Words to think on!

[Diane Amberg]

Clap.clap,clap. I just sent you a hug.

[jarhead]

No Larry, I have witnessed a Doc get "the call' more than once,in the opening seconds of a firefight, when all lean ,mean fighting Marines were "momentarily pinned down", but yet Doc jumps up, which seemed to be  instant suicide, but yet "Doc" jumped up and runs, crawls and scrambles to give aid to one of "his boys "

[larryJ]

Wait a minute!  That's an oxymoron..............lean, mean, fighting Marines.............momentarily pinned down............

How can you be fighting if you are pinned down?  Anywho..............I truly respect any Medic that would go forward under fire to help someone.  I didn't say it didn't happen, just that it is not usually the case.  Most casualties are carried back to a triage area where they can be evaluated, as in, patch 'em up and send 'em back  or  give 'em a ticket (on an aeroplane, ain't got time for a fast train)  whoops!  Sorry got carried away there  for a minute.  Anyway, give 'em a ticket home for further treatment.  I am just saying that we were trained not to expose ourselves any more than necessary in order to be able to help all, not just one, who need help.  

Unless, of course, if it wuz you, Jarhead, or maybe even Sarge, I would charge right up there and fix you up in a hurry.  


Maybe

Larryj

[jarhead]

Larry,
I'm sure that's what you were taught in training but we were taught in training if we ran into an ambush we were to assault immediately---I refer you back to my statement of "momentarily being pinned down " ---so much for that training.
I can only speak of my own experience but when you are on a jungle trail, and get ambushed, there is no place to drag any casualties anywhere that is not any less "hot' than another spot. Then the triage area is where the WIA laid and the Doc treats them.
Platoon commander, Corpsman, radiomen, gunner and blooperman all were supposed to carry a .45 pistol. More than one of our Doc's carried a M-16 so they wouldn't stand out. Being a radioman (OJT) I always walked behind the plt comm, or Plt Sgt or squad leader, whoever the leader was and the NVA knew this so 9 out of 10 times the Corpsman was behind me but never in front of me. My beloved Plt. comm. carried a M-16 too and except for my first patrol as a radioman, I did too. I tried to blend in but hard to do with that heavy arse PRC-25 on my back and a tape antenna sticking up.
No maybe's about if you would come to my aid Larry---you would have been right behind me most times and plus--where would you be any safer than right there with Chesty Puller Jr.
As for ol Sarge ? Treat Shep, his dog first, because a good sentry dog is more important than a handler.

[larryJ]

That's true about the dog, Jarhead.  One of the toughest jobs I had to do was stitch up a 5 inch tear in the back of the guard dog who had been in a fight with another dog.  I was the onsite Medic on the missile site when it happened and I had to stitch him up.  Medics don't carry "morphine" for animals so he and I had to suffer together.  It took three other guys to hold the dog while I stitched.  Must have been okay cuz he lived, but he would never go near me again and I tried to be gentle.  He did, later on, catch a North Korean spy on the missile site and mauled him pretty good.  True story.

But as for Sarge, I would not neglect him anymore than I would you, no matter how you feel about him!

Larryj

[jarhead]

Larry, Truth is ol Sarge, I consider to be my best friend----and cousin-BUT--if you tell him I said that---OR --he reads it I will swear that Teresa is using her computer skills and hacked my 'puter' and posting falsehoods using my good name.
Would "people morphine' work on a dog? Suppose it would be hard to know how much to use. We carried a tiny tube of morphine in the same cargo pocket of our jungle "utes" as we kept our personal battle dressing. It was like a tiny tube of toothpaste--remove the cap and a tiny needle was exposed. I was such a hayseed I didn't even know the" powers" of morphine. Funny we are talking of this stuff Larry, how things I had forgot come back. In the right cargo pocket was an inner pocket. That is where you kept that tube of morphine and at least one battle dressing. Carried more dressing to use on people or for Doc if he needed them  but that one was for yourself and nobody else in an emergency--or so we were taught. I kept my battle dressing as a souvenir--still wrapped--thankfully. My John Kerry wounds could have been covered with  band aids but looked more impressive with a great big ol battle dressing wrapped around my arm----and No, I don't have a PH.