This isnt editorialized either. Most people only recognize him as a famous actor but the guy was a legitimate commando/clandestine services officer who literally assassinated Nazis.
Those boys didn't mess around. Times and training change, but they use to give commandos larger knives to make them feel more lethal. I always got a chuckle out of that. I can understand that it was a new type of service, but I couldn't emagine SAS, SEALS, or Spetnaz being told that today.
Rangers in WW2 used to be asked if they would "Stick a knife in a man's belly and twist it". Now I get told off by butter bars for saying I'd rather shoot haji before I have to perform combat medicine on my guys.
They probably agree with you but want you to stay focussed on your primary obligation. Nothing in my experience was worse than having orders not engage a group of murderous rapist sacks of shit because of the mission at hand. I had kind of a fucked up dream a few weeks back that I was back in Africa taking out the fuckheads that took kids and forced them to fight and kill/die for their cause. I thought about it for a while and reasoned that the ones doing the "recruiting" more than likely had the same shit done to them, and so on and so on. I don't keep up with the news anymore. I hope that shit stopped. How the hell do you deprogram a kid trained to kill ? Evil shit.
I'm a soldier before I'm a medic. At least, that's the mentality that was trained into me. I get he might not agree with that, but he got pissed at us for referring to the enemy as haji, so he might just be one of those guys who take EO too seriously.
I would've wanted my medic treating our wounded instead of engaging the enemy. Who would take care of you and the rest of us if you got hit ? I understand your frustration though. It's hard to stand by at times.
Have you ever seen Hacksaw Ridge , about Desomd Doss. Amazing, I think every American should know about him. I looked at some photos of the actual area that his story takes place, damn, when I was in my prime, under ideal conditions, I don't think I could have move the weight that guy saved in lives. Throw in a division of japs trying to kill you and it would just get harder.
I'm not exactly wearing a red cross on my sleeve, so I'm just as likely to get hit first as anybody else who isn't a radio man.
My training is to (if others can suppress the enemy) drag the casualty to cover, slap a hasty tourniquet on them, and then focus on engaging the enemy or breaking contact.
I'll convert the TQ to deliberate, secure the airway, ensure respiration, and start fluids and painkillers if circumstances allow (all in under six minutes), but never at the cost of combat effectiveness.
In the field, I don't do anything a CLS couldn't do until we stop taking effective fire. Until then my priority is to either defend the casualty, or help fight.
Our instructors stressed that ideally we kill the SOBs before we have to any medic shit.
Operational priorities: Complete the mission, prevent casualties, protect ourselves, treat casualties.
Every medic worth their salt knows and admires Doss. I'd hate to ever be in a similar situation, but I hope I would have the skill, strength, and presence of mind to do as well as he did or better.
I had never heard of him before the movie came out. Audi Murrphy went into acting so everyone knew about him. Doss was just a low key little dude that came through at the worst of times. Shit , his heart must have grown bigger than the Grinch try to save the Whoville Christmas presents, lol. Just think of the guys that he dragged out of there that had called him a coward, that would be a hard thing to live with.
My training is to (if others can suppress the enemy) drag the casualty to cover, slap a hasty tourniquet on them, and then focus on engaging the enemy or breaking contact.
I'll convert the TQ to deliberate, secure the airway, ensure respiration, and start fluids and painkillers if circumstances allow (all in under six minutes), but never at the cost of combat effectiveness.
In the field, I don't do anything a CLS couldn't do until we stop taking effective fire. Until then my priority is to either defend the casualty, or help fight.
Our instructors stressed that ideally we kill the SOBs before we have to any medic shit.
Operational priorities: Complete the mission, prevent casualties, protect ourselves, treat casualties.