Sunday, October 21, 2007

When $2.50 Can Save a Life

Anyone know what a seat-belt cutter is? I sort of did when I got a request from one of my medics for some. These are a handy tool that paramedics carry for cutting injured people out of their seat belts in car wrecks. It never ocurred to me that soldiers in combat zones wear seat belts, but it sure made sense that you'd need to get them off in a hurry when an IED takes out a vehicle.

PFC Stephanie M, a medic with the 3rd ID wrote me that "it would have been handy to one of those when she had to cut an injured guy out of his belts with her pocket knife". Or Sgt Steve F, with the HHT 3-7 CAV MEDICS who wrote that he and another medic cut a guy out of a burning humvee seconds before the stored ammunition started cooking off.

Yeah, I guess that's a challenge even paramedics back home could relate to.

I contacted the Chief Supply Company (http://www.chiefsupply.com/), and when I told them what I needed, they special ordered and shipped 400 cutters to about a dozen units for me. At cost.

-Rog

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home