Military Rescue (warning: Surgery Video)

Court's father-in-law (Lt. Col Ret., US Army, two tours in vietnam, tank commander) sent me this video accompanied by the text below a couple days ago. My response to him is below the text (he said he agreed with me on all counts, which is why I feel justified in posting this!).

This story is about PVT Channing Moss, who was impaled by a live RPG during a Taliban ambush while on patrol. Army protocol says that medevac choppers are never to carry anyone with a live round in him. Even though they feared it could explode, the flight crew said damn the protocol and flew him to the nearest aid station.

Again, protocol said that in such a case the patient is to be put in sandbagged area away from the surgical unit, given a shot of morphine and left to wait (and die) until others are treated. Again, the medical team ignored the protocol. Here's a seven-minute video put together by the Military Times, which includes actual footage of the surgery where Dr. John Oh, a Korean immigrant who became a naturalized citizen and went to West Point , removed the live round with the help of volunteers and a member of the EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) team.

=========== Kieron's Response: ===============

Haven't watched the vid (looking forward to it...it's loading), but my first reaction is that protocols are created for good reasons.

They risked their lives (and thus the lives of those charged to save THEM), and the chopper at a minimum. They also encouraged others to do the same in the future (as evidenced by this e-mail and video); that's the more dangerous thing, really.

Having watched the vid now, it's a great video and very powerful. Thanks for sending it.

After reading the full story from 2006, it turns out that the soldiers on the ground specifically withheld the RPG info from MEDEVAC HQ, fearing they would in fact follow protocol and not take him. Understandable, given their situation (taking fire with injuries)...but it apparently caused the ripple effect that the doc in the aid station didn't know about it either (thinking it was only "shrapnel injury"). One assumes he wasn't as prepared as he could have been.

I am struck by what seems to be driving these decisions: emotion. Having your friend die if they don't get choppered out causes you to "lie". Seeing and talking to a conscious patient causes you to do things differently than you are trained to do. I am taught that good decisions are based on logic and protocol: not on emotion.

I'm also glad I'm not the position these defenders of our freedom are, and do not fault them in the least for being truly human.