NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. –
A member of the 437th Aerial Port Squadron here, attended the Army's Combat Life Saver Course at the North Charleston National Guard Armory in North Charleston, S.C.
Staff Sgt. David Simmons was able to attend the course through coordination with his friend Spc. Ryan Kluge, a South Carolina National Guard soldier, who is one of the six instructors of the CLS course.
Sergeant Simmons is the first Airman out of Charleston AFB to attend the CLS course.
Sergeant Simmons saw this as an opportunity for professional development.
"The [CLS] training is going to be useful for the type of duties that I will be performing in my upcoming assignment," he said.
He felt that the course would be beneficial to his upcoming transition to a door gunner on a HH-60 Pave Hawk. Being a crew member on a Pave Hawk, requires performing search and rescue missions and medical evacuations. There could be a time that the CLS training would be a valuable set of skills to have, in the event they are ever needed.
"The training was more in-depth than I imagined. I learned a lot," said Sergeant Simmons. Sergeant Simmons will be attending the 12-week Aerial Gunners Course at the end of August in Albuquerque, N.M.
"This is a great way for the Air Force to see the way we [the Guard] operate and train. Its really good stuff," said Spc. Michael Crawford, one of the students taking the class.
All students in the CLS course must successfully start an intravenous catheter on another student. This is the first step in administering fluids and medication to an injured patient. Although he seemed nervous, when asked about administering his first IV, Sergeant Simmons said he was fine and didn't think it would be a problem.
Soldiers who are able to do this in a real-world situation save medics and other health care professionals valuable time when treating wounded warriors.
Of the 30 students, Sergeant Simmons was one of four to score one-hundred percent on the final exam.
This prompted a few jokes from his friend Kluge.
"I brought my Air Force buddy here just to show ya'll up," said Specialist Kluge, who was excited to have Sergeant Simmons in the class and to see him do so well.
The overall opinion of the students and instructors alike was that this type of cross training between the Air Force and the Army is a good idea and they all agreed they would like to see more of it in the future.
The other students in the class, except Sergeant Simmons, are members of the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, a South Carolina Army National Guard unit based in Charleston.
The 218 MEB has been tasked with the Chemical, Biological, Nuclear, Radiological and High Explosive Consequence Management Reaction Force, or CCMRF for short. The 218 MEB will assume command of the CCMRF mission beginning on October 1. This new task force will deploy on the order of the President once requested by a governor to help support state and local officials with a disaster man made or otherwise. The Pentagon has chosen the 218 MEB, to control more than a dozen Reserve and National Guard units throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The 218 MEB will be working along side many different civilian and military personnel when they are called upon.
"This is a great opportunity for some quality joint training between the Army and Air Force. With the upcoming CCMRF mission, this and other types of interaction will be vital to our success when dealing with a real world incident," said Sgt. 1st Class Leo Kahl, 218 MEB medical non-commissioned officer in charge.