Well, The Formula Did Need to Be Completed
Something recently reminded me of a military training class I was in many years ago – taught in the Army – concerning field first aid. Like most, it was pretty much your standard, boring Army class. But it did have one moment that made it an absolute gem.
The instructor was going over how to estimate how much of a burn casualty’s skin had been affected. He taught us the “rule of nines” for doing that.
For those who might not be familiar with it, the “rule of nines” works as follows. Different parts of the body are each assigned a fixed number of “nines”. Each arm is assigned one “nine”; each leg, two “nines”. The front of the torso is similarly assigned two “nines”; ditto the back and buttocks. Finally, the head and neck is assigned one “nine”.
A “nine” is short for “9 percent” – as in 9% of a person’s total skin area. So each arm is 9% of the average person’s skin; the head and neck, also 9%. A leg, front of torso, or back and buttocks each have 2 nines – so they’re each 18% of the average individual’s total skin area.
It’s a quick and dirty rule, and isn’t always perfectly accurate. But it’s apparently generally fairly close. And when you’ve got to estimate quickly how much of an individual is burned, it’s certainly better than making a wild-ass guess.
Well, there’s one in every crowd – and the instructor had been through this a few times before. So before anyone could do the math and ask, he then said the following.
“Now, I know some of you have probably totaled that up, and came up with 99%. That’s correct. There’s 1% left over.”
What followed was IMO one of the true “money lines” of all time. The instructor then smiled slightly, and said, matter-of-factly and with a straight face:
“Now, I don’t care if you’re John Homes – 1% is enough.”
Thirty-plus years later, I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about the rest of that class. But I can sure as hell still remember the “rule of nines”.
Thank God I’ve never had to use it.
Category: Pointless blather, Who knows
Hey everyone, I know I am dumping this in the wrong post, but I thought Jonn said he was off email for a bit.
The “SEAL shooter” who killed (supposedly) Bin Laden was interviewed on Communist News Network and I saw he was bashing Delta/CAG/SFOD-D whatever you want to call them. His attitude in the whole interview was arrogance applied in ten-fold….then he tried to back track at the end regarding Delta. I don’t have anything against SEAL/Navy, etc….but being prior Army, I am a little biased. Anyways, I am thinking shit is going to get rough for this “tough guy” and soon may find himself in even more trouble concerning his lack of regards to anyone but himself.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/07/us/bin-laden-shooter-interview/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Although not as amusing, I have a similar stories for “S.P.O.R.T.S.” for the M-16, and “get it right first, then up,” for grid coordinates on a map.
I don’t remember much of the rest of those classes, but man the NCO who presented them really got them to stick in my brain.
It’s funny (funny as in queer, um, funny as in odd; um, make that unusual) how tidbits from a moment in time, a look, a few words will stick for a lifetime. The one thing that stuck with me from field first aid was the sucking chest wound. The advice? Take the cellophane wrapping from a pack of cigarettes, place it over the wound, and hold it there until you can tie it on with anything.
Damn, but that’s one of the things which stuck with me as well. The cellophane off a pack of smokes, or the wrapper of a candy bar, whatever you had to hand.
I went through Army ROTC’s “basic camp” at Fort Know in the summer of ’74. 2nd squad, 2nd platoon, B-13/4.
What stuck with me were the two drill instructors, Sergeant Cibalski, and Staff Sergeant Marincheck. Both these guys were artillery, and neither one would EVER let us forget tat.
Staff Sergeant Marincheck also, it seems, was genetically unable to pronounce the letter combo “th”. Thus, every time he spoke he’d say, “wiff yo weapon held at port arms” etc. “TH” was either pronounced with “FF” or with a “D” as in Dat will NOT happen wiff my platoon!
Amazing the things you remember, eh?
I was D company of something or other in BCT. I’ll be damned if I can remember the rest of it. I do have that blue ‘yearbook’ though, if I ever need to know. (Fort Jackson, SC)
Delta-6-1, Best of the Proud Ones, Sergeant! I guess I’ll always remember my OSUT company from Fort Polk forty years ago. But where did I put those damn car keys?
Showoff! And, as I tell my wife, if you would just put the blasted keys in the same place every time you come in, you would never have to hunt for them. And, as I also tell her, if she would please wear a name tag in the house, I would call her by her name more often.
“And, as I also tell her, if she would please wear a name tag in the house, I would call her by her name more often.”
hahahahaha coffe > screen
Another thing is, after all these years, how familiar an AR platform rifle feels when I pick it up.
My dad is a retired CW4, my brother (no mil-service) has his own gun range and shoots daily. With the AR style rifle I consistently out shoot them from 25 meters out to the maximum distance on the range … which is 100 meters … with iron sights or scoped.
Not an easy task either since I hold and sight the rifle right handed, but use the thumb side of my left index finger to press the trigger.
(I can hear people’s gears clicking and clacking to figure it out. LOL)
First Platoon,B-9-2,Fort Campbell,KY. 15 Feb-9 Apr 1971. One of the Brigade level “training spot checkers” Drill Sergeants had been a 327th/401st GIR “Glider Rider” during WWII.
Lining up the eductor in the fire room:
Dumb Fucking Sailor (Discharge Firemain Suction)
Secure the eductor:
Sailors Fuck Dumb (Suction, Firema…)
The 1% depends on whose 1% it is! Every blast or shot injury below the belt line isa contingued questioning of”how’s my package? Ask any e-vac crew. Joe
I was at Airborne School in the summer of 1980. We were in the bleachers learning the proper procedures for dealing with a streamer. Pull the chute down and throw it to your side to get it to inflate. Repeat until it opens. One of my buddies asked “Sergeant Airborne, just how long do you have to do all of this stuff?” Without missing a beat, the Instructor replied “Son, you’ve got the rest of your life.”