My husband is usually bored by most of the information put out at in-processing briefings, so it caught me by surprise when he came back to our hotel one afternoon ready for a discussion. He asked me if I knew that when supplies are low, the Army has to purchase its blood from the Red Cross and other civilian groups. I didn’t know that. In fact, I’d never really thought about it. According to the Armed Services Blood Program, a unit of purchased blood costs approximately two hundred and fifty dollars. One trauma victim can use forty or more of those units. That’s a pretty high cost.

The need for blood is never ending, and combat situations aren’t the only place your blood is needed. There are many in our military community who can benefit from your donation. Leukemia patients can need up to eight units of platelets during treatment, and one pint of blood can sustain a baby for two weeks. Military hospitals receive around seventy-five units of blood daily for their patients. In a typical year, a military hospital will transfuse over 54,000 red cell units, 20,000 plasma units, and over 5,000 units of platelets.

On September 8, 2003, SPC Ray Gray was hit in the left thigh by shrapnel from a mortar round. His wound was potentially fatal, and the nearby medics acted quickly to try to save his life. He was bleeding profusely, and by the time the MEDEVAC arrived, he had lost nearly all of his blood. Hospital staff made the decision to do exploratory surgery to determine the source of the bleeding. They also began to worry about running out of blood. Doctors and nurses began asking around for anyone with O positive blood who was willing to donate. Not long after the request went out, there were more than thirty soldiers in line waiting to help. SPC Gray survived his surgery, after having received forty seven units of blood product. Sixty-one soldiers in all donated their blood to help SPC Gray. They gave of themselves, quite literally, to help their own. Their selfless service in the face of their own worries, their own pains, and their own exhaustion should be an example to us all.

Impromptu blood drives at combat hospitals are becoming increasingly common, and there is definite risk involved. Doctors must transfuse blood that has not been tested, increasing the risk of blood borne illness being spread. Our servicemen and women should have clean, tested blood, and should never have to worry about receiving infected blood.

We all want to help our servicemen and women who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. We send packages, write notes, hang yellow ribbons, say prayers…and yet we still feel there’s more we should be doing. There is. You can help. Give of yourself; give blood and help save a service member’s life.

You are eligible to donate if you: were not in Europe from 1980-1996, haven’t been north of Seoul in Korea or to Iraq, haven’t had a tattoo or piercing in the last year, and can pass a brief sexual history Q & A. There are more than twenty Armed Services Blood Program blood donor centers. To find out where you can donate, please visit: http://www.militaryblood.dod.mil/donor_info/donor_centers.htm.