Army Hopes to Stem Combat Deaths With New First-Aid Training

Army Hopes to Stem Combat Deaths With New First-Aid Training
BY DAVID WOOD
c.2005 Newhouse News Service


WASHINGTON -- Pinned down under enemy fire with an injured buddy -- his leg blown off, his face a mass of blood -- a soldier should first squeeze in behind the wounded man, allowing his body to absorb the incoming bullets, then yank a tourniquet onto the bleeding stump. When there is a lull in the firing, he should drag his buddy to cover, jam a rubber tube down his nose and turn him on his side so he won't choke.

That's the new first-aid curriculum being taught to all the Army's basic recruits, a sobering but realistic new requirement the Army thinks could save about 10 percent of the soldiers who now die in battle.

Over two years in Iraq, the most common causes of death among the 1,179 combat fatalities have been bleeding from arms or legs that have been smashed or explosively amputated, and bleeding or choking from serious facial wounds.

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