One last AAR and then I will leave you guys alone for at least a couple of weeks haha. This one was also posted on another forum by a student.
This past weekend I had the chance to take a course run by RSKTKR Medical, and thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts. The course was a one day course separated into two 4-hour modules. The first module was “First Aid for the Gunfighter” and the second module was titled “Medical Live Fire”. I’ll handle the two modules separately because that’s how they were taught.
The class actually started the night before with a two hour session that covered what the purpose and goals of the Medical portion of the next day’s class. The core of the course is understanding the Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) both as to contents and purpose. The IFAK is not a complete medical aid kit. It is a lightweight, compact kit with just a very few specific items intended to treat the three main causes of preventable death in combat casualties (massive hemorrhage, tension pneumothorax, and blocked airway.) Justin put it this way (paraphrased): “We’re not fixing anything. We’re slowing the progression of events so that a casualty goes from being seconds or minutes from death to being hours from death so that they can be moved for thorough treatment.”
During the hands on portion of “First Aid for the Gunfighter”, Justin explained not only the use of the items in the IFAK, but the why and the when (or when not) to use each item. The items covered during this class were the tourniquet, nasopharyngeal airway, chest seals, compression bandages, and haemostatic agents. Other techniques covered included casualty assessment, moving unconscious victims into the recovery position, wound packing, and reducing a tourniquet.
While Justin does sell a pretty good IFAK, that’s not his main purpose. There was no requirement to purchase his kit. He covered not just the specific models of each item included in his kit, but also many of the alternatives that are likely to be encountered. He has also been more than willing to provide me with advice about what to include in my kit.“First Aid for the Gunfighter” is not a complete first aid course. You won’t be combat medic after taking it. Justin does a very good job of packing a lot of material into a 4 hour block, but he is also very upfront and honest about what he doesn’t have time to teach. This class provides the basic building blocks for being able to deal with the traumas covered. As with a handgun course, it’s not one and done.
The “Medical Live Fire Module” was taught by Greg (AKA Cruz) and was primarily focused on manipulating the gun with one hand. Cruz started us off slow to get everyone warmed up and to see what he had to work with. Things progressed pretty quickly into one handed manipulation of the firearm (drawing, shooting, reloading, and malfunction clearing.) As with the medical portion, this class wasn’t intended to cover everything, it was intended to give you the basic building blocks for dealing with the weapon when you were reduced to one hand. Like Justin, Cruz did a good job of explaining what we were doing and why. He also discussed freely other techniques and what he did and didn’t like about each.
I’ll tell on myself here to illustrate what a good job the instructors did. The class size lent itself to having nearly one-on-one attention from either Cruz or one of the assistant instructors. About half way through the session, I started having one of those days. I turned into all thumbs and couldn’t seem to get out of my own way. Cruz and one of his assistants, Chief (I apologize, I’ve forgotten his real name) were very patient and tolerant of my fumbling and bumbling. They made sure that I did everything safely and helped coach me through my issues.
Overall, I have to say that I was very impressed with all of the instructors. To a man, they all obviously enjoy what they are doing, and acted like true professionals. The whole training staff did a good job at explaining what we were doing, and why we were doing it. They were tolerant of questions and gave thorough answers.
My biggest criticism of both modules was there just wasn’t enough time. The instructors did a good job with the time they had, but there’s always a drill you wish you had a chance to run again, or some hands on practice you’d like to have another go at. I can see these two modules easily being expanded into a two or even a three day course.
I was impressed with the way things were done and hope to get a chance to train with RSKTKR again in the future.