Something recently reminded me of a military training class I was in many years ago \u2013 taught in the Army \u2013 concerning field first aid.\u00a0 Like most, it was pretty much your standard, boring Army class.\u00a0 But it did have one moment that made it an absolute gem.<\/p>\n
The instructor was going over how to estimate how much of a burn casualty\u2019s skin had been affected.\u00a0 He taught us the \u201crule of nines\u201d for doing that.<\/p>\n
For those who might not be familiar with it, the \u201crule of nines\u201d works as follows.\u00a0 Different parts of the body are each assigned a fixed number of \u201cnines\u201d.\u00a0 Each arm is assigned one \u201cnine\u201d; each leg, two \u201cnines\u201d.\u00a0 The front of the torso is similarly assigned two \u201cnines\u201d; ditto the back and buttocks.\u00a0 Finally, the head and neck is assigned one \u201cnine\u201d.<\/p>\n
A \u201cnine\u201d is short for “9 percent” \u2013 as in 9% of a person\u2019s total skin area. So each arm is 9% of the average person\u2019s skin; the head and neck, also 9%. A leg, front of torso, or back and buttocks each have 2 nines \u2013 so they\u2019re each 18% of the average individual\u2019s total skin area.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a quick and dirty rule, and isn\u2019t always perfectly accurate. But it\u2019s apparently generally fairly close.\u00a0 And when you\u2019ve got to estimate quickly how much of an individual is burned, it\u2019s certainly better than making a wild-ass guess.<\/p>\n
Well, there\u2019s one in every crowd – and the instructor had been through this a few times before. So before anyone could do the math and ask, he then said the following.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I know some of you have probably totaled that up, and came up with 99%. That\u2019s correct. There\u2019s 1% left over.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n What followed was IMO one of the true \u201cmoney lines\u201d of all time.\u00a0 The instructor then smiled slightly, and said, matter-of-factly and with a straight face:<\/p>\n \u201cNow, I don\u2019t care if you\u2019re John Homes \u2013 1% is enough.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Thirty-plus years later, I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about the rest of that class.\u00a0 But I can sure as hell still remember the \u201crule of nines\u201d.<\/p>\n Thank God I\u2019ve never had to use it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"