Would you believe some things you see in a movie wouldn’t be rooted in reality? As a “kid”, fighting in a war for the first time maybe I should have known better. I’ll admit though there were a few things that surprised me because it was different than the movies portrayed them and I didn’t know better.
One Hollywoodism that stands out for me especially because have both lived it and when I train people and see them verbalize it in scenario training: corpsman, medic, battle buddy, etc. runs up to a wounded guy on the battlefield. The hero would say something like ,”Its okay now, I’m here to save you” and then the casualty would get saved and it would be all rainbows and puppy dogs.
A little background, I had the fortune or misfortune, depending on ones opinion, of being deployed when operations in Iraq had just switched from invasion force to occupying and counter-insurgency force. People on all sides were getting wounded constantly and I was very busy doing battlefield trauma.
Here was a reality I learned, crushing my action movie view of the world. If I run up to a casualty and say some John Wayne BS, “It’ll be ok pilgrim I’m going to save you.” Instead of the casualty perking up and doing well, they would begin to crash, some would almost seem like they had given up on life.
What we figured out was another powerful reminder of the mind and mindset. When I had said “I have this, its all okay know”, I had gave this injured person permission to stop trying, to stop fighting for their survival. Well that isn’t helpful in real life, they have responsibility in living and can’t simply give up. Remember that words we say have a lot of power, almost like the power of blessings and curses have true meaning.
So the solution, it was actually very simple and is amazing medicine, because we previously caused harm by speaking the wrong desired outcome. We quickly changed to telling the casualty “I’m here to help you fight through this together, stay with me, keep fighting”. This works amazingly well and I would encourage you to use language similar to that on any casualty conscious or not that you should ever have to treat.
Remember this isn’t a day about you, the doc, or rescuer, or captain save them all, or whatever you go by. But rather a shitty day for them and simply an adrenaline rush for you. So keep the focus on them and remind them they have to work for it too.
Know for a cool part, years after this I really started to dig into the Bible, and this was just another time when the truth in God’s word matched up with the reality I had experienced, the words you speak really are a blessing or a curse.
- Proverbs 18:21 NKJV Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
- Proverbs 12:18 NKJV There is one who speaks like the piercing of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.
- James 3:10 NKJV Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not be so.
James chapter 3 is worth a read. So is the first couple of chapters from Genesis, God did so incredible stuff just by speaking.
God Bless,
-Joe
Outpost 95 