SERE instructors attend Army combat lifesaver course

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kali L. Gradishar
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
SPOKANE, Wash. (AFNEWS) --  A handful of survival, evasion, resistance and escape instructors were given the opportunity to attend a combat lifesaver course March 19-21at the Army National Guard classroom here. 

The SERE instructors were invited to attend the course in return for previously giving members of the 396th Combat Support Hospital a taste of survival and cold weather techniques in early February. 

"From time to time, we provide survival training to the Army unit, so they've opened up a training opportunity to us," said Tech. Sgt. Tim Foster, the 22nd Training Squadron unit training manager. 

SERE instructors are trained at a nine-day wilderness first responder course, though additional medical training could be beneficial on a day-to-day basis and during deployment, he said. 

The lifesaver course provided training on how to perform advanced first aid and how to conduct potentially lifesaving procedures in order to thwart a serious injury from worsening until professional medical personnel arrive. 

The procedures taught during the course are more advanced than the typical self aid and buddy care given to military personnel, but are more general than the all-inclusive training professional medical personnel receive. Some of the topics covered included providing medical first aid while under fire, medical and case evacuation of patients, and other useful skills required to assist someone in dire need. 

Two of the course instructors, Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Kling, a drill sergeant, and Sgt. 1st Class Susan Beaulaurier, volunteered their own arms and veins to teach the students to insert intravenous fluids into a patient. 

Senior Airman Tyler Harrington, a SERE specialist at the 22nd TRS, was able to practice inserting an IV into Sergeant Kling while the others observed. They were eager to assist with demonstrations during the class, said Sergeant Beaulaurier, commenting on the eagerness and motivation that was apparent in the classroom. 

"I attended the class to get better medical training," said Airman Harrington. "It never hurts to learn a little more." The Airmen were put to the test during an outside practical exercise that simulated an action-packed environment in which first aid skills needed to be applied. 

The class concluded with a day filled with hands-on testing of the knowledge the Airmen received during the three-day combat lifesaver course. 

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