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NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Italy – Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric
G. Christiansen knows the reality of saving lives in combat and he
wants to make sure Marines receive the same knowledge.
While
on a mission north of the Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan
in 2012, Christiansen was patrolling with soldiers attached to the
U.S. Army's V Corps, alongside Afghan National Army soldiers, when
an improvised explosive device detonated. He was the only corpsman
or medic, as the Army calls them, on the patrol.
“I remember
we had to get to the soldier who stepped on the pressure plate,
immediately,” stressed Christiansen. “He was severely injured.”
Christiansen and the men had to clear more than 100 yards to
reach the soldier on the ground. Upon arriving to the casualty, he
immediately pulled his tourniquets out and applied them to the
injured soldier's right leg and left arm, both amputated from the
blast, to stop the bleeding.
“It was a matter of seconds,” he
remembered.
That's what Christiansen and five corpsmen and
medical officers stressed to 28 Marines with Special-Purpose Marine
Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa during a Tactical
Combat Casualty Care course, Dec. 14-18, at Naval Air Station
Sigonella, Italy.
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Nearly 30 Marines participated in a Tactical Combat Casualty Care course to learn how to save lives in combat situations, Dec. 14-18,
2015 on Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy. Medical officers and corpsmen with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa taught the Marines how to apply emergency medical services to injured service members in the event a corpsman is injured or not near a casualty.The Marines and sailors are deployed to NAS Sigonella, Italy, with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Bryan Peterson)
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Throughout the week, the Marines learned how to use
combat application tourniquets, a nasopharyngeal airway
device, how to treat sucking chest wounds with needle
decompressions, how to apply splints on fractures, when to
administer oral antibiotics and pain medication, calling in
medical evacuations over military communications and how to
properly carry patients.
Marines were put to the
test on the final day of instruction, vaguely similar to
what Christiansen experienced in Afghanistan. The sailors
had the Marines conduct five minutes of strenuous exercise
to get their heart rates up, followed by a loud verbal
“boom” from the corpsmen. The Marines immediately moved
toward the mannequin, assessed it and applied tourniquets
and splints. The Marines then took the simulated casualty to
the extraction point.
“Today was a mimic of that
because this is really nothing different than what service
members experienced the past 14 years on the battlefield,”
said Christiansen. “It was all about trying to make it real
as possible for them.”
Christiansen said a normal
patrol, depending on the size, will have one or two corpsmen
with the Marines. He added if even one corpsman is injured,
the whole unit could be in trouble.
“We would be
ineffective,” he said. “That's why we are doing this. This
is why we need to have Marines, preferably all of them,
trained on this because they may be closer to the injured
Marine or even corpsman and their actions can save someone's
life.”
Corporal Garret E. Miller, a radio technician
with SPMAGT-CR-AF, participated in the course for the
reasons Christiansen said: “to know what to do if he is ever
caught in a situation.”
Visibly exhausted, sweating
profusely and taking moments to catch his breath, Miller
said the course was taxing, yet, fulfilling to know he has
the knowledge if he ever finds himself in a similar
situation.
“I won't lie, I was a little nervous
beforehand because I didn't know what to expect,” said
Miller. “But, as long as you know what you're doing and
you're sure of yourself, you'll be fine. I mean, the
corpsmen made the scenario as real as it could be. There's
no time to think, it's just you reacting. We learned a lot
here this past week and I'm extremely confident in my new
abilities because we have some very knowledgeable corpsmen
who taught us.”
Christiansen said any one of these
Marines could go on a crisis response or theater security
cooperation mission in Africa and a Marine may get injured
during operations and they need to be prepared as a corpsman
may not hear the battle cry “corpsman up!”
“I've
been to too many memorial ceremonies in Afghanistan where we
said our goodbyes before our fallen brothers made their
final trek home,” said Christiansen. “So, when I was asked
what type of training we could be doing while here in Italy,
this is the first thing I said we should train the Marines.
I love taking care of Marines and it's why I keep doing
this. This is what I wake up every morning to do which is
making sure every one of them gets to come home.”
By U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Bryan Peterson
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
The U.S. Marines
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