Air Force combat medics serve critical role on PRT

Master Sgt. Simon Deyell stands in front of about 15 Soldiers and Airmen and tells a story of when he was on a dismounted patrol and some Afghans brought him a young boy with his head and shoulders covered in blood.

When Sergeant Deyell cleaned the blood off, he discovered the cause of the bleeding was just a small cut on the back of the boy’s head – the incident goes to show how even minor head wounds can bleed profusely, he said.

Sergeant Deyell, deployed from the 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., is the noncommissioned officer in charge of Medical Operations and the senior combat medic with the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team based here. Sergeant Deyell and fellow medics Senior Airman Jeffrey Marr and Staff Sgt. Nikolia Saunders recently provided Combat Lifesaver refresher training to about 50 of their teammates on the PRT.
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