Posted on 02/03/2008 8:41:30 AM PST by SandRat
BAGHDAD — Coalition Transition Teams have been teaching Iraqis combat lifesaver classes (CLC) for several years. Recently, at Joint Security Station Jazeer, medics from the 7th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police (NP) Division were the instructors teaching fellow Iraqis these valuable skills.
“There have been two main individuals I’ve been using throughout the class, that I identified early on from a previous class to be my instructors,” said Sgt. Jason Kun, a medic with Company C, 610th Brigade Support Battalion, Task Force Dragon, and Silver Lake, Kan., native. “I was able to bring them back and utilize them to teach several classes themselves.”
The NP instructors are medics with their unit and were charged with teaching their fellow shurta, Arabic for police, basic CLS skills including basic bandaging, vehicle extrication, and inserting an IV.
The students are now able to take their skills back with them to their respective units within their brigade, and also to the people of Iraq.
“The medic course is very important because you need it everywhere,” said Iraqi Brig. Gen. Karim, commander of the Iraqi brigade. “You don’t need these skills just in the compound. You may need them to treat your family.”
When the medic skills are needed in the NP compound, the police will be better prepared to save a life if needed.
“They’ll actually be able to do some work on the ground to improve the chances of the injured Soldiers staying alive,” said Spc. Jonathan Matesic, a medic with Company C, 610th BSB and native of South Hampton, N.Y.
With the help of the National Police Transition Team, the 7th National Police Brigade aims to be self-sufficient and fully mission capable.
“We’re trying to depend on ourselves from now on. The Coalition is helping us, but we’re trying to do our things by ourselves,” Karim said.
The training conducted by the NP medics was the first step, but it was a successful step.
“I just stood back there and monitored them, and they did an outstanding job” Kun said.
This step in training the NP is important, as a major part of U.S. strategy in the war is training the Iraqi security forces to be self sufficient.
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