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Battlefield Medkits Improve
ApharmdB writes "CNN has an article on the US military's fielding of a bandage containing clotting agents that can stop blood flow within two minutes. Obviously, the hope is that they will save a lot of lives. What's next straight from your favorite FPS? Who has an estimate on how long it will take for the Army to outfit its troops with anti-personnel rocket launchers?" Those have been around for quite a while.
About those anti-personel rocket launchers, we're closer than you may think. The OICW (the next-generation combat weapon being tested for deployment throughout the armed services) includes a computer-aimed grenade launcher which is smart enough to compute a perfect air-burst over a designated target, and which can handle a range of ammunition types.
The Davy Crockett
If you work out, you might be able to carry one on each shoulder!
Is this the promised end? Or image of that horror? KING LEAR
No, it goes against the Geneva Convention to use rocket launchers specifically for the use of attacking people.
You can use them on materiel, like bunkers, tanks, buildings, clothing. The Geneva convention doesn't specifically rule out the use of rocket propelled weaponry against clothing that is currently occupied either.
So, as long as you don't hit the skin, you're fine.
Black and grey are both shades of white.
No, they wouldn't. The whole idea behind "the period" is to get rid of unnecessary material so the cycle can start again. To that end, you don't want to stop the "bleeding" (which is what these bandages do) so much as simply prevent the discharge that does occur from making a mess. Two completely different objectives.
For more info, I'll simply refer the reader to any physiology textbook. For info on what happens if you do too good a job at preventing nature from taking its course, look up toxic shock syndrome.
It's like the myth about how .50 cal can only be used against material, and not combatants. Even people in the military to this day think that it's not okay to engage humans with the .50, but instead to "shoot their canteens or weapons out of their hands..oops I accidently killed him!" This is a myth, we can engage any combatant with a .50.
.50 cal myth came from when the brass in Vietnam said told Marines and/or soldiers in a particular AO (area of operations) not to engage VC or NVA with the .50 due to ammo resupply issues, and to engage them with M16s, etc.
;)
A Capt of Marines recently told me that the
This was purely to save ammo in one instance. Not due to any international law.
Also, in the Hague convention is where you'd find anything close to regulating ammo used on combatants. Such as "weapons that cause unneeded suffering" such as "exploding bullets."
You've probably seen movies where they use rockets to clear out bunkers. What's the difference in bombing a bunker with an A-10 and firing a rocket in it? Does this make any sense to regulate the use of rockets on personal?
I'd also like to mention that I'd like snopes.com to investigate this
rm -rf ~/.signature
The anti-hemorrhagic bandage was developed by Dr. Kenton Gregory at the Oregon Medical Laser Center, and there is much more material about it at the website of the company formed to commercialize the technology, HemCon.
The secret to the patch is a particular formulation of chitin, which is to stay, crabshells. The pro-clotting properties of chitin have been well-known for some time, but Dr. Gregory and his researchers were able to figure out how to make a viable bandage out of it, which hadn't been done before.
The OMLC is working on lots of other cool stuff as well, such as laser suturing (very good for your liver, which won't take thread sutures).
Full disclosure: I'm on their Board of Directors.
gnetwerker