Adam Pelletier spent a recent Tuesday evening learning the finer points of how to properly check a patient’s blood pressure.

“Breathe in, breathe out,” Pelletier told the young man seated in the chair next to him.

In a room down the hall, David Dorsey was determining the best ways to assess a patient when arriving on the scene.

“What does it feel like right now?” Dorsey asked the man pretending to be his patient. “Is it heavy? Is it tight?”

Mastering the life-saving skills are among the key goals of a six-month EMT course the two men have been taking since December.

“There are a lot of reasons [I signed up],” Pelletier said. “The skill set that I will pick up throughout this course is something that I have always wanted.”

“I’ve been learning a lot, a tremendous amount of things that I did not know before,” Dorsey said.

On top of being aspiring EMTs, the two men and everyone else who signed up for the class share a common bond: they all served in the United States military.

“To be able to have that common niche, you know what I mean, that draws us all together is absolutely phenomenal,” said Dorsey, who retired from a 20-year career in the Coast Guard in the fall.

“That was one of the things that drew me to the course,” said Pelletier, who served in the Marines from 2002 until 2006. “I remember coming off of active duty and to some extent, feeling a little alienated in a classroom setting when I was in college.”

The class, which is offered to vets free of charge by the Saratoga County Emergency Services Department, was co-founded in 2015 by Russ Coonradt, Joe Santiago and Eric Hanchett.

“This came about through a process of wondering what can we do to give back,” said Hanchett, who served in the U.S. Navy. “We’re all veterans and we wanted to be able to do something.”

“We have roughly 20 instructors; the majority of them are veterans,” said Coonradt, who also served in the Navy.

He said the class is designed to capitalize on the skills the veterans already learned in the service and help them transition into a new career when they come home.

“We initially did not see this as a transition tool, but it has worked very well for that, for our veterans who have just gotten out or are looking for direction,” Coonradt said.

“I jumped on board right away because like a lot of military veterans, when we make that transition, it is a very difficult time for us emotionally,” Dorsey said.

For Dorsey, Pelletier and the others working toward their EMT certification, this is just another way to serve.

“Pretty much all people who enter the service have some desire to serve and give back to their communities,” Pelletier said.

“It’s all about giving back to the community and helping out my neighbors where I live,” Dorsey said. “It couldn’t be better. I am really enjoying every bit of this.”