Crisis Application Group Austere Medicine 1 class review
Jul 28, 2016 4:30:01 GMT
Gingerbread Man, Browning35, and 3 more like this
Post by misterdark on Jul 28, 2016 4:30:01 GMT
Hi guys, before going dark, I had mentioned I would post a review of the CAG Intro to Austere Medicine class I took this week. So, here ya go.
The class was held at the CAG shoothouse outside of Conyers. The house is set back off the highway a little, in a heavily wooded area. It might have once been pretty nice, but has been basically trashed to proper "horror movie" standards, allegedly as a meth lab before Jay and CAG took possession of the place. I have no opinion on the matter, I was there to learn basic medic stuff.
Jay Paisley is the owner of CAG, and I have to say, he knows his stuff. Not arrogant, and will take the time to explain his position and reasoning on just about any question the class (or should I say, Me) had about the why's and wherefor's of his instruction.
While the class seems to be advertising towards medicine in austere situations (hence the name) and I thought it would deal more with hiking / bugout injuries, the class is actually a basic level combat medic course. As the day wore on, the "combat" part became more and more prevalent...
Jay is a proponent of keeping it simple, and using the MARCH system to identify the biggest causal factors in combat loss of life, and the most effective / quickest ways of dealing with it. For those who don't know. MARCH stands for:
M - Massive Hemmorage. Find and stop the bleeding fast.
A - Airway. Make sure the patient has a clear airway, if not, make one.
R - Respiration. Essentially, a chest search, making sure there isnt any trauma that could lead to a tension pneumothorax situation.
C - Circulation. Does the patient have a pulse in the extremities? Core only? Are there any obvious breaks or trauma in the arms and legs?
H - Hypothermia and Head Trauma. Keeping the patient warm, and why.
Then he adds an "E" at the end, or preparing the patient for Evac.
We went thru each of the main points, with hands on practice on each other with the equipment found in a typical ifak. So for the "Massive Hemmorage" we practiced with CAT and SOF-T tourniquets; "Airway" was the standard AHA airway exam as well as a demonstration of proper use of an NPA (wasn't me, thank God) "Respiration" covered use of a chest seal, and the how, when, and why of a decomp needle; "circulation" was a study of how to get and log basic vital signs and patient condition for follow-on caregivers; and "hypothermia" was basically telling us to wrap the patient in a space blanket...
After we had time to practice each element, Jay had us team up in 2's, and run thru a full assessment, with simulated injuries. He was slowly ratcheting up the intensity and pressure, but never in a demeaning manner. I have a problem with learning something, then demonstrating it right away - I have to write it down a few times and spend time to commit it to memory -and he pretty quickly caught on to that, and let me observe a time or two before practicing. It really helped, and I managed to just barely keep up with the 3 other students.
After a 30 minute break for lunch (we were told to bring food to the site, instead of leaving) they ratcheted things up a notch. Jay took one person with him into the back of the house to be a "patient", and set them in a room with moulage simulating gunshot injury. Then had one person come in and assess and treat the victim. The fun part? There was a shooter, still in the house. The opfor had an airsoft rifle with approximately 10 million pellets, and each "rescuer" was given an airsoft pistol with 17 rounds. As the rescuer, you had to make the decision to engage the bad guy, or render aid. The opfor wasn't actually trying to hit anyone, but hearing him move around the house and pop a few pellets right next to your head while you were trying to apply a TQ certainly helped with the adrenaline. It was intense the first time through, but by the 2nd and 3rd runs, it was all starting to come together. Jay was demonstrating the basics of Care Under Fire vs. Tactical Field Care, and making us think through when we could be medics, and when we had to fight. Also, it was interesting to start looking at the spaces in the house from a more tactical view: i.e. my patient is down in the middle of a hallway - do I pull him around the corner and into a room before administering aid? What cover and concealment can I take advantage of in a close quarters environment? I have to admit, it was invigorating. And exhausting.
Once everyone was showing proficiency in handling the "low level stuff" as he said, Jay and hisenforcer assistant took it to a whole 'nuther level. The basement of this house is like something from Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it is dark, there are partial walls, lots of corners, and they set up a "patient" somewhere in there - as well as a shooter. But this time, the shooter is trying to shoot at us...
We were set up in teams of two, one medic and one providing security. The medic was given an airsoft G17, security had an airsoft AR with 30 pellets. The opfor had the aforementioned 10 million pellets, in a full auto RPK copy.
We entered the basement from outside, and had to navigate the space til we found the patient and (tried to) establish security. I won't go into many details, but my primary takeaways are:
1. if you keep it simple, you can work thru almost any trauma care even with "bullets" zipping nearby.
2. Airsoft pellets at across the room distances cause real injury. I took a burst to my arm while trying to be a macho security guy, and have 8 tiny little scabs/bruises on my left arm to prove it. (and took several more to my chest rig) I did get hits on the opfor, but the exercise didn't allow for him (or me) to go down. I really want to avoid ever being shot with REAL bullets, I would have had my arm blown clean off if that had happened in the real world. But I did put 4 or 5 center of mass on him while being shot at, so I guess that counts for something.
3. The Enola Gay smoke grenades are damn cool. Unless you have to breathe them for a few minutes.
All in all, it was a fantastic, fairly realistic simulation of what could be encountered in an active shooter situation, or in combat. Not what I signed up for, but I loved every minute of it. And learned a great deal about what to do if I ever really need to use my kit.
