Aspirin in combat zones be controlled-now prohibit

When I read this article on millitary.com I was quite surprised as well as shocked. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service is pulling all products containing aspirin from the shelves at its contingency locations.Department of Defense officials ordered that aspirin in combat zones be controlled and now prohibit over-the-counter access through AAFES and Morale, Welfare and Recreation activities, an AAFES press release stated.In an order written in March by then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Ward Casscells, service officials were told to make sure all U.S. troops and civilians headed into combat zones stop taking aspirin at least 10 days before they deploy, unless directed by a health care provider.The goal of the policy is to minimize blood loss in combat injuries, he wrote, and cut down on the number of "preventable deaths" associated with those wounds.The concern over aspirin stems from how it affects blood's ability to clot.
Air Force Col. David Schall told that basically, what it does is it inhibits platelet activation and aggregation and this effect lasts for 5 to 7 days after you take aspirin. Personally I would not have gotten through either deployment without Excedrin Migraine.Advil can have an effect on the platelets as well, but aspirin seems to be more potent.If your platelets aren't working, you are going to continue to ooze and ooze.Aspirin blocks an enzyme in platelets.Someone who took aspirin and is injured will have a higher rate of blood loss, and the larger the surface area of the injury that is bleeding, the bigger the problem.