Army Seeks Blood Donations for Iraq

[tocqueville]

War By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer
50 minutes ago

FORT KNOX, Ky. - A boyish Army recruit sits quietly in a plastic chair at Fort Knox and shields a wince from the stern gaze of a drill instructor while a nurse digs with a needle for a vein in his arm.

The prick stings, but it has to be good luck, says Delgadillo Armando, a 17-year-old recruit who will soon leave for Iraq. The blood he has donated could save the life of an injured soldier there — maybe even his own, he said.

"Giving my blood is the least I can do," said Armando, a Los Angeles native. "I'm still in training, but I'm going to replace guys in Iraq. They need to stay in the game until I'm ready."

Armando volunteered to donate his blood at Fort Knox with a dozen other soldiers from his boot camp platoon, joining the thousands of service members the military has asked to help supply blood to soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060502/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/blood_donations_iraq

[sandnsea]

1. Hmm, they haven't asked us

The article says they don't release the amount of blood needed for "security concerns" and don't want to threaten our supply. Yeah right. They just don't want to remind people about the dead and wounded, that's all. I wonder if there's ever been a people more disconnected from the realities of their country at war than so many in the US are right now.

[w8liftinglady]

2. disconnected-so true

As I told my local op/ed page arch-nemesis,most people have made no sacrifice for this war,and are very free with their desire to perpetuate it.

[rocktivity]

3. This part seems a little contradictory

...The Army does not routinely take blood from civilian sources because of cost and the risk of depleting supplies that may be needed at home...The Defense Department only uses civilian hospital supplies if the need for blood increases rapidly or to stockpile supplies before an operation...

Basic training recruits meet only a fraction of the need. The Army holds routine blood drives where soldiers are encouraged to donate. Recent drives on Fort Campbell...have yielded record amounts...A recent drive there collected 96 units in one day...

You mean that if a public call went out asking people to donate blood, it couldn't be done cost-efficiently? Why not make it policy to make a portion of what's collected publicly available to the military? If people could donate at their nearest military locations, that would save on shipping. And I'm sure there are plenty of civilian nurses who'd be willing to donate a day off to the cause. It sounds like the REAL problem is in their infrastructure--either that, or as Post #1 says, they consider it bad PR because it implies that we're "not winning." Depending on "voluntary" donations exclusively from the troops sounds just plain suicidal.

:mad:
rocknation