We started around 930am, and went almost nonstop til 6pm when everyone was basically wiped out from the heat and nonstop action. Personally, I think the quality of training and time spent on details was well worth the $275 price tag. I'll go back for the level 2 medic class. As soon as it cools off a little.
The class was held at the CAG shoothouse outside of Conyers. The house is set back off the highway a little, in a heavily wooded area. It might have once been pretty nice, but has been basically trashed to proper "horror movie" standards, allegedly as a meth lab before Jay and CAG took possession of the place. I have no opinion on the matter, I was there to learn basic medic stuff.
Jay Paisley is the owner of CAG, and I have to say, he knows his stuff. Not arrogant, and will take the time to explain his position and reasoning on just about any question the class (or should I say, Me) had about the why's and wherefor's of his instruction.
While the class seems to be advertising towards medicine in austere situations (hence the name) and I thought it would deal more with hiking / bugout injuries, the class is actually a basic level combat medic course. As the day wore on, the "combat" part became more and more prevalent...
Jay is a proponent of keeping it simple, and using the MARCH system to identify the biggest causal factors in combat loss of life, and the most effective / quickest ways of dealing with it. For those who don't know. MARCH stands for:
M - Massive Hemmorage. Find and stop the bleeding fast.
A - Airway. Make sure the patient has a clear airway, if not, make one.
R - Respiration. Essentially, a chest search, making sure there isnt any trauma that could lead to a tension pneumothorax situation.
C - Circulation. Does the patient have a pulse in the extremities? Core only? Are there any obvious breaks or trauma in the arms and legs?
H - Hypothermia and Head Trauma. Keeping the patient warm, and why.
Then he adds an "E" at the end, or preparing the patient for Evac.
We went thru each of the main points, with hands on practice on each other with the equipment found in a typical ifak. So for the "Massive Hemmorage" we practiced with CAT and SOF-T tourniquets; "Airway" was the standard AHA airway exam as well as a demonstration of proper use of an NPA (wasn't me, thank God) "Respiration" covered use of a chest seal, and the how, when, and why of a decomp needle; "circulation" was a study of how to get and log basic vital signs and patient condition for follow-on caregivers; and "hypothermia" was basically telling us to wrap the patient in a space blanket...
After we had time to practice each element, Jay had us team up in 2's, and run thru a full assessment, with simulated injuries. He was slowly ratcheting up the intensity and pressure, but never in a demeaning manner. I have a problem with learning something, then demonstrating it right away - I have to write it down a few times and spend time to commit it to memory -and he pretty quickly caught on to that, and let me observe a time or two before practicing. It really helped, and I managed to just barely keep up with the 3 other students.
After a 30 minute break for lunch (we were told to bring food to the site, instead of leaving) they ratcheted things up a notch. Jay took one person with him into the back of the house to be a "patient", and set them in a room with moulage simulating gunshot injury. Then had one person come in and assess and treat the victim. The fun part? There was a shooter, still in the house. The opfor had an airsoft rifle with approximately 10 million pellets, and each "rescuer" was given an airsoft pistol with 17 rounds. As the rescuer, you had to make the decision to engage the bad guy, or render aid. The opfor wasn't actually trying to hit anyone, but hearing him move around the house and pop a few pellets right next to your head while you were trying to apply a TQ certainly helped with the adrenaline. It was intense the first time through, but by the 2nd and 3rd runs, it was all starting to come together. Jay was demonstrating the basics of Care Under Fire vs. Tactical Field Care, and making us think through when we could be medics, and when we had to fight. Also, it was interesting to start looking at the spaces in the house from a more tactical view: i.e. my patient is down in the middle of a hallway - do I pull him around the corner and into a room before administering aid? What cover and concealment can I take advantage of in a close quarters environment? I have to admit, it was invigorating. And exhausting.
Once everyone was showing proficiency in handling the "low level stuff" as he said, Jay and his
We were set up in teams of two, one medic and one providing security. The medic was given an airsoft G17, security had an airsoft AR with 30 pellets. The opfor had the aforementioned 10 million pellets, in a full auto RPK copy.
We entered the basement from outside, and had to navigate the space til we found the patient and (tried to) establish security. I won't go into many details, but my primary takeaways are:
1. if you keep it simple, you can work thru almost any trauma care even with "bullets" zipping nearby.
2. Airsoft pellets at across the room distances cause real injury. I took a burst to my arm while trying to be a macho security guy, and have 8 tiny little scabs/bruises on my left arm to prove it. (and took several more to my chest rig) I did get hits on the opfor, but the exercise didn't allow for him (or me) to go down. I really want to avoid ever being shot with REAL bullets, I would have had my arm blown clean off if that had happened in the real world. But I did put 4 or 5 center of mass on him while being shot at, so I guess that counts for something.
3. The Enola Gay smoke grenades are damn cool. Unless you have to breathe them for a few minutes.
All in all, it was a fantastic, fairly realistic simulation of what could be encountered in an active shooter situation, or in combat. Not what I signed up for, but I loved every minute of it. And learned a great deal about what to do if I ever really need to use my kit.
We started around 930am, and went almost nonstop til 6pm when everyone was basically wiped out from the heat and nonstop action. Personally, I think the quality of training and time spent on details was well worth the $275 price tag. I'll go back for the level 2 medic class. As soon as it cools off a little.
