If there's anybody that needs to learn more about the importance of first aid treatment, then it must definitely be the military personnels. In the past when there were world wars and civil wars, legend has it that many military personnels lost their lives due to bleeding and poor medical administration.
We are soldiers that have been trained to risk our general wellbeing to protect our nations, and for this reason we stand the risk of injuries more often than normal. This is why we train and learn first aid treatments everyday because there's this saying we usually get "Sweat more while in training, bleed less while in wars"
There are many departments in the military and one of the most active department here is the medical team department. They usually stay behind us with first aid kits during battles and whenever a soldier is injured, we immediately carry them to the back and the medical team would try to stop the bleeding before taking them to the hospital.
But apart from the medical team, every other soldier is taught what is called Self Aid, and this has saved many lives in battles. We were taught that excessive bleeding is the major cause of death in wars, and they equally showed us the best ways to avoiding dieing from bleeding.
whenever any soldier is shot or wounded and starts bleeding, the first advise is that he/she shouldn't drink water or any liquid as this would increase the bleeding and death of the victim.
The next step has to involve using a bandage or you can even tie your uniform around the injured area and cocmpress it tightly to stop the flow of blood from the body, thereby increasing the soldier's chances of survival.
After these few self aid, you must not panic because fear can result to sudden shock and then death, so the soldier must stay calm, as he seeks better medical attention.
These was what we were taught during training in the military school but some of us didn't even take them serious at that time until we went to the North Eastern part of the country to experience it, lol. Like the saying goes "Experience would always be the best teacher"
It was early in the morning at around 5AM in Damboa, Borno state, Nigeria, when the Boko Haram terrorists came to attacked our camp unexpectedly. They came with a sucide bomber (A person whose body had been planted with bombs), and their aim was to ensure that the sucide bomber enters our camp successfully in a car, so that he can die with other soldiers around the area from the explosive in his body.
I was among the soldiers at the mini camp that was about 15km outside the main gate, and our job was to alert the main gate of any incoming threat and to prevent them from invading.
It was still a bit dark and the fight was in their advantage because from the vehicle lights we saw afar, they seem to be in thousands compare to about 20 of us in the mini camp. We signaled the main gate of the incoming danger, and then we took positions for defense.
We were not expecting any friendly force, so we knew this guys were the bad guys, so we fired first, and they fired back. I immediately knew this fight would end in a marathon race for us, but I was waiting for the Captain in charge to run first.
Luckily for us we shot at their sucide bomber, and the explotion was too massive, so we had to run into the bush because those guys came prepared. As we were running we were hearing gunshots behind us.
While in our hideout in the bush, I realized my colleague got shot on the left leg (around his laps), and he was bleeding profusely. I knew if this bleeding continues like this, he might end up dieing, so I tore his trouser from down to top and I used it to tie his laps tightly.
He was really in pain and I was even afraid to tell him not to panic, but I was glad he cooperated. The bleeding had stopped, and I made sure his blood was properly circulating properly by laying him in a way that allows blood flow to his head.
We were just lucky because our Captain and other soldiers located us and called for immediate backup and medical services. Our men had already defeated the attackers and the necessary backups were already on their way to our location in the bush.
My colleague was taken to the hospital and he survived after proper medical attention. I was glad I administered that first aid when I did because it saved a life. I have learned from experience that first adi is very important and everyone should know it.
All images are mine.
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