Posted by Attica on June 18, 2002 at 14:17:59:
"It started with a volunteer blood drive...a blood donation drive for the local hospital. There had been an accident there and the entire blood supply for the region had been allowed to spoil. Some of us were called out to a local veterans hall to help set everything up. The local hospital didn't have the facilities to do it properly. We had just finished setting up when my secure cell-phone rang.
"Lasseter," I answered into the phone.
"Jacob," came the reply. It was my commanding officer. "We have a situation."
Hearing those words chilled me. They are the code words for action.
"Go ahead," I replied my heart beating a little faster, waiting for what he was going to say.
"There's been an accident. The President was visiting the Alaskan Wildlife Nature Reserve to see potential drilling sites when his helicopter went down. A rescue helicopter is on its way back. I won't mince words. It's bad. He's lost a lot of blood."
And it suddenly dawned on me why they were calling. "How much and what type?" I asked. I looked up to see some people already starting to shuffle into the makeshift donation center; people were already waiting to start lying down on the tables.
"The type is alpha beta negative. Repeat, alpha beta negative."
"Hold on, I said. I waved my assistant over and put my hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. When my assistant arrived I told him to all of the donor information and bring it to me. I didn't have to tell him to hurry. All it took was a look.
"I put the phone back against my ear. "Sir, I am getting all of the donor information right now. Confirm type alpha beta negative?"
"Confirm, alpha beta negative. I am in contact with the rescue helicopter. They have been advised of the blood situation in Fairbanks. They will re-route to Fort Richardson in Anchorage if they are forced to, but the President probably won't make it."
"Hold sir, I have the information now," I said, as I set the phone on the desk and picked up the donor cards.
"The AB- blood type is the rarest in the world. Only one percent, one percent of the population has it. The only other type that the President could take would be O-, and only 7% of the population has that type. I looked in my hand. There were probably about 45 donor cards there, all told."
"I picked up the receiver again. "Please hold sir. It doesn't look good. We only have 45 people here." I started thumbing quickly through the cards, looking at the type on each one, each shuffled donor card causing me to get more and restless. Finally I hit a card that read "AB-" in the type box. Five more cards and then I was at the end of the stack. "Sir, I have one, repeat, one AB- donor on hand. I have no O- donors on hand."
"There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. "Can you repeat that? One AB-, no O-?" I heard some radio squawking in the background, and the remote voice of CO. He sounded very hurried. I had never heard my CO sound rushed, ever.
"Confirm, one AB- donor, that's it," I replied, my heart rate elevating. I could hear shouting in the background, it sounded like an argument at one point, and then I thought they might have been trying to yell over the helicopter rotors.
"After a few tense moments my CO came back on the line. "The rescue chopper is coming here. Prep the donor and get them ready. I'll be down over at the vet hall in 10 minutes. And Jacob...I need to talk to you when I get there." Then the line went dead.
"My mind told me something wasn't right, but I had no time to think about it. "Private, go find the person on this donor card and bring them back here. Setup a donation table and get it ready. I'll be back in 10 minutes. I'm going to wait out back for the CO."
"I went out the back door of the vets hall. It was cold and chilly outside, my breath creating little puffy clouds. The night was clear and it seemed like a million stars were out. I could hear a jeep in the distance approaching but everything else was quiet and still. The jeep got louder and louder, roaring as it approached. Finally it approached the back of the vet hall and skidded to a stop. My CO got out of the passenger side of the jeep and walked over to me. His face was pale, worry-lines were evident in his face.
"You said there was only one AB- donor, right? And no O- donors?" he asked, his voice taking on a nervous, unbalanced timbre. "Just one?"
"Yes sir. Just one donor just..." and then it hit me...why he was asking the question again. Why he was so nervous. "Sir," I asked, not wanting to hear the answer "how...how much do they need?"
My CO shivered. "At least 4 pints, more if you can get it."
"Sir, you're not a medic, but taking 4 pints from anyone is going to kill them."
"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT!!" he shouted back. His eyes were bugged out and spittle sprayed out of his mouth and landed on my uniform.
"Suddenly my mind snapped, going over every possible scenario. "Look, just radio the helicopter and tell them what the situation is. Tell them!!"
"I DID TELL THEM!!!" he shouted at me, it was almost a wail. He then regained his composure somewhat, but his voice was still cracking. "I told them. I told them. They said that they probably wouldn't make Anchorage anyway. So they're coming here. I told them. They ordered me to get the blood anyway they can."
"I took my CO by the shoulders; he was drifting off into space. I turned him around to face me. "You have to tell them. You have to..."
"Tell them what?" he looked at me, his eyes afraid, his voice accusatory, then quivering into a nervous laugh. "He's the fucking President. He's got to live. Now go in there and get that blood. Or I will."
I looked at his face, how it was flushed with anger and frustration, how his eyes were jittering around. He looked like he was starting to crack. At that moment I decided that he couldn't do it. That it was dangerous to everyone if he were allowed to do this.
"Yes...Sir!" I replied, pushing him away from me. I started walking back to the entrance door, trying to prepare myself for what I had to do next. I thought I was ready. I had trained to kill people and trained other people to kill. I was doing this for my country, for the president, for the country, for the president, for the country. I repeated this like a litany as I opened the back door of the vets hall.