Marines Train to Be First Responders on the Front Lines

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. --American service members deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan continue to fight against a hidden enemy whose strategies include the use of various improvised explosive devices, as well as hasty and planned ambushes. These tactics put men and women who wear the uniform in harm's way wherever they go.

Terrain, sand storms and other factors may delay medical attention for hours while squads of Marines only have one corpsman to treat the wounded. The time immediately after someone is injured is crucial to ensuring survival, so it's important for Marines to be able to help corpsmen treat the wounded.

Marines of 2nd battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., recently conducted a combat lifesaver course to prepare them to respond to the traumatic, and often times life threatening, injuries they may see on the front lines.

The four-day course utilized a variety of scenarios to train Marines, ranging from care of heat casualties, to treating for shock, to hemorrhage control, to triage on the battlefield.

"The most important things for these guys to understand is hemorrhage control and how we triage casualties," explained Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle Meiborg, a hospital corpsman. "Our triage is about putting guns back into the fight, so we have to treat the least wounded as fast as possible. Sometimes the best medicine is putting rounds down range."

Classes are followed by practical application and testing to ensure that Marines retain the newly learned knowledge. One such test comes after the casualty assessment class.

Meiborg paints a scenario for each Marine so they think about how to respond in a true-to-life scenario. The students have to consider the tactical situation and take security precautions to avoid senseless bloodshed. The men cannot allow personal feelings to cloud their judgment of a tactical situation, which could lead to more casualties.

A young Marine ready to participate listens intently as Meiborg builds a scenario for the casualty.

"You're on a dismounted patrol when the casualty triggers an [improvised explosive device]. What do you do?" Meiborg asks.

The Marine explains how to deal with the tactical concerns. Establishing security, looking for secondary IEDs and any other potential threats must be done before attempting to treat casualties.

"You come up on him and notice a large pool of blood on his left side, where his arm should be," Meiborg continues.

Quickly moving into action the Marine runs to the side of the casualty.

"WHY IS HE STILL BLEEDING?" yells Meiborg.

The flabbergasted Marine continues to do everything in his power to assess the situation. Unfortunately for his comrade, the simulated injuries take their toll seconds after the combat casualty care began.

"He's DEAD! He bled out, and why? Because you didn't apply pressure while you applied the tourniquet! Go back and study your course material," Meiborg demands.

His disgust is evident as he goes back to his class.

"Lives are at stake, you can't afford to slip up and make stupid mistakes," the corpsman explains. "Something like forgetting to apply pressure to an arterial bleed will cost lives."

The men conduct remedial training before they resume testing. They practice casualty assessment as well as applying tourniquets and other wound dressings. After some time, Meiborg lets the men test again.

"Go!" he yells.

Lance Cpl. David Adams runs out. He has one deployment under his belt and is looking forward to the chance to once again serve his country overseas.

"Are you okay?" Adams asks his wounded comrade. As he rolls him over, a knee sinks deep into the wounded man's shoulder, causing the flow of blood to slow.

Adams then pulls out a combat application tourniquet (CAT) and threads the severed limb through it, before cinching it tight and locking it into place.