An American general once said, "The more you sweat in training, the less you'll bleed on the battlefield." Well, one exception to this axiom is the CLS course, where today we learned how to administer intravenous fluids. Sounds innoucuous enough, except after watching a demonstration, then trying out the technique on a rubber arm, we each got to do it for real on each other. True to my expectations noted in the previous post, my training partner tried without success to find and puncture a vein on either of my arms. Lots of punctures...painful punctures...but no IV. Finally the evaluator medic and the Army nurse called a cease fire, and the nurse volunteered to serve as the combat casualty for my partner's test. He had no problem accessing her vein, but there was lots of blood flowing. (Thank you, SFC "M" for taking one for the team...I owe you!) then it was my turn. My training partner had a great vein, and I got in on the first try. Not as much blood, but that was luck, not technique. I'm glad that's over. Tomorrow we put everything we learned to the test in a practical exercise, complete with explosions, gunfire, and contractors playing the role of battlefield wounded. Then it's on to rifle qualification and other fun re-runs of RTC training.
By the way, my civilian job "battle buddy" surprised me this evening, met me at the "shopette" and gave me a log section cap. It's way cool, and I'm taking it with me to the sandbox. Yep, I'm being purposely vague about all this, but my loyal readers know what I'm referring to. Thanks, BB! It was great to see you. (I also got to see my spouse, and that is always excellent!)
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In past life I had to "stick" many arms and I tried to use the smallest guage needle at first but sometimes #22-24 needle was used to get the max fluid in at a fastest rate to safe a life. I know you Lep. and you'll do what it takes to save a life. Good training if a Medic isn't around, let's hope no one has to use CLS while deployed.
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