30 May 2022 Garand Picture of the day - excuse the dark humor
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He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
In the civilian world of first aid it is normally only a doctor who is "officially entitled" to pronounce that a person is dead, although there has to be an element of "common sense", for example a half decomposed body is clearly not going to be resuscitated. Is it the same with military first aid, i.e. is it only a army doctor who can decide that a soldier is actually "officially" dead or can a medic?
In the civilian world of first aid it is normally only a doctor who is "officially entitled" to pronounce that a person is dead, although there has to be an element of "common sense", for example a half decomposed body is clearly not going to be resuscitated. Is it the same with military first aid, i.e. is it only a army doctor who can decide that a soldier is actually "officially" dead or can a medic?
During my time as Red Cross volunteer, 1990-1994 until military service, I had a couple situations where we had to pick up people who were clearly dead because we weren‘t doctors, not even real paramedics and during the assessment of the situation some bystanders cried: I saw him/her move!!! Reaching the ER, the doctors knew exactly why we were working on those poor dead bodies. They just took them in and declared the death, patting us on the shoulder.
Taught me a lot, those few years. About life and death and also about my capabilities in stressful situations.
Impossible to say how much worth it was to me and the other guys with me. So precious.
The most difficult situations, both emotionally and humanely, were old and sick people being sent home to die. And the poverty of many families you‘d never had imagined.
That left some deep, intimate scars.
And again, precious lessons.
Sorry, I went a tad out of line.
And a prayer for this poor soul in the picture. Wasted life in a criminal war. Another one…
He‘s laying over his Mauser…
Last edited by Ovidio; 05-28-2022 at 04:45 AM.
Reason: Typo
Back in the 1970s when I was a fireman in North Georgia we had an interesting case occur that was the inverse of yours. The paramedic squad we shared a bay with was called to a heart attack situation. The lady victim was unconscious and had no pulse when they arrived. Now, the rule was to cease CPR if the victim wakes up. As soon as the squad began CPR the victim woke up, so they stopped. The victim immediately became unconscious again and they couldn't find a pulse, so they began CPR again. The victim woke up again so they ceased, but the victim lapsed into unconsciousness and they couldn't detect a pulse. After a couple of cycles they came to the conclusion that they had to ignore the rules and continue resuscitation, non-stop, on a conscious victim. They did so in the ambulance all the way to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, TN.
Once in the emergency room they were enlisted to continue until the doctors could pull her background files. It turned out that the lady had suffered multiple heart attacks, always ending up at Erlanger. The doctors did their screening tests and came to the conclusion that each of her heart attacks had killed a porting of her heart muscle and the current attack killed enough of the remaining muscle that her heart was unable to supply enough blood to support consciousness, and, as it turned out, life. After an hour in the emergency room the doctors decided that there was no way to sustain her so they had to call a conscious woman's life.
Bob
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' "
Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring
I sat along with my wife and sisters at mum's beside for 4 days after her 3rd aneurysm (1st was 9 years prior) she passed whilst I held her hand saying it was alright to leave us and to go to Dad (Dec-1985) pancreatic cancer & my brother (Dec-1990) he was only 43 had a H/A.
Even though she was not fully awake they will hang on if your there, 12 years later we did the same thing with my 2nd eldest sister when she had a aneurysm after waiting the mandatory 4 days for brain function then turning off the life support and waiting for the inevitable.
I may not have been to a conflict but I've buried 4 of my immediate family Dad, Mum, Brother & Sister and have seen enough of death close up & personal to last me until my toes turn up which nearly happened 18 months ago so I live for now and tomorrow.
We that were 7 and now are 2 as my eldest sister is still alive she is 72.
I sat along with my wife and sisters at mum's beside for 4 days after her 3rd aneurysm (1st was 9 years prior) she passed whilst I held her hand saying it was alright to leave us and to go to Dad (Dec-1985) pancreatic cancer & my brother (Dec-1990) he was only 43 had a H/A.
Even though she was not fully awake they will hang on if your there, 12 years later we did the same thing with my 2nd eldest sister when she had a aneurysm after waiting the mandatory 4 days for brain function then turning off the life support and waiting for the inevitable.
I may not have been to a conflict but I've buried 4 of my immediate family Dad, Mum, Brother & Sister, and have seen enough of death close up & personal to last me until my toes turn up which nearly happened 18 months ago so I live for now and tomorrow.
We were 7 and now are 2 as my eldest sister is still alive she is 72.
A very Hard situation to endure, I was with my father (WW2 USN) for 82 days in the hospital before hospice. Mom followed up 8 months later along with our Chocolate Lab. you are to be commended on your resilience in such a difficult circumstance.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
Back in the 1970s when I was a fireman in North Georgia we had an interesting case occur that was the inverse of yours. The paramedic squad we shared a bay with was called to a heart attack situation. The lady victim was unconscious and had no pulse when they arrived. Now, the rule was to cease CPR if the victim wakes up. As soon as the squad began CPR the victim woke up, so they stopped. The victim immediately became unconscious again and they couldn't find a pulse, so they began CPR again. The victim woke up again so they ceased, but the victim lapsed into unconsciousness and they couldn't detect a pulse. After a couple of cycles they came to the conclusion that they had to ignore the rules and continue resuscitation, non-stop, on a conscious victim. They did so in the ambulance all the way to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, TN.
Once in the emergency room they were enlisted to continue until the doctors could pull her background files. It turned out that the lady had suffered multiple heart attacks, always ending up at Erlanger. The doctors did their screening tests and came to the conclusion that each of her heart attacks had killed a porting of her heart muscle and the current attack killed enough of the remaining muscle that her heart was unable to supply enough blood to support consciousness, and, as it turned out, life. After an hour in the emergency room the doctors decided that there was no way to sustain her so they had to call a conscious woman's life.
Hopefully if a similar thing happened today, with modern medicine and technology, a hospital would be able to keep the lady alive.
My late father joined the county ambulance service in the mid 1960's at a time when the main part of the job was actually driving the ambulance and to crew an emergency ambulance you only had to attend a standard first aid course by the St. John's or Red Cross. The idea at the time was to scoop the casualty up and get them to a hospital as fast as possible. My father always drove the ambulance carefully and at a steady pace but not all drivers were as steady. He left the ambulance service in the early 1970's.
You could get based at any ambulance station, within the county, and with any other ambulance man as your crew member. There was one ambulance station that was on a ex WW2 transit camp and to make the ambulance station the end wall of one of the Nissan style huts had been removed. The remaining Nissan huts on the transit camp, the council had used as "the lower end of it's housing stock". My father was quite often based at this ambulance station/transit camp for long shifts. Being the 1960's and "free-love" my father, from time to time, found that his co-worker, who was supposed to crew the ambulance with him, had disappeared into one of the other Nissan huts on the transit camp "paying a visit" to one of the single mothers who lived there. Obviously this was the most likely time that the teleprinter would spring to life, signalling an emergency call out. The ambulance couldn't leave with just the driver but the call had to be answered and so my father's solution was to turn on the two tone horns of the ambulance. It normally did the trick because the fellow ambulance man would appear out of one of the Nissan huts, dressing and pulling up his trousers as he tried to run towards the waiting ambulance.
In California LEO and EMT could declare death only if there was: decomposition, decapitation, disemboweled or rigor mortis/post mortem lividity. Other than that, a doctor or coroner. Obviously wartime would be completely different.
PM
Originally Posted by Flying10uk
