Recon Marines get medical training

[Dominique]

Recon Marines learn devil doc skills
Lance Cpl. Brandon R. Holgersen

CAMP SCHWAB (Nov 17, 2004) -- A Marine screams "Corpsman up!" from a dark, smoke-filled room on the second floor of a bullet-ridden building.

The corpsman can't respond. He is in another room desperately trying to keep a Marine from bleeding to death. In this scenario, it's up to a reconnaissanceman to keep his injured, fellow Marine alive using lifesaving techniques normally employed by experienced medical personnel.

Forty Marines with Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, learned advanced lifesaving skills when they conducted the weeklong Tactical Combat Casualty Care Course here Nov. 1-6 to learn how to treat wounds on the battlefield in the absence of a corpsman.

"In a six-man (reconnaissance) team, everyone's a corpsman," said reconnaissanceman Cpl. Jeffrey R. Milbrandt, who participated in the course.

Six corpsmen with the battalion taught the Marines how to treat casualties in a tactical environment without compromising fellow Marines and the mission, according to Chief Petty Officer Anthony J. Shattuck, the leading chief petty officer for the company and chief instructor for the course.

"A corpsman might be with you on a mission, but if he gets shot, then what?" said reconnaissanceman Cpl. Keith C. Waldrop.

Marines learned to assess casualties, set up intravenous therapy systems, open airways for breathing, apply field dressings, apply tourniquets and evacuate casualties to safety during the course, according to Shattuck.

"They are going to know as much as a regular field corpsman," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew R. Smith, a reconnaissance corpsman with the company. "We are going to try and teach them everything we know in case one of us (corpsmen) goes down."

The reconnaissance Marines learned how to check for breathing, a pulse, and assess and treat wounds, according to Smith.

"The Marines need to learn to assess a casualty properly, so they can treat him with the limited number of (medical supplies) in their bags," Smith said.

The reconnaissance Marines set up intravenous therapy systems, which keep injured Marines' blood pressure stable and help prevent them from becoming dehydrated, according to Smith.

The Marines practiced inserting large needles attached to intravenous systems into each other's arms.

"The hard part about the (intravenous therapy system) is sticking the vein," said reconnaissanceman Lance Cpl. Matt A. Campagna. "You can miss the vein or stick it all the way through the vein, but it's nothing harmful."

In one instance during the course, and to make the training realistic, a corpsman gave a hearty tug to an intravenous therapy system that was connected to a Marine to make sure he had the system properly secured. The system stayed secured, showing that the Marine was paying attention in class.

The course will be very beneficial to Marines who could deploy to Iraq, according to Campagna, who participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

At the end of the weeklong course, the Marines will have confidence in their buddies' abilities to take care of them if they get shot or wounded in battle, according to Shattuck.

The only units who receive this training are Army Rangers, reconnaissance Marines, reconnaissance corpsmen, Navy SEALs and other special forces, according to Smith.

"This training is about lifesaving steps - stuff you need to know to keep a person alive," Campagna said.

[Jefffar]

Sounds like some good ol' fashioned cross training.

Good on 'em.

[Edorian Damotil]

Can`t hurt to know how to keep your fellows from bleeding the whole floor. When I was in the army we had the standard first-aid training for one week followed by two days (about three months later) of intensive training including the correct usage of a medical transporter to prevent us from the well known "How does this stupid thing work?!" situations.

I hate people telling me, that cross-training would suck and only specialists would be needed...