Combat Medics Save Lives by Saving Blood (SLIDESHOW)

"We never practice telling them they are going to be OK. Because that just sets it up for failure. You might get onto the bird and then he dies. You pretty much told everybody in that platoon that he’s going to be OK and then they are all coming after you.”

-James Stoddard, a Navy medic

The first significant battlefield injury faced by Navy corpsman James Stoddard, a combat medic, was Tyler Southern, who had three limbs blown off by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. Stoddard was able to save Southern from bleeding to death by the rapid application of tourniquets, a technique that the military has emphasized. Stoddard is profiled in the second article in the ten-part series "Beyond The Battlefield." A slideshow of combat medics at work is below.

Read the entire Beyond the Battlefield series here.