Article provided by Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes.

Senior Airman Nathaniel Cook has cared for broken bones and burns on the fly in two combat zones.

In Iraq, working side by side with military medical technicians, he learned how to effectively apply a traction splint when a soldier struck by a Humvee broke his femur.

When six interpreters were burned in a propane explosion in Afghanistan, Cook, lacking sterile water, cut open an intravenous bag to cool and clean the wounds.

It was a lesson in “how to improvise, how to work with limited supplies,” said the 22-year-old firefighter assigned to Ramstein.

Deployed three times during four and a half years in the Air Force, Cook shared his experiences with military firefighters and medical technicians from eight U.S. Air Force bases in Europe during a first-of-its-kind emergency medical instructors course at Ramstein.

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Categories: EMS
Tags: army, EMS, firefighter, us air force, usafe