac! It came across as seven minutes is a long time and that seven minutes is the standard. Folks a medevac in seven minutes is outstanding. HT to the med community for this standard! And I thought the Golden Hour was a great standard! |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-02-06 13:23 |
| #8 Any of your people Pappy? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-02-06 13:11 |
| #7 Agreed, it seems a lot more info than Boy Scouts or Boot Camp gives. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-06 13:01 |
| #6 I think the course they are describing here is a little bit more then just basic or advanced first aid. From the sounds of it... it's combat trauma oriented. By focusing purely on combat trauma they can deal with things in such a manner that soldiers will remember their training. For instance the average person that goes through an EMT class will forget 60% of their traning within 1 year if they do not put the training into practice, or review the training every so often... Marines are no different... most of them are not going to be focusing on battle field emergency care. They have other jobs to do... In a class designed to deal with combat trauma... you can take the top 10 things that you want your Marines to remember and give them that information... In these instances they don't need to have the knowledge of how to treat frostbite... no they need to know where to tie a touriquet, how to stop blood flow to a wound, and if they can teach the average marine how to give an IV... WOW! That's immediately useful info... Just rambling about something that I find interesting... Blackvenom-2001 |
| Posted by: Blackvenom-2001 2007-02-06 12:13 |
| #5 According to my friend Sgt Havey who served in Iraq over a year ago this was SOP for his Army unit. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-02-06 12:06 |
| #4 CPR, basic & advanced first aid, & a practical knowledge of human anatomy related to the foregoing should be a requirement of all high school graduates. Fat chance of that happening. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-02-06 10:53 |
| #3 Learned that in the Boy Scouts, sur prises e that they're just now teaching it to Marines, We also got this in Boot Camp. This should have been done years ago. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-02-06 10:41 |
| #2 Can we add this course to all US High Schools? |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-02-06 10:40 |
| #1 Now this makes about as much sense as anything I have heard in a long time. Way to go Marines... I hope that eventually this will become an integral part of all Marines basic training! |
| Posted by: Blackvenom-2001 2007-02-06 08:55 |