America's Army Training Saves a Life

[Kevin]

In November of 2007 a South Carolina man was traveling on I-40 when he saw an SUV in the opposite lane lose control and flip over several times. Paxton Galvanek stopped his vehicle and ran across the highway to the accident while his wife called 911.

Using skills he learned while playing as a medic in the America's Army online game he assessed the needs of the new victims in the damaged vehicle. Galvanek helped the passenger out of the truck and then went back to pull the driver out of the SUV & to the side of road.

The driver lost two fingers and was bleeding along with head trauma. Using the medic training Galvanek located a towel, put pressure on the man's hand, and instructed him to sit down and elevate his hand above his head while pressing the towel against his lost fingers. Galvanek then attended to his head cut and determined that injury was not as serious as his hand.

Several minutes later an actual US Army soldier whom was medically trained arrived on the scene. The US soldier took over assisting the victims until paramedics arrived.

So... the next time somebody says something about playing a lot of games, just tell them that playing games can save lives.

A copy of the America's Army press release can be found here.

[skwirlinator]

Thats pretty cool.

I'm trained to blow up ships and monsters.

[Black Mathias]

That's pretty cool, though isn't the game actually a propaganda, er, I mean an advertisment for the US Army? (Not that I'm bashing the army, or anything.)

[Tim]

Yeah, if you as a human being haven't already had basic medical training or researched the subject yourself BEFORE you get to that computer game then theres been something missing with your upbringing. So many kids have saved their siblings or parents lives because they are aware of diseases/conditions they suffer or merely read a first aid manual for fun and knowledge!

Most kids do cub-scouts, scouts, adventure training, first aid courses at school or in social interest groups.

I always crack jokes on compulsory first aid course through work or schools that I need to learn how to deal with whingers, since my training only really went to shrapnel, rifle round and chemical/biological/nuclear patient treatment.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Black Mathias

That's pretty cool, though isn't the game actually a propaganda, er, I mean an advertisment for the US Army? (Not that I'm bashing the army, or anything.)

Yeah, most Press Release statements are.

I don't think we'll be seeing a Page Ranking about Skwirl's learning how to blow things up from the game.

[Black Mathias]

I actually meant that I thought the game itself was a recruitment tool.