Other Columns by Thomas D. Segel
Thomas D. Segel Bio

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Those who have observed the horrors of war are well aware of two realities. They know young men and women will die. They also know the military bureaucracy moves as slowly as the Washington political establishment. Those who seek out new or improved products spend more time testing and talking than taking the positive actions, which could prevent many deaths. Even the military supply system must be included in the "inaction" department, for it will study things into infinity. This is another delaying factor that assuredly costs lives.

Americans saw this in the lack of effective body armor provided to our soldiers and Marines in the early days of the Iraq War. We saw it in the slow shipment of armament for military vehicles in the field. We have seen bureaucratic delays in everything from getting hot food to the troops to providing them with the electronic means of communicating with loved ones at home.

Today, in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, the majority of those killed in action are dying because of the blast injury inflicted by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). These are jury-rigged bombs planted under or near roads traveled by military convoys. Seldom does a week pass without another American dying from horrible blast injuries caused by these explosives.

Many of those killed by these devices might have been saved if the massive bleeding caused by their injuries could have been stopped. When the femoral artery is ruptured, which happens with the loss of a leg, a person can bleed out and die in seconds.

Perhaps that could be prevented with an inexpensive first aid product already available in hunting and camping equipment stores across the United States. Called Quick Clot, this material is a package of chemicals in a special kind of bandage. When it is applied to even the most massive of injuries, such as wounds to the torso or severed limbs, it immediately stops all bleeding. The chemical virtually cauterizes the wound and closes all areas where bleeding is occurring. Compression bandages will slow this kind of bleeding but will not end blood loss. Quick Clot will immediately stop the bleeding on contact.

American warriors now in the field could possibly have their lives saved, if Medics and Corpsmen had packages of Quick Clot in their medical kits. Perhaps even more lives could be saved if everyone in the combat zone had Quick Clot in their individual first aid kits.

Quick Clot is in the process of inching its way through the complex screening of military Research and Development. The R&D teams have been testing and evaluating it for more than one and a half years. There has even been some "experimental" use of it in the combat zones.

Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General William L. "Spider" Nyland has said the Marines are on the cutting edge of developing Quick Clot, but he has not said how available it is on the front lines.

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