« This is what an IED explosion looks like | Main | Change of Command »

June 12, 2004

Battlefield Medics

My son, currently training at MCAGCC at Twentynine Palms for his return to Iraq this summer, called last night to describe his most recent adventure. He went through a couple days of combat first aid training - one of the tasks involved learning how to insert IV lines. The Marines practiced on each other - Shane's partner missed the vein the first time, hit it the second time, and drained a pint of saline into his arm muscle the third time. Shane said he felt like Popeye.

When it was Shane's turn to practice, he hit the vein the first time but when he removed the tube, the needle stayed in the vein. He said the place looked like a slaughterhouse as the patient said, "Hey, let's see just how much blood I have." I asked Shane what lesson he took away from this and he replied, "The human body is like a balloon and it can burst."

Marines in Iraq are practicing too. Here, Sgt. Donnie A. Crumley, a mechanic with the motor transportation section, IMEF HQ, waits as fellow mechanic Cpl. Carlos Santiago inserts an IV into his arm during the combat life savers course held at Camp Fallujah.

Posted by Deb at June 12, 2004 04:28 PM

Comments

good job donnie !
i hope you come back in one part next year.
your cousin
:-)

Posted by: bjoern at September 1, 2004 02:51 PM

hey donnie!
a lot of greetings from the rest of your family in good old germany, hope to see you soon, take care of you!

your other cousin! :-)

Posted by: Miriam at September 20, 2004 06:32 AM