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2010 Congress: The Services and the “Signature Wound”

Sure, “Bloody Sunday” shows sports helmets need fixing. But what still resonates for me is the shocking state of our young warriors’ helmets and the little attention paid to the “Bloody Days” everyday in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The key issues of course are what’s being done to prevent these egregious combat-related head injuries and exactly who is responsible?

Our senior military leaders?  Congress?  A combination of both? 

If you Google “TBI congressional hearings” you get 23,000 hits, the majority of which ...

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The “Golden Hour” in Afghanistan

Read this fascinating and rather frightening dialogue published by ABC News (Australia) on The Golden Hour

MAJOR MATT HUEMAN: The golden hour is when the person has an injury . . .within the first two to five minutes there’s a certain number of people who will die that are not saveable. The next hour is where a lot of people, if they don’t get to a place that has surgical capability and the full gamut of taking ...

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Medics Improvise to save lives on killing fields of Afghanistan

In a compelling story published today by the Washington Post, “Military medics combine ultramodern and time-honored methods to save lives on the battlefield” of Afghanistan.

Key Highlights:

  • At 6:09 p.m., Dustoff 57 has just left this base deep in Taliban-infiltrated Kandahar province, headed for a POI, or point of injury. Somewhere ahead of the aircraft is a soldier who minutes earlier stepped on an improvised explosive device, the signature weapon of the wars in Iraq and ...
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Military News you may have missed: Oct 27, 2010

Policy – Corruption Perceptions Index 2010 

Key Highlights: 

  • The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 178 countries around the world.

    Afghanistan is 176 of 178 and scored a 1.4 on the index.

  • Iraq is 175 of 178 and scored a 1.5 on the index.

 

Analysis:  After almost 10 years of war in Afghanistan and almost 7 years after the US toppled the Saddam regime we have these lovely ...

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Military News you may have missed – Oct 22, 2010

Policy – General Sees Progress in Counter-IED Fight

Key Highlights:

  •  Despite an increase in incidents that tracks with the build-up of forces in Afghanistan, Oates said, “my assessment is we’re making progress” in the fight against IEDs. The growing number of forces in the country and increased fighting caused the number of roadside-bomb incidents in Afghanistan to spike to 8,994 in 2009 -– from 2,677 in 2007 — and to nearly 10,500 so far this year.
  • Officials hope to model their ...
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Bloody Sunday: 16 (US Troop Casualties) vs. 6 (NFL Player Casualties)

 I follow football.  High School, College, Professional – all levels, all kinds. It’s a blood sport.  So there was no way I could ignore the blaring RSS feed headlines on Monday morning announcing that this past weekend’s games will be forever known as “Bloody Sunday.” Sports Illustrated football analyst Peter King reported that “Last Sunday could go down as a seminal moment in NFL history,” because of the injuries sustained on the playing field and the impact on future play, ...

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Military Helmet Sensor Data: What does it show?

Two years ago, sophisticated sensors were implanted in military helmets of some 7,000 troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The purpose of the sensors was to evaluate the extent of concussions and  brain trauma injuries caused by IEDs and other combat related incidents.  According to the military video shown below, data from these sensors was downloaded monthly to a computer terminal  and then forwarded to a “secure” data center in Aberdeen, MD for analysis.

 

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Taliban snipers test body armor and helmets

A recent article by Terri Judd of London-based The Independent entitled “Sharp rise in Army deaths from small arms fire prompts inquiry into Taliban snipers,” suggests that troops may not have the proper helmets or body armor to deal with the changing tactics of the Taliban.   

According to the article, “commanders in Afghanistan are examining whether a sharp rise in troops being killed by gunfire is a sign that a better trained or equipped Taliban is targeting soldiers ...

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