JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- The top three preventable causes of death on the battlefield are massive bleeding from extremities, open chest wounds and airway obstructions.
As part of the Army's effort to help prevent these life-threatening injuries from resulting in deaths, instructors from the 2-312th Regiment, 174th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East, routinely conduct combat lifesaver courses here.
"This training prepares [Soldiers] to save their battle buddy's life," said Staff Sgt. Stephen Landis, a 2-312th CLS instructor from Philadelphia. "You hate for something to happen, but they are ready in case it does," Landis and his fellow instructors, all combat medics with years of training and experience, teach the Combat Lifesaver Course to service members preparing for deployments. "It's a highly important skill," Landis said, "because when Soldiers deploy, they need this knowledge, and it is perishable."
CLS skills are more advanced than the self-aid and buddy-aid training given to all Soldiers during basic training and less advanced than the medical training given to combat medics. Soldiers who are CLS-certified can provide lifesaving measures as a secondary mission to their primary missions in combat. They may also assist combat medics in providing care and preparing casualties for evacuation.
During the four-day CLS course, students had to assist a casualty while under fire, provide tactical combat care and tactical evacuation care, and take a written exam. Successful completion of the course certifies service members for one year.
The Army continually updates and improves CLS training.
"I had a break of 10 years in service, and it is evident the Army is smarter about CLS training from lessons learned in combat," said Sgt. Princess Adu, a Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 174th Infantry Brigade human resources noncommissioned officer from Newark, New Jersey. "They have changed things to more effectively save lives."
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First Army Division East, in partnership with the United States Army Reserve and Army National Guard, advises, assists and trains reserve component forces, in both pre- and post-mobilization, through multicomponent integrated collective training, in accordance with Army Total Force Policy, Department of the Army, Forces Command and First Army directives to achieve Army Force Generation-directed readiness requirements.
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