After initially downplaying a shortage of the special anti-bleeding bandages available to troops in Iraq, a senior Army officer acknowledged yesterday that some soldiers are in combat without the potentially lifesaving field dressings.
Maj. Gen. Stephen Speakes, director of force development, told a congressional panel that only medics and other lifesaving personnel were equipped with the essential clotting bandages, as suggested by the surgeon general of the Army. But other combat troops have been requesting them as well, and he said the Army is committed to supplying them quickly.
"You have our attention, sir," Speakes said during questioning by Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing on protective equipment for military personnel.
Israel and other lawmakers in the Long Island and Queens delegation recently began to push Army officials to address the problem after hearing that some troops were not equipped with the specially treated bandages that are designed to prevent victims from bleeding to death.
The lack of the bandages is especially pressing given that military officials say most troops who die in battle bleed to death before they reach hospital facilities, and that the bandages could curb the number of fatalities.
After yesterday's hearing, Israel said there are still "some unanswered questions" about why there is a dearth of the dressings, but that his priority now is to ensure that the Army's brass honors its pledge to expedite the product's distribution.
"I got the impression they clearly recognized there was a shortage," Israel said. "It was a frank admission; it shouldn't have taken two weeks to publicly recognize there were shortages, but I'm glad they publicly committed to end the shortages."
Israel said he received assurances yesterday from the Army that 117,000 bandages were immediately being sent to troops on the front lines. Additionally, he said, military leaders have said they will increase the monthly procurement from 10,000 to 20,000 units.
As the bandage shortage was being addressed in the House yesterday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was expected to offer an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill on the other side of Capitol Hill. The legislation would provide $20 million to purchase the bandages and require that all military personnel carry them.
"It is simply unacceptable to ask our troops to put themselves in harm's way and then not provide them with every possible tool to stay alive if wounded," Schumer said. "Nobody's family should have to ask for these on their own. There's no excuse for not providing these bandages and this will change all that."
Correction: The U.S. Army was in negotiations to purchase QuikClot coagulant material for troops in Iraq for some time before placing the order last week. A story Thursday may have given the impression the Army had decided only last week to acquire the material.