Marines Learn to Save Lives with Navy Corpsman Training

USS BONHOMME RICHARD, At Sea (NNS) -- Hospital corpsmen attached to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, currently embarked aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), conducted a combat life saver course over several days for embarked Marines, ending with an overnight exercise March 2.

Attached Navy corpsmen provide general and emergency medical care during combat and while deployed. A platoon has an average of one corpsman for every 14 to 30 Marines. When the demand for medical care is greater than the amount of corpsman available, the other members of the platoon must render emergency medical care to the wounded.

"This training is important because the battlefield respects nobody," said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class (FMF) Marcos Benavides. "If a corpsman goes down or if a corpsman is not close to where the actual casualties are happening, we are giving the Marines the tools to help save lives."

Navy corpsmen who previously deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq conducted the course which took several days to complete. The course included academic curriculum of anatomy and physiology basics, how to clear the blocked air passage of a patient, how to control bleeding and how to give an intravenous injection.

After completing the course work, the students tested their new skills during an overnight field training exercise meant to challenge them both mentally and physically. The exercise consisted of various combat scenarios involving medical emergencies a unit could possibly see during operations.

"We are trying to get them under pressure to emulate a combat situation," said Benavides. "That's why they wear the full gear and we scream at them a little bit, but still teach them at the same time."

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