MILGROUP BOGOTA (1) -- HELPING SOLDIERS SAVE LIVES

UNCLAS BOGOTA 002290 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER MARR CO SUBJECT: MILGROUP BOGOTA (1) -- HELPING SOLDIERS SAVE LIVES -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (U) The Combat Life Saver (CLS) course is one of a broad range of hands-on training programs provided by the U.S. military to the Colombian Army (COLAR). CLS gives medics and field soldiers essential skills to stabilize wounded soldiers on the battlefield until they can be evacuated. Several episodes of combat, accident, and illness already testify to the benefits of CLS in saving soldiers' lives; over the long term it will help the COLAR reduce mortality, improve battlefield morale, and increase combat effectiveness. End Summary. ¶2. (U) This is the first in a series of cables profiling activities of the U.S. Military Group in Colombia. Its missions (Army, Navy, Air Force, Logistic, and Air Component Coordination Element) provide material assistance in equipment and cooperation to the respective service arms of the COLMIL. Its Planning and Assistance Training Teams (PATTs) are units of two or three U.S. military personnel co-located with the Colombian Military, providing field training in combat skills and advisory guidance to commanders and staff. -------------- Soldiers as First Responders -------------- ¶3. (U) The Combat Life Saver course was developed to increase battlefield survival rates for Colombian soldiers wounded in combat. Due to limited mobility and on-site medical personnel, soldiers in combat must be stabilized where they are wounded for prolonged periods until they can be evacuated and treated. Historically soldiers have not been well trained in evaluating a patient, checking vital signs, treating for shock, or stopping bleeding. They have not had proper materials for splinting fractures and bandaging wounds. Many wounded soldiers arrived at dispensaries with trash bags or bloody towels on dirty wounds, or with poorly made field splints. With CLS training, targeted especially to the counter-guerrilla battalions who undertake most offensive combat, soldiers can now be the first line of treatment for wounded personnel. -------------- Fundamentals of Tactical Medicine -------------- ¶4. (U) The CLS course teaches COLAR combat medics and aidmen the basic principles of tactical medicine throughout all phases of a combat mission. Its three main subject areas are care under fire, tactical field care, and combat casualty evacuation care. These include hemorrhage control, airway management, the treatment of gunshot and shrapnel wounds, intravenous fluid resuscitation, triage, and air / ground evacuation. Combat medics are also taught health protection measures and limited primary care skills. Training culminates with a field exercise in which they must demonstrate both individual and team level medical skills. To date PATTs have given CLS training to 572 COLAR personnel, who can now care for trauma patients on the battlefield and thereby increase the combat effectiveness of their units. -------------- -------------- Saving Lives -- in Combat, Accidents, and Illness -------------- -------------- ¶5. (U) Since its launch last year, the PATTs' Combat Life Saver course has already earned its name in saving lives -- not just in combat but also in cases of accidents and ordinary illnesses which have historically depleted the COLAR's fighting strength: - In one brigade, CLS training and supplies directly saved the lives of more than 20 soldiers wounded in combat or by land mines in the last four months. Doctors at headquarters say battlefield stabilization care has improved dramatically, with patients now arriving at the hospital with cleanly bandaged wounds and proper splints. - When a grenade was accidentally shot into a mess tent, killing two soldiers and wounding 24, a physician arrived on the scene to find soldiers already administrating first aid to the casualties. The doctor said the soldiers' CLS skills were the key factor in the survival of the 24. - 16 women and children wounded by a detonation of ordinance were treated by soldiers for massive trauma, open abdominal wounds, and fractures similar to those simulated in their CLS trauma module. - In the midst of a CLS session, medics in training assisted in treatment and evacuation of three soldiers with multiple gunshot wounds. The students were credited with the rescue of the most severely wounded soldier. - Preventative medicine procedures have been extremely beneficial in keeping units up to strength. Previously many soldiers were unfit for combat due to ordinary illnesses like fever, diarrhea, infected cuts, or stomach viruses. Medics were not equipped with basic medication, nor did they have the knowledge to treat minor daily ailments. Since the training, the number of sick soldiers has fallen drastically while returns to duty have risen. Drucker