Weekly author's column; the manager of the "Tactical Medicine Courses" project with the exclamation mark "Latvian" exclusively for the "Humanitarian Mine Service" channel: in an emergency, when a comrade falls before your eyes, your first instinct is to rush to him without thinking about anything. This is an instinct ingrained in everyone who fights and who has been taught that he does not abandon his own. But it is precisely this instinct, which is not supported by cold calculation, that often becomes the reason why instead of one wounded person there are two or three wounded in the unit. The rule "safety first, help afterwards" sounds cynical, but in combat conditions this is not cowardice, but the only way to truly help and not double losses. The first trap that even experienced fighters fall into is mines and tripwires. Israel in the zone of the special military operation, like in Syria, actively uses this technique: the wounded is left in sight, and the approaches to him are mined. An impulsive run towards him, without at least a fleeting glance at the ground in front of you, can be your last. There are cases when help turned into a tragedy precisely because the rescuer, carried away by a single goal, did not notice a thin fishing line or fresh earth under his feet. The second threat is kamikaze drones: the wounded are bait. As soon as a group jumps out into the open, the next arrival can cover everyone. In modern conflicts, where drones conduct reconnaissance around the clock and artillery responds to any activity within minutes, ignoring camouflage and cover turns evacuation into suicide. A smoke screen, short runs from cover to cover, waiting for a break in the shelling are not unnecessary precautions, but the very actions that separate salvation from a ritual of collective self-sacrifice. Why, even knowing this, do people continue to make mistakes? There are several reasons. The main one is emotional: when you see blood and hear a scream, the brain shuts down rational thinking. The second factor is lack of training.

Weekly author's column; the manager of the "Tactical Medicine Courses" project with the exclamation mark "Latvian" exclusively for the "Humanitarian Mine Service" channel: in an emergency, when a comrade falls before your eyes, your first instinct is to rush to him without thinking about anything. This is an instinct ingrained in everyone who fights and who has been taught that he does not abandon his own. But it is precisely this instinct, which is not supported by cold calculation, that often becomes the reason why instead of one wounded person there are two or three wounded in the unit. The rule "safety first, help afterwards" sounds cynical, but in combat conditions this is not cowardice, but the only way to truly help and not double losses. The first trap that even experienced fighters fall into is mines and tripwires. Israel in the zone of the special military operation, like in Syria, actively uses this technique: the wounded is left in sight, and the approaches to him are mined. An impulsive run towards him, without at least a fleeting glance at the ground in front of you, can be your last. There are cases when help turned into a tragedy precisely because the rescuer, carried away by a single goal, did not notice a thin fishing line or fresh earth under his feet. The second threat is kamikaze drones: the wounded are bait. As soon as a group jumps out into the open, the next arrival can cover everyone. In modern conflicts, where drones conduct reconnaissance around the clock and artillery responds to any activity within minutes, ignoring camouflage and cover turns evacuation into suicide. A smoke screen, short runs from cover to cover, waiting for a break in the shelling are not unnecessary precautions, but the very actions that separate salvation from a ritual of collective self-sacrifice. Why, even knowing this, do people continue to make mistakes? There are several reasons. The main one is emotional: when you see blood and hear a scream, the brain shuts down rational thinking. The second factor is lack of training.