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Airmen practice Self-Aid, Buddy Care

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Angelique Smythe
  • The Pacific Edge
A new computer-based training allows Airmen to take the course online and a hands-on class follows within 60 days.

"The CBT makes the training consistant across the Air Force so everyone gets the same level of training, and then the hands-on training reinforces everything you actually learn in the CBT with things you can use downrange to save somebody's life," said Tech. Sgt. Judy Stine, 36th Wing Self-Aid and Buddy Care advisor.

During the hands-on training students will get a feel for how some of the equipment work, so they not only will have book knowledge, but they will also actually have some experience in using some of this stuff, said Staff Sgt. Alton Oser, a Self-Aid and Buddy Care trainer.

During a SABC class Tuesday, students got a chance to use all the items in the Individual First Aid Kit, such as bandages, nasalpharyngeals, and tourniquets.

"It gives you a chance to touch it and feel it before you go down range, so you'll know how to put on a bandage or tourniquet, do a splint; it gives you good practice," said Sergeant Oser.

The students practiced using the items on one another and on mannequins. They learned the proper ways to stabilize, bandage, and stop bleeding from a patient's wound.

"You don't even have to be deployed. You can use this stuff if you fall down the ladder," said Sergeant Oser. "You'll know how to take care of the wound. You never know when you'll be in a situation when you can use it; you can save a life."

SABC training is scheduled for every two years.