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Jan 1, 2:54 PM EST

Army Medics Receive Intense Training

By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) -- As the insurgents in Iraq step up their attacks, the Army has increased the intensity of its training of battlefield medics. That has meant moving the training from classrooms to more realistic settings and teaching medics to keep fighting the enemy - even if it means sometimes delaying treatment of the wounded.

"One medic on his weapon returning fire can make the difference between the enemy staying and continuing to fire on us, or saying `Whoa, I got to go,'" said Capt. Brad Tibbetts, the officer in charge of the Alfred V. Rascon School of Combat Medicine at Fort Campbell. "That's one thing we teach them - when to delay and when you can't."

This year, about 500 medics and others who work in small, isolated units will undergo training at the school. They attend the class partly to refresh skills they acquired during a 16-week course at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, where all new Army medics take civilian emergency medical technician classes and study battlefield techniques.

Much of the training at the Fort Campbell school is conducted using strikingly lifelike dummies controlled by computers. The dummies "bleed," breathe, blink and have a pulse.

Nearly 90 percent of Americans wounded in Iraq are surviving, compared with 73 percent in Vietnam and 78 percent in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Col. Richard Agee, chief of staff of the U.S. Army Medical Department and School, credited better body armor and better training of medical personnel.

Master Sgt. Luis Rodriguez, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the training at the school, is a former medic who was hit by mortar fire in Iraq. He lost a leg, but the use of a tourniquet helped save his life. He said the first thing he tells the medics is that the enemy will fire at them even if they are rendering aid, and they must be prepared to fight.

"The most important piece of equipment isn't your aid bag, it's your rifle," Rodriguez said. "We have to be aggressive, compassionate at the same time. But you have to bring the evil to the enemy."

Fort Campbell started holding the final test for the class in a dark room after 101st Airborne Division medics returning from Afghanistan said they were not prepared to treat the wounded without light.

In a recent test, an out-of-breath Pfc. Merinda Karn rushed to the scene with aid bag in hand for a test of her medic skills.

The 20-year-old Karn, who weighs about 140 pounds, was out of breath when she ran in to take the test because she had run six miles that morning and then dragged a 185-pound soldier about 200 yards before dashing into the room.

She flunked the test because in the dark she failed to feel an exit wound in the back of her "casualty," and it "died."

Afterward, the lights came on in the room and taps played. An instructor discussed what she did wrong.

"I just wasn't as thorough as I should've been," Karn said, before leaving the room to write a letter to the "casualty's" parents, also part of the medic training.

Tibbetts said it is OK to make mistakes here.

"I guarantee she probably won't miss it again," he said. "If they learn it here, that's a good thing."

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On the Net:

Fort Campbell: http://www.campbell.army.mil/

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Sounds like damn good training.

Thats great that the Military is intensifying the training. All MOS's should have such a program. When I went to BNCOC they just concentrated on MOS skills. It was a joke. I  got Honor Grad and didn't learn a thing. They should incorporate more Combat related skills ( 11B) in Places like BNCOC and ANCOC. Most non-combat units do not train on those skills. Unless your assigned to a Divison that requires it. Then its only done just once a year. The 101st and 82nd are awsome for the level of training that they get as compared to a Nasty Guard or Reserve unit.

I think training all soldiers to fight is a good idea, if we remember Jessica Lynch group weren't train to fight becaus they were pretty "back office" people, and look what happened to them. In Iraq there are no front and rear, just one huge battlefield.

I think training all soldiers to fight is a good idea, if we remember Jessica Lynch's group in the opening of the war in Iraq, they weren't train to fight becaus they were pretty much "back office" people, and look what happened to them. In Iraq there are no front and rear, just one huge battlefield.

They attend the class partly to refresh skills they acquired during a 16-week course at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, where all new Army medics take civilian emergency medical technician classes and study battlefield techniques.

Not 16 weeks, 19 weeks!

