Combat Medicine

Posted on July 15, 2020July 15, 2020 by Brian McLaughlin — Leave a comment

Rangers Lead the Way with Innovative War Medicine

75th Ranger Regiment Medic — Photo: U.S. Army

History was made by Staff Sergeant Charles Bowen and Sergeant Ty Able one long night in Afghanistan when they utilized a brand-new procedure developed by the Army to keep our nations warriors in the fight.

The Ranger O Low Titer (or ROLO as the troops know it), uses a live donor to supply combat medics with a fresh supply of blood on the battlefield.

Bowen and Able were conducting operations with their unit, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, in the Wardak province of Afghanistan in the summer of 2019.

Work for the medics began after the Rangers were attempting to dislodge a barricaded shooter. Three soldiers were injured by an explosion and the two units of blood every Ranger medic carries was quickly used up treating the casualties.

Posted on May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 by Brian McLaughlin — 2 Comments

Extraction: How to Patch Yourself Like a Badass

Disclaimer**

This article contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie, go check it out first so I don’t ruin it for you.

When I was a kid, my dad, a career firefighter, used to stand in the doorway of the kitchen when we watched movies and point out all the fake parts, then carefully detail the way it works in real life.

At the time, I appreciated his thoughts on the movie even less than the rattlesnake stew he made once as an experiment.

Sometimes you don’t want to know how that explosion would have really looked, you just want to enjoy a good film and block out the real world for a bit. Reader beware.