Combat Life Saving Class and other news

This past month has been interesting and pretty fun. I attended the 40 hour Combat Life Saving (CLS) class. I had been wanting to get certified so I put it as one of goals on my initial counseling form. The class started off a little slow for me because it went over basic first aid. The second day was more interesting because we learned about tourniquets and naso pharyngeals (NPA). It was a little more fun because we acted out scenarios on each other with the tourniquets. We didn't insert the NPA's in each other though. Other classes have before. It would have been interesting to see what one feels like. The third day was my favorite. We learned how to insert saline locks and attach IV's. I had actually done it before at basic, but it is always nice to practice.

I have videos of me putting in the needle and trying to insert the catheter. Unfortunately I was not able to actually give him a saline drip because the catheter would not go in all the way in either arm. I still passed because all I needed to be able to do was hit the vein. The SGT who worked on me got the entire IV in and working in my right arm after first trying in my left. I was able to get a full 500mL of saline. :) It was pretty nice.

Thursday we went over the different types of litter carries and how to make improvised litters. We also covered the 9 line medevac procedures and filling out a Casualty Field card.

Today we just reviewed and then took the exam. I scored 100% so I was pretty happy about that. :)

Here is one of the videos of me putting in the saline lock


This video is of me receiving a saline lock

You can view the other videos I have here.

I volunteered to begin working out in the afternoons with the soldiers who can't pass their PT tests. I am really wanting to do well on my next one which is supposed to be in March sometime. I timed my 2 mile run time about a week ago. It was 15:50, which is not too bad considering a 15:46 is 100% for me, but it is a bit disappointing, because I was running around a 14:00! I have lost almost 2 minutes. Hopefully my time will begin to drop fast. I think that my sit-ups are ok, but I'm not sure how many push-ups I can do in 2 minutes right now. Our Platoon has a board up with the top 3 scores in each event. I would love my name to be on each list. Which as of right now means I need to be running about 14:15 for the 2 mile, do 85 sit-ups in 2 minutes and do 65 push-ups in 2 minutes. I know I can get the sit-ups, but I'm not sure about the other two. I'll just have to really start pushing myself now.

I did get some good news. I have been approved to get eye surgery to correct my vision. The army pays for it 100% and I won't have to wear glasses when we deploy next year! The only downside is that I have to wear my glasses until I get the surgery. The consultation won't be until April and then once I have that they'll schedule the surgery. I can't wait. I've been wearing my glasses for about 6 weeks now and I'm sick of them already. I just keep telling myself that it will be worth it. There are definitely times that I miss my contacts like when I'm running. I hate when my glasses fog up and I can't see so I take them off and I still can't see. :p

I'll try to post more often and keep everyone updated on how my PT is going. :)