Picture Of The Day - 01 JUL 2010 "Army Blood Bank"

01 JUL 2010 - Army Blood Bank (Photo By: COL Brucker)

How do you run a blood bank when you're "far forward" in the middle of the Afghanistan war without the American Red Cross Blood Bank system? You go straight to the cow.... err.. soldier. In the U.S. we are fortunate to have an elaborate blood bank system that ensures we have access to blood and blood products to such a point that most people have little to worry about (The American Red Cross and its volunteers toil 24/7, doing the worrying for us).

A Forward Surgical Team (FST) has access to a only finite supply of stored blood and blood products. However, we also have access to young healthy soldiers who are more than willing to donate at a moments notice. Through the hard work of the 909th FST and the 173d Charlie Med Co., hundreds of soldiers are pre-screened for donation. Those that are pre-screened can donate their blood within minutes of notice. Doing this has saved lives.

I'm lucky that my camera gets picked up by others while I'm operating... this photo was taken by Dr. Brucker while I and 3 other surgeons operated. The soldier's donation, along with others saved a life. I wish I could have seen the line that formed outside Charlie Med within minutes of that call going out. I heard it formed quickly and that it was long. Thank you.