Life or Mission more important?

Icemoon SG

Ok .. I'm not discussing the big picture whether we should sacrifice one company to take one objective or some private ryan stories.

My scenario is very simple. Imagine your buddy kenna shot. He is bleeding profusely. But the whole section and platoon is in the midst of trench clearing.

But you can't pause to administer first aid right? If pause, one less person to do fire AND movement.

So how? You suck thumb do leap and bound and watch him bleed to death behind? Moreover by right is two person charge trench one .. now one person charge trench your life will be in danger too ..

fudgester SG

That's a highly subjective question.

I think what you are supposed to do is to simply carry on with the mission. As heartless as it may sound, winning the mission is more critical than tending to your buddy. Besides, the platoon medic (who is much better equipped and trained in first aid) following behind can administer to your fallen buddy.

In real life, though, that may not always be the case. Your gut instinct would be to tend to your buddy first, and it's only natural and human to do so. As I said, the question is highly subjective. You can never know for sure what your reaction will be unless if we really do go to war.

May that never happen to us all.

Icemoon SG

I don't believe the platoon medic can leap and bound to your fallen buddy WITH HIS STRETCHER AND MEDIC BAG. Remember the platoon is spread over quite an area (covered by 3 sections).

By the way .. who will do cover fire for the medic ah? Who is the medic's buddy anyway? If medic shot who will tend to him?

Icemoon SG

There is a drill after the objective is overrun .. where everyone is supposed to keep silent (those who do b4 will know la .. dun need to elaborate)

Imagine you hear your buddy groaning behind .. then silent no more .. heartbroken siah!

ceecookie SG

fire one bullet to ur buddy's head to end his suffering Twisted Evil

Icemoon SG

That'll be a misfire.

You'll be charged. Laughing

ceecookie SG

at least he die faster than suffering from bleeding

ditzy SG

Geneva convention states you can't shoot at the medic, so you don't really have to worry about the medic being shot at. Laughing But if you ask me, I think its a load of bu||sh|t.

fudgester SG

Question: are you a medic?

I was a platoon medic before I eventually became company medic. Yes, I've done leap and bound with stretcher and medical orderly pouch many times before. Heavy, unwieldy, and very tiring, but it can be done. I know it's also not easy to tend to every single casualty in a huge area, but nothing much you can do about that.

Besides, the medic does not follow behind the platoon alone. He follows the platoon sergeant. So you can say that the platoon sergeant will help to cover for the medic and is, in a sense, his buddy. Heck, I once dug fire trenches with my platoon sergeant as my buddy.

If the platoon sergeant is down or is busy leading the platoon (because the PC is down), he follows the sect comd of the rearmost section.

Medics are trained to dress their own wounds in case if they're shot. Of course, the Geneva Convention prohibits medics from being shot at, but as ditzy pointed out, it isn't always followed. Also, medics can't shoot infusion lines into their own arms. I guess if the medic's shot, then all the best to him.

kwlee SG

heh heh... Laughing

Gordonator SG

if time permits and depending on the situation, i’ll as humanly possible as i can, try my very best to at least drag the fallen comrade to safety. but i won’t register first aid, i leave that to the medic and carry on with the mission.

lwflee SG

not much first aid to do actually. Can only apply compression. I heard of some powder that will help coagulation so maybe just throw him some of those things and some morphine then fcuk off loh.

Then leave him for the medic lor

Icemoon SG

Actually I was referring to the scenario of stray bullets hitting him. See hor .. if you're targeting a trench, you'll know who is shooting at you and you'll shoot that person. Cover fire mah .. so another group can do the movement.

But if you're medic .. I'm not sure if you'll be paying attention to who is shooting at your general direction. cos you'll most likely be a few bounds behind the sections.

Icemoon SG

No .. I'm not a medic.

The question is not whether you can do leap and bound .. but whether you can do them successfully before a [stray] round hit you.

Besides .. even in platoon level drill .. they don't emphasize on your movement. They're more concerned whether the riflemen can do fire movement and trench clearing drills sui sui or not. I suspect it is only during ATEC that they pay attention to your movement.

hisoka SG

if pple really follow then i send an army of medics to take over the country can le.......................

Icemoon SG

Combat medic carry the same M16 or SAR21 as the rifleman. I don't see why they cannot be shot at.

Geneva convention got say medics cannot fire at the enemy? Laughing

ditzy SG

If a wild boar was after the medic's flesh, you think the wild boar gives a damn about the geneva convention? Laughing You think a medic wants to go out to the woods knowing well there is a wild boar after his flesh? And if he knows, and he has the ability to protect himself against a wild boar after his flesh, he still doesn't want to carry something that might prevent the wild boar enjoying his tasty flesh? Laughing

The medic like every other soldier has every right to defend himself, thus he carries arms. Soldiers carry arms to shoot back when getting shot at.

fudgester SG

What can I say? You simply can't account for every single contingency and scenario. No matter how sui sui you do the fire movement drills, you can still get hit by stray rounds and fragmentation shards from grenades. One of the worst things that could happen to the infantry platoon is that the medic gets hit, and there's no way to prevent that totally.

The only thing you could do to protect the medic is to keep him at the back of the platoon and get him to stick to the PS. And arm him with a rifle to protect himself if he does get shot at. It's not a perfect arrangement, but nothing's perfect.

Going back to the main topic, I reiterate that what you should do is leave your buddy who's bleeding for the platoon medic. Maybe bandage him quickly with your first-aid dressing, but that's about it. As heartless as it may sound, the best thing you can do for your fallen buddy is to win the mission. Let the better-trained and better-equipped medic save him.

I know that's the idealistic answer - in times of war, we can never predict what our actions will be like. It's perfectly understandable for any soldier to stop and aid their fallen comrades. As I've said at the very beginning, you had asked a very subjective question with no clear-cut answer.