There's Power in the Blood

As I climb the chipped concrete steps to enter the troop medical clinic, down the dusty road roars the white school bus, filled with what I know to be 44 soldiers all in the pixelated digital print of the ACU (Army Combat Uniform). The print appears as if the designers became inspired while staring at a magnified image of a television or computer monitor.

What happened next was moving, and incredibly thought provoking at the same time. The minute the soldiers exited the bus, I knew they were DEmobilizing, or returning from combat, as opposed to mobilizing like many of the hundreds at this location. The first tell tale sign was the almost stonewashed whiteness of their ACU's, a dozen shades whiter than than the brown and green pixel pattern... theirs now barely able to see the pixels themselves past the light shades in the fabric. Their eyes wider than ours who had grown accustomed to the preparatory routine, as they were alert to their surroundings, excited to see their families after 12, some of them 18 months away, most with the hyper-altertness of combat still with them, as they prepare to transition from the battlemind to the civilian mindset.

I hold the door for them... it's the least I could do for these young men.. or boys to men as they have become over the past several years of their 18-20 years. Soldiers file by, rendering a crisp salute to this lone officer, greeting with a "morning, sir", or "thank you, sir".

One soldier halts the line. One thing in the military you seldomly do in mass movements is stop a line.. it halts progress, causes others to wait, hinders the mission at hand. Something was more important than this unspoken rule.

"Please take this, Sir", as he urgently thrusts a silver package into my hand.. as it falls from a return salute to the man who passed before him. Tears well in his eyes, as he explains why. "Sir, this might save your life, and if not, it might save your buddy's life.. if you've crossed the wire.. downrange... got to stop the bleedin'... and this will do it... use it, Sir". I looked to the men behind him, they nodded agreeably, a sense of such urgency on their face. I looked to their left arm, which housed their unit patch, and I quickly identified the badge of crossed rifles as an infantry unit. These men were 11Bravos, the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) for "rifle infantryman". They had seen action, and as a result knew how to stay alert to stay alive, and knew the medical means by which to survive should they come under attack.

I quickly uttered a "thank you, Soldier"... and continued on, believing that what I held in my hand had saved one of his friend's lives. Later that evening, I researched this silver, vacuum packed 10cm by 10cm HemCon bandage that was handed to me...and quickly learned of this miraculous battlefield medical discovery...

I read from a Popular Science story on the bandage:

Half of all deaths on the battlefield are due to uncontrollable bleeding. And though gauze is often no match for spurting wounds, the bloodthirsty HemCon Bandage is: It contains positively charged chitosan molecules, extracted from shrimp shells, that attract negatively charged red blood cells. As the cells are pulled into the bandage, they create a tight-fitting plug over the wound. "You can have a hole in your heart and 60 seconds later it's sealed," says HemCon inventor Kenton Gregory. The bandage made its debut in the 2003 Iraq war and was FDA-approved for nonprescription use in August. At $100 for a 4-by-4-inch square, it may sound expensive, but if the situation calls for it, we're guessing it'll seem like a serious bargain

The day after my encounter with the soldier I receive a medical training on saving lives in combat.. and of course the bandage was premiered...where a video was played showing the bandage clotting a several inch wide, deep wound in the thigh of a pig, profusely spurting blood . Within 1 minute, as the story had informed, with the HemCon bandage packed in the hole, no blood whatsoever exited the wound.

As with many things lately, the story immediately had spiritual implications, aside from the fact that the shells of these small water scavengers, crafted by God, held such life saving properties.

We are hemorrhaging as sinners, and when our flesh is in charge and our worst side comes forward, those around us can be looking at us with the urgency and wide-eyed concern that those soldiers showed to me as we talked together. However, like the soldiers, their faces relaxed, and a peace came about them as soon as the answer was referenced and clutched in their lead soldier's hand in that silver package. The miracle bandage that would stop the bleeding, that would save us from our hemorrhaging wound in such a drastic and critical life-saving way that we must share this miracle with others... even complete strangers is within the grasp of any who would choose to live life and live life more abundantly.

Jesus is our miraculous, share with a stranger, keeps us from certain death, got to have with us at all times.. and like the HemCon Bandage.... we were bought at a very high price.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.1 Peter 2:23-25

By his wounds we are healed because he took our sins into his body on that tree. What a savior.. what a friend...what a miraculous, urgent message we must share with the world.

We can't keep this life-saving information to ourselves...

It's time for us to start sharing Jesus. With urgency.

13 hour flight to Iraq tomorrow. I'm taking my HemCon Bandage with me. I'm taking Jesus with me. Both will save lives.

There's power in the blood,

CPT Atkins