New Battle Tech Aims at Keeping Soldiers Alive!

There are a great number of ways to help save lives in war. I know that General Patton (I have to paraphrase, this is a kid-friendly site) said, "No soldier ever won a war by dieing on the battlefield. He won the war by making the enemy die on the battlefield." So, based on this logic, one way to keep safe is to make sure you don't have any enemies.

But sometimes you or one of your buddies gets hurt, and you have to make sure you're capable of handling the situation. A good first aid kit that is properly stocked is an absolute necessity. You need gauze, tape, medication and more to clean up some of the more minor injuries, or to give the injured man extra time for a medic to show up. A quality knife is also a must have tool for medics, and I like the SOG Knives, as they're really tough and reliable, while also being portable. Weight is really important, so having a lightweight option is also important.

One of my favorite safety products is the QuikClot 1st Response TraumaPak, which stops bleeding fast and can be a real life saver when you have an open wound. Any cut or scrape could turn serious if not properly cared for, as infection is all to common on the battlefield.

Just looking at the war in Iraq you can see thousands of injuries that worsened because of infection. With bullets flying overhead there just isn't time to properly sanitize everything before performing surgery.

But there's a new development that may help field medics do a better job fighting bacteria, and it's similar to a tool every soldier carries with them: a flashlight. A dermatology researcher at Harvard Medical School is developing an antibacterial light that could kill deadly bacteria, which is currently the number one killer in Iraq and Afghanistan.

UV light is already used in households to kill bacteria, and it is extremely effective at doing so. The problem the Harvard Researcher is trying to solve is how to use UV light without harming the patient, as UV light can burn skin and even cause cancer. Currently, his hope is to use a particular wave of UV light, known as UV-C light, to kill the bacteria, and hopefully not hurt the person. UV-C Light is the shortest wavelength of the ultraviolet spectrum.

With a small, handheld UV-C light a soldier or field medic could quickly and easily treat life-threatening infections. While this may not cure the infection completely, it will lessen their impact and danger, giving the injured soldier extra time to get to a full military hospital for more specialized care.

While this new flashlight is not yet in production, it may only be another 2 to 3 years before it is in the human testing phase, and successful tests could push this into production right away.

I may love our QuikClot products, but a UV flashlight that saves soldiers from having limbs amputated might just replace my favorite first aid tool. Pretty cool.