The Philippine Battalion section of the Infantry Regiment Palma 47 continues its training in Ibiza, where it is spending a week carrying out various activities. An appointment that has already become habitual every summer on the island and whose objective is to offer presence, surveillance and deterrence. "We want to make ourselves known to the civilian population, offering citizen security, in addition to establishing checkpoints and reconnaissance to preserve territorial integrity," explained Lieutenant Gallego.
In total there are about thirty military personnel together with mechanics for the 10 regulation vehicles and cooks, who will stay until next Monday, August 26, in the facilities of the old Sa Coma barracks.
In this sense, Gallego assured Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera that, although the main task is to promote the proximity of the army to the population through motorized patrols through the different municipalities of Ibiza, it is also common to perform pre-hospital care tasks. "In this deployment in Ibiza we take the opportunity to reinforce all those life-saving maneuvers. The military, always working in isolated areas, we do not have so easy access to a military or civilian doctor to reach our area," said Sergeant Sevilla, who on this occasion is in charge of pre-hospital training. As the sergeant explained, for some time now, tactical health training has been essential to avoid most combat casualties.
Likewise, another of the workshops that the soldiers will be facing these days is the Tactical Combat Casualty Care for all Types of Interveners (TCCC). On this occasion, the platoon was instructing in the care of a casualty in combat where there is an enemy that is not being perceived by the soldier, a rescuer and a casualty that cannot be rescued. "In this exercise we encourage the rescuer to go to the most dangerous site, where the shot has been fired, and rescue him in complete safety," said Sgt. Sevilla.
In this exercise, the rescuer's first step is to try to contact the injured teammate to make sure he is conscious and, if necessary, that he can move to the rescuer's location so as not to expose himself to the enemy. "If this is not effective, the rescuer must go to the most dangerous zone in the world, which we call the X or hot zone," Sevilla continues. "After that, it is essential to ask for support from a partner and start moving safely, i.e., opening fire when necessary to protect yourself. Until you encounter the wounded person, you cannot leave your rifle," he pointed out. Upon reaching the wounded, the first maneuver to be performed is the preparation and placement of the casualty, i.e., lifting and moving the comrade. In the event of having to abandon the partner, it is important to leave him in a lateral safety position, leaving the wounded man with a patent airway.
Sergeant Sevilla and soldiers Gómez and Montilla, all of them part of the section that has been deployed to Ibiza these days, were the three soldiers who managed to evacuate the island of Cabrera last August 14 after the storm of the DANA. On the island, which is of military presence, the storm came suddenly and caused the three military managed to save 61 civilians. "With Private Gomez we organized the direct evacuation from the beach to the car; there were 61 people. The most dynamic ones I saw were sent to the boat and the rest we put in the vehicle where Private Gomez transported them to the pier where Private Montilla was waiting", said Sergeant Sevilla.
In addition, a small sailboat with a couple and their daughter that was near the boat alerted the soldiers because the captain, the father, slightly lost control. "We approached and the mother told us to take her daughter to port. She decided to release her daughter into the sea and Private Gomez went into the sea and pulled the minor out in the gale that was going on, from about 50 or meters from the shore. We put her in the vehicle because she had previous symptoms of hypothermia", concluded Sergeant Sevilla.