how civil

 Two more Police officers were shot in Baltimore yesterday. These officers were part of a task force attempting to apprehend a suspected murderer. Now there is doubt that the suspect ever fired a shot and no explanation is forthcoming on how the officers were wounded. But I suspect they will figure that out. The suspect was shot and killed at the scene. One officer was shot in the leg and the other in the stomach. The officer shot in the leg has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home. The other is still in the hospital in stable but serious condition. So far this year 35 people have been shot in Baltimore city. 

 During the press coverage of this event the doctor in charge of shock trauma addressed the crowd. He stated the condition and severity of the wounds the officers had sustained. He thanked the first responders for their quick reaction. Then he stated that a fellow officer had applied a tourniquet to one officer that most likely saved his life. He explained that a person can bleed to death in as little as five minutes. Then he said we wanted to take 30 seconds more for a public service announcement. He proceeded to tell of a program he began called, stop the bleeding. This program aims to teach every citizen how to properly apply and use a tourniquet! Now that struck me. I haven't heard that lecture, or had that training since I was in the service. We were taught that because we just might need to know that in our occupation. Yes, being in the military is an occupation that is associated with wounds and trauma! First aid is vital. But I thought, do we now need to teach the general population this emergency technique? Yes, it is certainly a valuable thing to know, it certainly does no harm to educate people about this. Yet I'm left with a realization that a doctor, a professional man and city leaders feel there is a necessity to teach this. A necessity, think about the implication of that reasoning. The feeling is there is a good likelihood that you will need that knowledge. As I said not that you shouldn't know it but rather the feeling that you would need to know it. Yes, I may encounter someone choking or experiencing a heart attack, those are fairly common events I'm likely to encounter. But now I might need to apply a tourniquet! I might need to do that because of gunfire in the city! 

 We hear the cities being referred to as war zones. The inner city anyway and those areas of high crime. And now, in Baltimore anyway, we are feeling the need to teach the citizens war time survival techniques. We started with shelter in place, going into lockdown, and now we are teaching war time first aid. Sure makes me wonder where all of this will lead us. We have to pass through metal detectors, be subjected to pat downs, and wear identification cards on lanyards around our necks. We hear public service messages about if you see something, say something. Be alert for suspicious packages and people. Don't make eye contact with strangers. Secure your belongings. And now in Baltimore be sure to carry your tourniquet kit with you. Yes, they have a kit for that and you can get one for completing the training. You can even add that training to your resume. Just another thing that will become the norm, as common as people learning CPR, maybe you'll get a pin you can wear. A civil society? How civil is it when you start training civilians in battlefield medicine? Makes me wonder.  

Allow me to add these comments. I fully support everyone learning to apply a tourniquet. I in no way want anyone to assume, infer, or otherwise misconstrue what I am saying here. It's a wonderful thing. My only point was the " necessity " of teaching this vital life saving technique. Hope that clears any misunderstanding up.