Baltimore Sun
December 26, 2007 By Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va.--As an Army surgeon in the Middle East, Dr. Keith Rose watched a colleague bleed to death when a truck in his convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Rose could not get his comrade a tourniquet, which could have helped control the bleeding of his wounded leg, and sat among the mangled wreckage and talked with him as he took his last breath.
"It really kind of frustrated me," Rose said.
Once he returned to the United States, Rose approached BlackHawk, a provider of military and law enforcement gear, with an idea to create clothes with built-in tourniquets.
The system being tested for use in military uniforms, called Warrior Wear, has eight tourniquets - two in each sleeve and pant leg.
Tourniquets fashioned from straps that look like those on backpacks are sewn into the clothing, and the straps are concealed beneath a fabric fastener.
"No matter how good the tourniquet is, if you can't get it on the person at the right time, it doesn't work," said Rose, who does tactical medicine consultation and medical work overseas.
"It's something that is so basic, so cost-effective and so overwhelmingly life-changing," he said.
The Norfolk-based company said the clothing should be available for retail around the end of March. It is expected to retail for less than $200, but the cost to the military would depend on such factors as volume.
Military officials agree that having readily accessible tourniquets is important.
"Tourniquets have allowed many people with devastating injuries to come back that in another time and another place would have died," said Col. Patricia R. Hastings, director of the Army's Department of Combat Medic Training, based at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.
"If you can save a medic a few minutes of time so he can concentrate on saving your life ... it has great possibilities," Hastings said.
And with the concept of battlefields changing, Rose said, the system is more vital than ever.
"The way wars are fought now ... there's no defined lines of engagement," Rose said. "The average cook could be hit with a rocket attack while he's carrying potatoes to the mess hall."
Advances in body armor have made protecting the core of a body easier, but more than 60 percent of injuries in military and law enforcement conflicts today are to the extremities, said Terry Naughton, director of industrial security at BlackHawk.
Naughton said 10 percent of deaths are from injuries in which blood loss was uncontrollable.
"We are confident that the day that this hits the field that lives will be saved," Naughton said. "And if we save one person, we've done our job."
BlackHawk was founded in 1993 by Mike Noell, a former Navy SEAL who fought in the first Persian Gulf war.
The company, which has developed more than 2,500 products for military, law enforcement and the outdoor sporting community, has grown to about 250 employees.
It expects to add 100 more within the next year.

Great idea. The military should buy this.

Yea, they should...

Military is odd about items, no matter how great they are they wont budge unless they can buy em up for cheap it seems at times. I know the IFAK has everything needed in it for the average grunt to help himself / buddyaid until His corpsman would get to him so I doubt the military would go for it.
Its kinda weird though, a doctor in a warzone who didnt have some sort of medical supplies with him? I figured it would be common practice to have atleast somthing small with you no matter what? Seeing as a tourniquet can be semi easily improvised with anything that can be used for constriction that isnt too small.

(Sarcastic) WOW, what a great doctor he was. Here's a list of stuff that he could of used as a tourniquet: Belt, Shirt, Pants, Underwear, Boot Lace, Rifle Sling, Bandana, Helmet Chin Strap (if long enough), rope, and more.

Seriously, how in the Good Lords name could he say that all he could do is just watch him die. Yah right! He's just an idiot for not using brain. And he's a doctor? Come on here! Not even putting pressure on the wound? JEEZ! I'm a 14 kid and I know this?

Originally Posted by Cdt Matteo

(Sarcastic) WOW, what a great doctor he was. Here's a list of stuff that he could of used as a tourniquet: Belt, Shirt, Pants, Underwear, Boot Lace, Rifle Sling, Bandana, Helmet Chin Strap (if long enough), rope, and more.

Seriously, how in the Good Lords name could he say that all he could do is just watch him die. Yah right! He's just an idiot for not using brain. And he's a doctor? Come on here! Not even putting pressure on the wound? JEEZ! I'm a 14 kid and I know this?

I'm sure it wasn't that easy. Combat is different from training, despite our best efforts to the contrary. There are a million reasons why an improvised tourniquet may not have worked; and without having been there, you can't call that into question.

It sounds like they were, perhaps, transiting in a convoy to some location, probably not expecting to run into trouble (first mistake). The surgeon was probably not carrying any field medical supplies, as that's usually left to enlisted medics.

Originally Posted by c/Commander

I'm sure it wasn't that easy. Combat is different from training, despite our best efforts to the contrary. There are a million reasons why an improvised tourniquet may not have worked; and without having been there, you can't call that into question.

It sounds like they were, perhaps, transiting in a convoy to some location, probably not expecting to run into trouble (first mistake). The surgeon was probably not carrying any field medical supplies, as that's usually left to enlisted medics.

Agreed.

BUT...

Our young friend does have a very valid point: The doctor himself said that the death was a result of no available tourniquet, and that's a load of crap. Even in Basic Training, every single soldier out there is taught the basic tenets of rendering emergency medical, and that does include a tourniquet. Like he said, they were wearing shirts and pants, both completely sufficient as a tourniquet. This doctor is most likely exaggadurating the situation to sell his idea.

Just my opinion, of course. Like you said, we weren't there. Monday morning quarterbacking isn't going to change the fact that we lost yet another soldier. But saying that no tourniquet was available is a bunch of loose-lipped and eccentric nonsense.

It's just really sad that we lost a soldier because of this. I know we weren't there but we can all agree that an attempt to save the soldier's life could have been made.

Of course I still believe the guy is just lying about not being able to use a tourniquet, but unfortunately I wasn't there because; I don't give a hoot what people tell me, I would have made a desperate attempt to save that soldier's life. And if I couldn't have saved it, I could say proudly out of this dark situation that I tried better than my best to save this boy's life, but I could not. If I couldn't have saved it, that means: One less rifle shooting at the enemy, One less loving son to a mother (or father), One less brother/friend to someone, One less husband/boyfriend/fiance to someone, One less of everything, gone, history.

Just sad that a doctor, it doesn't matter whether he had his tools with him or not, couldn't get his head straight and possibly save a man's life.

Well the guy's trying to sell his product.
Looking back... yeah it's odd it was because there was no tourniquet but I think he meant that there wasn't an alternative available either. Or maybe by the time he found one it was too late.
Again, it's a guy trying to sell an idea/product.

Tourniquet = two hands squeezing a leg, if all else fails. I didn't realize this was the doctor's own product...seems a bit low.