Day 25  (Thursday  April 23, 2009)

Isabella flew into Kansas today and drove from Kansas City International Airport to Fort Riley.  But, before she arrived, we had class…

COMBAT LIFE SAVER (CLS)...day 1.  Sounds impressive, doesn’t it?  Essentially, this is the life-saving course designed to provide basic and applicable knowledge and skills to every soldier deployed.  The course is tailored to combat situations and what we, as soldiers, can do in the field to sustain life and transport the wounded to an advanced care arena where critical care docs can work their magic.  This was a good class for even the docs to experience; knowing what the priorities are of the medics in the field can only help us do our job better.  I’ve included a few pictures from the day.  Here is one of our Majors volunteering to have a Nasal Pharyngeal Airway put in his nose…awake…yuck.  This airway device is a tube that extends from the tip of the nose to the back of the throat, creating a passage way for air to enter.  This is helpful when unconscious or semi-conscious patients can’t keep their tongue from falling against the back of the throat, inevitably blocking air movement.  Here, we were taught how to use a “litter” to transport a patient.  A litter is a historical military term (as far as I know) for a stretcher used to carry out the wounded.                                                          

Check out the goofy look on the guy looking at the camera instead of paying attention to class.

After the Combat Life Saver class, we had another “Leader Engagement” in which two of our team members practiced using an interpreter to navigate through a meeting.

 

Anxious to bolt from the last task of the day, I ran back to the barracks, called up Isabella and had her come pick me up.  She found a room at the Army Lodge on base, which made it very convenient to see her once our training exercises were complete.  We took it easy and just relaxed.  It was great to have her there.  I missed her terribly. Yes, as you may have suspected, I didn’t return to my 39 roommates and the guy who snores two bunks down from me.  And, I didn’t miss it a bit.