"One medic on his weapon returning fire can make the difference between the enemy staying and continuing to fire on us, or saying `Whoa, I got to go,'" said Capt. Brad Tibbetts, the officer in charge of the Alfred V. Rascon School of Combat Medicine at Fort Campbell. "That's one thing we teach them - when to delay and when you can't."

Extra training with rifles and heavier small arms is ludicrous considering medics are only issued m9's when they're deployed. The f@#king @$$hole is basically calling combat medics cowards and expects them to fight an entire AK-47 and RPG-wielding army with just a pathetic, puny, 9mm pistol instead of an actual rifle. They need to start allowing medics to protect themselves and their comrades, no training can do that when they're ill-equipped.

They don't like to actually arm medics because they believe that it would make the medics appear hostile while they're being shot at. I say WTF is with that especially considering the sub-human savages that the they encounter on today's battlefield.

Quoted: Extra training with rifles and heavier small arms is ludicrous considering medics are only issued m9's when they're deployed. The f@#king @$$hole is basically calling combat medics cowards and expects them to fight an entire AK-47 and RPG-wielding army with just a pathetic, puny, 9mm pistol instead of an actual rifle. They need to start allowing medics to protect themselves and their comrades, no training can do that when they're ill-equipped. They don't like to actually arm medics because they believe that it would make the medics appear hostile while they're being shot at. I say WTF is with that especially considering the sub-human savages that the they encounter on today's battlefield.

You don't know what you're talking about.  What a medic carries depends on the local command.

The Geneva Convention only limits Medics to carrying small arms.  That just means he's not allowed to man the 240.  He can carry an M16 or an M4, if his commander lets him, maybe even a SAW (I don't know if it's technically a small-arm or not).  Medics in Iraq with the National Guard unit I was in are carrying M4s.

in Iraq now allowed and was issued both an M9 and an M16A4- so in actuality have more firepower at my disposal than the infantry with only m4 carbines

Quoted: in Iraq now allowed and was issued both an M9 and an M16A4- so in actuality have more firepower at my disposal than the infantry with only m4 carbines

And that is on top of everything else you're carrying to do your job as medic, right?

also, more and more soldiers are being CLS (Combat Life Saver) trained. (such as your's truely)
Our CO's objective is to have everyone in the unit CLS q'd before deployment.

Bill Mauldin once had a carton where a Medic is being chastised because the Infantry got to wear a CIB, and the Medics didn’t get anything.  The Combat Medical Badge came much later.

I wonder what he would say about Our Medics in Iraq if he were still alive?

Hell yeah! give them the M16, M4, whatever....They earn it.

Quoted: Extra training with rifles and heavier small arms is ludicrous considering medics are only issued m9's when they're deployed.

Maybe you should maybe bother to research this before going out on a limb.  Every medic I saw in Iraq had an M16 or M4 with them.  

I am a 91W about to deploy. I have been told its either a  m9 or m16a2 for me.

Im glad to see that the takeing up arms is getting more attention....


I was in a Mort. Plt. those guys had been " trained" by the Medic before me that it was their job to look out for him, if they wanted the medic to look out for them...

He was kinda right,


I packed a 9mm and 2 aid bags plus my regular ruck...I could have also taken a M-4 if needed, It is all about "spreading the load"

Anyway Im glad to see it, It should be hit on a little harder in AIT


Born to Kill..

Trained to save.....


SOLDIER MEDIC!

Quoted: Anyway Im glad to see it, I should be hit on a little harder in AIT

Are there really that many females in 91W AIT?  

Quoted: Quoted: Anyway Im glad to see it, I should be hit on a little harder in AIT Are there really that many females in 91W AIT?

Thanks I fixxed it....


About Female Soldier Medics at Ft Sam....


Lets just say....


If you cant get into the pants of the Female persuation....Your dick is broke, or you are gay...

There sure are. 232 is full of them.

Who is at FSH right now? 232 or 187?

Quoted: There sure are. 232 is full of them.

Bravo Bulldogs!

Tusker Medics.  E  Co.