The British Army has introduced a new, enhanced Combat Life Savers (CLS) position to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex modern battlefield.
Medics from the Royal Army Medical Services treated a casualty during a lesson scenario using the new Combat Life Saver (CSL) skills.
The Army has revamped the way it deals with traumatic incidents by replacing the Team Medic with a new Combat Life Saver role.
Sergeant Bartholomew, 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, watched over the exercising troops to observe their methods of treatment during a lesson scenario in a Forward Operating Base (FOB).
16 Medical Regiment are instructing qualified medical personnel from across the Royal Army Medical Services.
A trained Combat Life Saver will be able to provide advanced first aid and potential life saving techniques in combat situations.
A medic from 16 Medical Regiment explains the method of delivery for their Combat Life Saver (CSL) scenario.
The new medical role will bridge the gap between the basic first aid training provided to all soldiers and the specialist skills of combat medics. It will replace the Team Medic role.
Combat Life Savers will be trained to NATO standards, improving consistency in medical treatment when working alongside allied forces. The enhanced role will enable non-medical soldiers to deliver more advanced care, including procedures previously restricted to specialist combat medics.
Medical personnel play a crucial role in supporting combat operations. Their primary mission is to provide rapid medical care to injured personnel, with the aim of saving lives and increasing lethality by returning those capable back into the fight.
The key advancement is that a CLS non-vocational medic will be able to perform a needle decompression of the chest, a procedure previously only carried out by combat medics. This technique relieves air build-up in the chest from penetrating injuries, allowing the heart and lungs to function more effectively.
The Combat Life Saver will also adopt the 'MARCH' protocol (Massive haemorrhage, Airway, Respiration, Circulation, Hypothermia/Head injury), replacing the previous CABC (Catastrophic Haemorrhage, Airway, Breathing, Circulation) approach.
The new training course for this role is five days long, doubling the length of the previous team medic training. This extended programme covers treatment from point of injury through to evacuation. It includes treatment skills in head injuries, hypothermia treatment, pain management, splinting, applying tourniquets and calling in a medical evacuation.
This course creates a multiplier effect for life-saving skills across the Army. By training the trainers, we’re ensuring that critical medical knowledge reaches more personnel on the front line.
A dedicated five-day instructor course has been designed by medical specialists from 16 Medical Regiment under the leadership of WO2 Aaron Wrigley. He said: “Medical personnel play a crucial role in supporting combat operations. Their primary mission is to provide rapid medical care to injured personnel, with the aim of saving lives and increasing lethality by returning those capable back into the fight.”
The instructor course prepares qualified medical personnel – including nurses, combat medics and doctors – to deliver Combat Life Saver training at their own units.
WO2 Wrigley continued: "Many of the medical professionals on the instructors' course will not have had to deliver training to fellow soldiers before. This course teaches them how to deliver immersive practical medical training. We are giving them a toolbox to use, and they can go back to their own units and use whatever tools they need to deliver the course.”
“This course creates a multiplier effect for life-saving skills across the Army. By training the trainers, we’re ensuring that critical medical knowledge reaches more personnel on the front line.”
At the 16 Medical Regiment HQ in Colchester there are two environmental rooms that have been designed for this type of training. One of them is a mocked-up jungle room with lighting and sound creating atmospheric effects for reality.
When using their medical skills for real, the soldiers won’t be in a classroom. It will be in a more challenging setting. Having the equipment to create sounds and add to the atmosphere makes for better, more immersive training.
“We want to make the training engaging,” explained Captain James Archdeacon who worked with WO2 Wrigley to design the course. “When using their medical skills for real, the soldiers won’t be in a classroom. It will be in a more challenging setting. Having the equipment to create sounds and add to the atmosphere makes for better, more immersive training.”
The Instructor Course will give the medically qualified professional staff the skills to deliver an engaging high-quality course. They have learnt about instructional techniques, how people learn best, how to prepare and plan a lesson and how to run a scenario and deliver feedback.
The Combat Life Saver will not replace the Army combat medic who will remain crucial for providing emergency medical care to injured soldiers.
Captain Archdeacon concluded: “One of the morale components of fighting power is that soldiers know if they are injured, they will be looked after. It’s a lot of responsibility and the extensive training and preparation the non-medically qualified soldiers receive will be just the start. Once they have passed the course they will continue to practice their skills to prevent skill fade. Training is the cornerstone of successful medical treatment.”
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