A Slow Sunday

I haven't yet had a chance to go to church, since this phase of my training started. The local service starts after training commences. Since the group is trying to finish all of the 1st Army required training before Memorial Day, there isn't time to take a half day off anywhere. I miss going to church, but I would miss going home one more time, if we didn't finish the training. Today was a pleasant break from the usual sunday training. We finished in time for dinner, and my group didn't have anything else scheduled, because a couple of weeks ago, we used some waiting time do take care of some simple power point training. The other group didn't, so they are still training.
Yesterday, we completed some training called Combat Life Saver. It isn't first aid, because the main focus of the Life Saver isn't to help the wounded. Helping the wounded comes after the combat is over and the threat is eliminated. Statistics on combat deaths show that only a small percentage could be saved if they survive long enough to reach a surgeon. A big chunk of the first lesson was dont even try to save them if... Combat Life Saver is to keep a small class of the seriously wounded alive, because an it can be done by a marginally trained amateur with a couple pounds of gear and a few minutes of relative quiet. The whole thing culminated with the requirement to start an IV on a classmate. Sticking someone is easier than I thought it would be, but a few people had some difficulties. Mostly it was because their partner had very small veins. A few people had to endure multiple sticks, sometimes into muscle. I set the record for blood loss, because my partner didn't properly block the vein when he pulled out the needle with the catheter in place. It wasn't a lot, but it is an intersting sight to see your blood running out of a whole in your arm at that rate. I did a pretty good job myself.
I am going to try to go to sleep early tonight. I haven't been sleeping as well as I ought to, but there are eleven guys in my barracks room, and even though we are all in our thirties, we might as well be in college again.